Chai Chocolate Chip Muffins

My drink at Starbucks is a grande iced chai with whole milk, six pumps of chai and a shot of espresso. I love chai. I can't say for sure that if you don't like chai you'll like these. But I can say that I like them, lol, and so does Jeremy. So, let's make muffins together...

Let's start by making a chai spice mix. You'll need 
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon black pepper   set aside.

In a large bowl, dump 2 1/2 cups of flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

and your chai spice mix

Whisk it up. The reason we're mixing the dry ingredients + spices together first is because then we can be sure that they'll be evenly distributed. If we dumped everything together now, some spices or baking soda might stay clumped up in one spot. And that'd be gross.

Add 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, I used semi sweet, but you can use whatever is your favorite.

In a small bowl, crack two eggs

Add 1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup melted, cooled butter.

and 1 cup of milk.

Whisk together.

I like to transfer it to a cup with a spout so it's easy to pour.

Slowly pour the wet into the dry and stir JUST until combined. It's important to not over mix because then the muffins will be dense and tough. It's better to have some clumps and let the batter sit for a second to absorb them than to over-mix.

Distribute batter evenly into a greased muffin tin using a 1/4 cup scoop.

Bake at 425° for 5 minutes then turn the heat down to 375 for about 12 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They'll get soggy + sweaty if you don't.

Enjoy.