Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
A chocolate chip muffin is only as good as its chip-to-muffin ratio, and most of them get it wrong. These do not. A cup and a half of chocolate chips goes into twelve muffins, which works out to about two tablespoons each, and you can see it in every bite.
The rest is simple on purpose. Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix, water, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, stirred in one bowl with a spoon. No mixer, no creaming butter, no measuring baking powder. Twenty minutes in the oven.
The one thing worth getting right is not overbaking them. Gluten-free muffins go from tender to dry faster than wheat ones, and the difference is about two minutes. More on that below.
A dusting of powdered sugar over the tops once they cool is optional and it makes them look like they came from somewhere. So good, no one will guess they are gluten-free, the way Pamela's has done it since 1988.
How to Keep Gluten-Free Muffins Moist
Dry muffins are the most common complaint in gluten-free baking, and there are three causes.
Overbaking, which is the big one. Gluten-free batters hold less water and give it up faster, so the window between done and dry is narrower than with wheat. Start checking at 16 minutes, even though the recipe says 18 to 20. A toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs on it, not clean. A clean toothpick means you are already a minute or two past where you wanted to be.
Ovens vary more than recipes admit. Two minutes is the whole difference between tender and dry, so trust the toothpick over the timer.
Overmixing. Stir just until the dry mix disappears. A muffin batter should look slightly lumpy, and if it is smooth you have worked it too long.
Cooling them in the pan. Five minutes in the pan, then out onto a rack. Left in the hot pan they keep cooking and the bottoms go firm.
One more, and it is a real one: gluten-free baked goods taste drier on day two than wheat ones do, because rice starch retrogrades faster. They are best the day they are baked, and after that a few seconds in the microwave brings them back almost completely.
The Mix Does the Structural Work
There is no baking powder in this ingredient list, no baking soda, and no salt. They are already in the bag.
Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix is a complete mix, which is why a muffin from it takes five ingredients instead of ten. It also contains almond meal and cultured buttermilk, and both matter here: the almond meal adds fat that keeps the crumb tender, and the buttermilk gives a slight tang that keeps a sweet muffin from tasting flat.
The mix these are built on Pamela's Gluten-Free Pancake & Baking Mix A complete baking mix with the leavening and salt included. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, quick breads, biscuits. GFCO-certified.
Measure by weight if you can. Two and a half cups is about 400 grams. Scooping the cup through the bag compacts the mix and can add 30 grams or more, which in a muffin shows up as dense and dry.
