Amarula-intoxicated Chocolate Chip Muffins

It's been raining all day.  Perfect weather for indulging in some freshly-baked muffins. 

I started measuring my ingredients, only to discover I didn't have enough milk.  No worries... the bottle of Amarula in the fridge comes to the rescue!

For those who are wondering what is Amarula, it's a cream liqueur from South Africa, made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African Marula tree.  The liqueur has a slight fruity caramel flavour, the perfect complement for muffins and loaves.  Add it to your bread and butter pudding - you'll be amazed!

Here's the super easy recipe:

the wet stuff
110g butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
240ml (1cup) milk or cream (in my case, it was about 200ml milk and 40ml Amarula)
1.5 tsp vanilla extract (I skipped this since I had so much Amarula in it)

the dry stuff
250g flour
70g white sugar
30g brown sugar (if you don't have brown sugar, just use white sugar)
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170g chocolate chips (I used half choc chips and half white choc chips, and threw in the last bit of my chocolate bar)

1 - Whisk the wet stuff till well combined.
2 - In another bowl, whisk the dry stuff.
3 - Pour the wet stuff into the dry stuff, and fold till the dry stuff is just moistened.  Batter will be lumpy - this is just fine.  Do not overmix or you'll get tough muffins. 
4 - Fill your muffin cups till about 2/3 or 3/4 full.
5 - Bake at 180 deg C for about 20 min. 

Here's a trick: If your muffin tops come out hard, cool your muffins with a towel over it.  Or let it cool in your oven with the door ajar.


p.s. These are not the best pictures, I know. These were taken from my BB, since I have yet to replace my camera which has gone cranky.