My Katy Rose (Karo) loves Chocolate. She especially loves double chocolate anything. The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies earned me the title of the Best Mother In The Entire World and these muffins brought home a second honorary crown from the taste buds of my kids. After I got back from the Today Show, I was anxious to get up early the very next morning and make them a treat. I dearly love being home with my kids so I can do things like this for them.
Until I was twenty seven, I had never even flown on an airplane. That first time involved a trip to Disney World with two year old Brady, who was our only child at the time. We got airfare super cheap back then, $100 round trip for each of us, so it ended up being cheaper than driving. Ricky was also going for a conference so his portion was paid for along with our hotel room. All that was between me and getting to take my son to Disney for the first time was a little bit of gravity defying courtesy of Huntsville International.
Man was that some flight. I’ve never hidden terror so well. I spent the entire time mentally going over every possible crash scenario and how I would get little Brady out of it alive (Ricky was a big boy, he was on his own). I never dreamed in a million years that flying would become normal to me. Now, after this past year, I am one of those people who get on the plane and settle in for a nap before it even takes off. I’ve only seen a small fraction of the country in my book tour travels but its far more than I ever dreamed of or expected to see in my entire lifetime. I’ve met some wonderful people, gotten and given more hugs than I can count, and found that my theory about the world is true : The world is, by and large, made up of really good people.
But you know the main thing I learned on my travels? I do not have the wanderer’s soul I once thought I did. Hand me a globe and tell me to point out anyplace in the world I’d like to go and I’ll stick that thumbtack right smack dab on North Alabama every time. I used to not be like this. I used to want to see things an go places, but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized that there isn’t a place my heart wants to go unless I can turn and look into the eyes of my family and share it with them.
Call it blessed, call it luck, call it enlightenment, but either way you look at it I fully realize how much fuller my life will be for me having been given a chance to learn this lesson. You may not be able to visit twenty cities in a month like I did, but I bet if you take a moment to think about it, to imagine doing just that, you’ll find your arms aching to hold your family and your appreciation for them all the more greater.
Contentment. I think that is one of the greatest gifts and it is one that you have to give yourself, but it often comes for some people in wistful strains while looking through the rear view mirror. Today I want to urge you to turn around and check out what is right in front of you now. Because what is in your windshield now will surely pass you by, too. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, I know you’re tired. I know you work long days regardless of whether or not you get a paycheck, but these are the days. This is it. They’re eating and making messes and distracting you and dancing and talking nonstop, but before you know it that house will go silent and that refrigerator could be holding just enough food for one.
So take a breath, in and out. Close your eyes. Feel the love around you.
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~Frederick Keonig
Now go make ’em some double chocolate muffins.
You’ll need: Vanilla (not a gallon like I have pictured though), Milk, Chocolate Chips, Margarine, Cocoa Powder, Self Rising Flour, Egg, and Sugar.
I’m using semi sweet chips but you can use any kind you want, really. You can also use butter if the thought of using margarine makes you feel as if you will most certainly go to some horrid place where folks who use hydrogenated oils and such go. Personally, I know a lot of people in that place and I happen to know that if I go there we’re gonna have some fine eatin’!
Place your sugar, flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl.
Don’t worry if your cocoa powder is lumpy, mine was so its in good company 🙂
Melt your margarine in the microwave. You can use butter if you prefer.
To the margarine, add your milk, vanilla, and egg and stir that up.
**If your margarine is fresh from the microwave you need to add your milk first so it will cool the margarine on the off chance it is hot enough to cook your egg.
Now pour that into your dry ingredients.
and start stirring…
until it looks like this
Add in your chocolate chips
and stir some more. If it is a little lumpy, thats fine.
You can cook this either in a greased muffin tin or muffin papers. I’m using muffin papers right now.
Bake at 400 for twenty minutes. Serve them with love.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Self Rising Flour *
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Milk
- 3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 Egg
- 1 stick 1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
- 1 -1/2 cups chocolate chips I use semi sweet, use whatever you got though
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In large bowl combine flour, sugar, and cocoa powder.
- In separate bowl mix together melted margarine, egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to mix well.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Divide batter among greased muffin cups or a muffin tin lined with muffin papers.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes about 18 muffins.
*Don’t have self rising flour? See my FAQ Page for instructions on how to make your own!
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.
Remember that what you now have was once among the things
you only hoped for.”
