Red Velvet Muffins

I gave Joshua a choice of what type of muffins I should make for breakfast. He couldn’t decide between chocolate chip and Red Velvet, so we made Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Muffins. One of the fun things about The Ultimate Muffin Book is that each recipe is followed by an extensive list of suggested ways to vary the recipe, and the Chocolate Chip version was one such variation for the Red Velvet Muffins. I was testing out a new jumbo muffin pan I got, so I doubled the recipe and made HUGE muffins (like Costco sized)! The muffins were so delicious that we were glad we had a lot.

Red Velvet Muffins

2 cups (8 ¾ ounces) all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups (8 ¾ ounces) sugar
¼ cup (3/4 ounce) cocoa powder, sifted
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (10 ¾ ounces) buttermilk
8 tablespoons (1 stick/4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons vinegar
One ½-ounce bottle red food coloring
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (if desired)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. (My oven tends to run hot so I use 375°F.) Prepare muffin tins by spraying with Baker’s Joy (or use paper muffin liners).

Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until uniform. Set aside.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the egg, then whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla, vinegar, and red food coloring until the mixture is uniformly colored. Use a wooden spoon to stir I the flour mixture, just until moistened. Gently fold in chocolate chips (if desired).

Fill the prepared tins three-quarters full. Bake until tops are browned and cracked and a toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached—check at about 18 minutes. (The actual recipe states about 27 minutes but mine are always done much earlier than that for regular-size muffins.)

Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Gently remove muffins from tin and cool for 5 minutes more on the rack before serving.

Recipe Source: The Ultimate Muffin Book