~Epicurus, Greek Philosopher
Catch up on Life At Bountiful by reading these posts:
- Wow, That Was An Intensive Interview!
- Christmas Miracles In Alabama
- Family Snapshots From Disney
- Behind The Scenes At The Today Show
Yum 
This is one of my son’s favorite treats. Thanks for posting your recipe. I check your recipes when I am in the mood for good food. You always come through with the best ideas.
Thank you so much Anita!! I hope you enjoy the muffins!
yummy!! those will be in my kitchen soon! i LOVE your “contentment” paragraph….and it is so true! My daughter is 15 now and i do not know where the time has gone! i have been telling myself for a long time that the distractions do not matter…do not matter…do not matter….because one day she will be grown and gone…oh how i miss her already…
Hug her often Angie!
Ooooh… *salivates and remembers vow to lose at least five more pounds*
So sorry for the temptation Sonya!!
Sounds so good! I have all of the ingredients in the pantry/fridge, me and my 3 year old are going to mix them up. Thanks!!
I hope that ya’ll have fun making muffins Anne!!
The recipe is great and contentment is beyond monetary value…..thanks for both this day. Many of us don’t slow down enough to see (or hear) any of this, but sometimes, when it hits you smack dab between the eye’s on a piece of paper it is a revelation….Continue to be blessed as you bless others….
Thank you so much Kim! I am so blessed by each and every one of you!
Christy, so true what you said about traveling. I love to go, but sure love to come home. Recenty went on a 9 day bus tour of the beautiful New England states. I was a bit absentminded and kept forgetting, or misplacing things.
When we got back I wrote this:
I left my cheese in Vermont,
I left my pjs in Boston,
I left my cell phone and one earring on the bus,
I left my name tag, I don’t know where,
But I left my heart in Tennessee!
LOL, I love the poem! I do hope you had a wonderful trip though.
Whenever I make cupcakes/muffins I can never get the sizes of them the same. What kind of scoop should I use, ice cream? Are there different scoops sizes? Can someone recommend any? I’d really appreciate it, I can’t wait to try this recipe!!
Hey Melissa, I use usually use a 1/4 cup measuring scoop when making muffins or cupcakes. It seems to fill the muffin cup to about 2/3 of the way up or maybe just a little more. I just made these and got 20 muffins using the 1/4 cup measuring scoop.
Hi Melissa, Like many oter things, Ice cream scoops come in various sizes. Any store that sells cooking utensils should carry a variety of sizes. There is the very small for making cookies come out evenly, then there is a medium size, as you would probably use making these muffins in a regular size muffin tin, and then there is the much larger size, that are usually used for making the larger gourmet size muffins like the ones you buy at Sam’s Club already baked. I bake a lot so I have all three sizes, and I am sure there are other sizes available also. They usually come in plastic or Chrome variety depending how much you want to spend. I purchased mine at a store called GFS(Gordon Food Service) it is a store that sells all types of cooking items and utensils. Good Luck, and doesn’t these muffin sound wonderful. We can always count on Christy to come through for us.
After working in call center all day and having a headset attached to my head, all I want when I go home is some quiet and NOT to hear the phone ring. Both my daughters ages 12 and 14 are like magpies (they never stop talking or fighting) but I dread the day when my house is quiet. Thank you so much for this recipe, I have all the ingredients at home and I think they deserve a little special treat tonight.
You definitely deserve a special treat! I just wish we could get someone there to cook them for you! Hang in there, you’re doing a great job and I’m sure you are making a difference in the world in ways you don’t even know about!
I could almost smell these baking . Looks like a cross between brownies and a muffin and I have never met anything chocolate that I didn’t like.
me either Elaine!!
Hi Christy! ~waves~
Awesome post today! Talking about Contentment today is perfect timing for many reading your post and I include myself. My last child, Amanda, will go to college in a year and a half. That makes me and hubby empty-nester’s soon.
So, if I make your SP Choc. muffins regularly, she will have to return back home on weekends to get her comfort food/chocolate fix. Thank you for the recipe, just in the nick of time ;} to keep my baby girl returning after I have “conditioned” her to expect delicious baked goods at her Mama’s house. Oh, and she knows she will always get Chicken & Dumplin’s and Dixie cornbread here too. Love you Sista C. XOXO
~giggles~ I think you have the right idea!!
This post just about made me cry. I just have one little one (8 months old) and I already am trying to slow him down so that he doesn’t grow up so fast. If he is anything like me, he will love these chocolate muffins when he gets older. Thanks for the post!
Hug and hold him tight every opportunity you get! It seems like just yesterday mine were babies.
I had 3 children in 4 years. My oldest two are only 14 months apart and those early years were a blur sometimes. But I remember what a sweet older lady told me when I had two in diapers and a compact car’s backseat full of car seats–she told me to enjoy every minute because the time would come when I couldn’t just reach out and give my girls a hug and kiss. They would grow up and you would wish to have them back around your feet all day. That advise helped so much. I went on to homeschool my three girls all the way through school and now the oldest two are married and my “baby” is an adult as well. I look back on my days, busy as they were, with contentment, feeling beyond blessed that I had so much time with them.
What wise advice you received!
Christy, you are so very right, sugarpea. I have one son back at home but he works 2nd shift and I never see him. I miss the laughter, the stories, the racket of having six kids, six different kinds of music, girls fighting over clothes, boys fighting over the game controllers, cooking for “strays” on a daily basis, trying to get everybody ready for school, church, wherever- and out the door more or less on time. I’m a single mom/ nana, so my house is totally quiet when i come home. My youngest has been married for one year, and I am still not used to it. Cherish these moments because they fly by so fast.
~HUGS~ They do seem to be flying by awfully fast.
Amen, Christy! The present is a GIFT!!!
Amen Mary!
I’m at the “enough food for one” stage. My 3 girls are grown and gone. I miss the hustle and bustle of soccer practice, getting dinner cooked, helping with homework. My 2 oldest are too far away to come home often and my youngest is at college. So when she comes home, I’m making these for her.
She was home for the holidays, and it is amazing how being away from mom’s cooking affected her. I asked her one morning close to Christmas if she would like some oatmeal, bacon and toast for breakfast. She got so excited, you would have thought I was offering her filet mignon! She hugged me and told me she loved me! I guess that’s late teenage equivalent of Katy’s, “Your the best mom in the whole wide worldI” Loved it!
One night we had a really simple meal of northern beans seasoned with bacon and rice. She just went on and on about how good they were. “Mama, you made these with love didn’t you?” ~~~grins~~~~
Food made with love is the best kind!! I hope she gets to come home for a visit soon and ya’ll can sit up late at night eating Double Chocolate Chip muffins with a large glass of milk catching up and giggling like school girls!
I get to talk with my 2 girls who are in “the states” almost every day! Sometimes it is just for a minute, a “Hi! Howya doin’? I love you.” Other times, we can settle in for a nice long chat, talking about anything, everything and nothing at all. It’s not the same as when they were in high school and would settle in at the kitchen counter (breakfast bar/pass thru to the dining room) to do homework while I made dinner, but I still cherish every minute. And now, I have a grandson that I get to talk to on the phone. He is 18 months old. He squeals, and giggles, and jabbers and says “Hi” and then hangs up on me. They dial me right back, and he does it all over again! I just grin all evening when I get to talk to him.
Thank you for your blog site. I try to read it several times a week. Your posts and descriptions of how to make your recipes nearly always make me smile. Your storiis sometimes can make me smile, lough right out loud and cry all at the same time.
oh manjust looking at those makes me slobber like a dog!
~giggles~
These are great! I had all of the ingredients on hand and now I’m waiting to see how my guys like them! yummy!
Let me know what the verdict was LaDonna!
Christy, you have the best recipes. I made muffins a couple of days ago, but will have to make these soon……….tomorrow! 🙂
I hope you enjoy them Joyce!!!
I have three kids under three and all of them are currently napping peacefully. Think I’ll make them some of these muffins to enjoy with milk when they wake up as a treat.
I bet you will get lots of kisses in return Susan!!
I TOO AM AT THE “ENOUGH FOOD FOR ONE ” STAGE, BUT, I AM C0NTENTED YOU SEE WHEN I WAS A YOUNG GIRL MY PARENTS WITH MY SISTER AND ME MOVED A 1000 MILES TO ANOTHER STATE FROM MY FAMILY, GRANPARENTS, AUNTS ETC SO I ALWAY PRAYED WHEN I WAS MARRIED WITH CHILDREN THEY WOULD ALL STAY CLOSE. I MISSED THOSE GRANDMAMAS SUNDAY DINNERS SO MUCH. WELL THE GOOD LORD AS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS. I HAVE 4 WONDERFUL CHILDREN ALL MARRIED WITH GREAT INLAWS, 11 GRANDCHILDREN AND 14 GREAT GRANDCHILDREN ALL WITHIN A 25 MILE RADIUS. WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE. OF COURSE COME THE WEEK END OR SOME NITE IN THE WEEK, SOME WILL SHOW UP AND I GET TO COOK AND FEED THAM WITH LIOVE
ALSO ON HOLIDAYS ITS OFF TO GRANDMAMA’ S FOR DINNER.
SO I AM REALLY LUCKY I AM 80 YEARS YOUNG AND HELATHY AND ENJOYING THE GOLDEN YEARS.
I AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR WEB SITE, I AM AN OLD ALABAMA TRANSPLANAT, BUT NEVER FORGET GET MY SOUTHERN HERITAGE.
SO ALL ATHOSE RECEIPES THAT I DIDN’T GET FROM GRANDMAMA , I AM GETTING FROM YOU. AND I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN MAKEING ALL THOSE SOUTHERN DISHES THAT I LOVED AS A CHILD THANK YOU CHRISTY FOR BRINGING THAT BACK TO ME. I HAVE A BLUEBERRY CAKE IN THE OVEN AND TOMORROW I AM DOING FRIED PIES,
WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SNOW STORM HERE IN NEW ENGLAND AND ITS LOOK LIKE I’LL BE SHUT IN DOORS FOR A WHILE SO BACK TO YOUR RECIPES LOL
Oh Louise, your comment just tickled me to death!! I am so glad to hear about your family and how close you all are and I am thrilled that I can bring back some of the recipes like your Grandma used!! I am so honored to have wonderful people like you reading my ramblings!
Your post really touched me, I’ve never been a flyer either. Unlike you though I’m firmly planted in the midwest now. I have lived all over the country but I like home the best. You’re right about your family, I stopped today to visit with my great aunt who is 90, I’m busy, who isn’t these days but I know someday she won’t be here. I don’t want to live with any regrets. Thanks for the recipe, I plan on making them for my kids very soon.
Carey
I am so glad you went to visit with your Aunt! Preserving those memories are so important!!
I so enjoyed reading this post about contentment. I would rather be home than any other place on earth too. It’s a comforting feeling 🙂
It is comforting isn’t it?!
I just made these for my girls, they loved them!!!!
I am so tickled to hear they loved them!!
oh YUM! this looks delish. Adding it to my “to make/to try” list! 😀 (Painting my kitchen is kind of taking over right now)
Oh My, what color are you painting it??
Have you ever made these using Splenda? I know it’s kind of a stupid question since the chocolate chips are going in, but just wondering.
There are no stupid questions here, Lynn! I don’t ever bake with Splenda because it doesn’t bake like sugar, breads and such will end up dryer and tougher, I do a lot of other things with Splenda, though! Here is a post with just a few of the recipes on SouthernPlate.com where I use Splenda. I’m always adding more, though, and even have a special section in my book of recipes I use Splenda in 🙂 Hope this helps!
https://www.southernplate.com/2010/01/sixteen-low-and-no-sugar-recipes-from-southern-plate.html
As far as using splenda even though there are chocolate chips, I do stuff like that all the time! Hey, every little bit helps, right? 😀
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy, I always appreciate your recipes, but what really makes me want to come back here time after time is YOU. Your ‘tell it like it is’ attitude, your refusal to become big-headed about your success, and most of all your realization that home, friends and family are more important that anything.
Thanks for the muffin recipe, but most of all, thanks for ‘bein’ real’…
Thank you Tina. I just can’t imagine anything ever being better than home, friends and family!
Christy, it is soooo nice to be able to cook and bake new and different things after makin the same ol stuff year after year. I have never enjoyed new recipes like I enjoy yours. I love your posts and recipes and your cookbook! I have made many things from them and continue to make new things! Thank you soooo much for this website and your knowledge and talents! They are appreciated by many!
P.S. My family thanks you too. 🙂
Thank you so much Vicki!! You just made me day. Give your family a big ol hug for me!!
Thanks Christy! I appreciate the advice since I have never baked with Splenda. Looks like I’m not going to start either!
Hi Christy! Love your site.The muffins look amazing…will try them soon.It is so true,time passes so quickly.My son has been married for almost 7 years,and I’m still not used to it….I have a beautiful 14 month grandson,whom I see 1-3 days a week…so not so quiet anymore.Smiles.