Christmas Muffins With Chocolate Chips

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Light and fluffy Christmas muffins dotted with mini chocolate chips and holiday sprinkles make for a mouth-watering special treat on Christmas morning!

There’s something magical about the holiday season. The glowing tree, the stockings stuffed with gifts, and the cookie crumbs left behind by Santa make the whole day feel so wonderful!

My kids are full of excitement on Christmas morning, and I always like to make a special treat for our family to share at breakfast.

These festive Christmas muffins are exactly that! Light, fluffy, moist, packed with gooey chocolate chips, and topped off with the colors of the season, just the sight of them brings cheer!

Make these muffins the night before and set one out for Santa; share with your family, or make a batch for friends. You can also serve them alongside other delicious Christmas desserts like this vegan Christmas pudding and vegan mincemeat!

They are sure to bring holiday cheer to everyone who tastes them!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why You’ll Love Christmas Muffins

• Eye-Catching: These homemade muffins with their red and green sprinkles will stand out among the many holiday treats during this festive season. They really are the best Christmas muffins ever!
• Flavorful: With lots of chocolate chips and a perfectly fluffy texture, you can be sure everyone will love these sweet muffins. They also make your house smell amazing while they’re baking!
• Versatile: You can make these muffins for Christmas morning, but you can modify them for other holidays too by just changing up the sprinkles! Try pastels for Easter or orange and brown around Thanksgiving.
• Customizable: Add in other spices, different types of chocolate, or even dried fruit. And with just a few swaps you can adjust these muffins to fit into many different diets. See our variations for more Christmas muffin flavors and dietary adaptations!
• Easy: You can make these impressive muffins quickly with simple ingredients you may already have at home. 
• Great For The Whole Family: Kids and adults will love these xmas muffins! They are sweet, moist, fluffy, and dotted with chocolate chips and sprinkles! They’re simple enough to make with the kids, and share with the ones you love!

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🥘 Ingredients

​This is just a classic muffin recipe with a Christmas twist, so all of these ingredients can easily be found at most grocery stores! You don’t need too many ingredients to make these sweet, delicious muffins.

• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: If you do not have whole wheat pastry flour you can use all-purpose flour.
• Sugar and Brown Sugar: When combined both the white sugar and brown sugar add sweetness to the muffins. Light or dark brown sugar will work.
• Large Eggs: Be sure to use room temperature eggs when baking.
• Milk: Low-fat regular milk, or plant-based milk would both work well.
• Mini Chocolate Chips: I like using dark chocolate chips to cut down on the sugar and give that rich chocolate flavor!
• Red And Green Sprinkles: This is what gives these chocolate chip Christmas muffins their holiday flair! Feel free to use whatever holiday sprinkles you prefer. I chose sprinkles made with natural coloring.

🍲 Ingredient Substitutions

• Sugar: If you’re looking for a refined sugar substitute, I recommend coconut sugar and muscovado sugar.
• Eggs: Use flax eggs if you want to make these Christmas muffins egg-free or vegan.
• Chocolate: Instead of dark chocolate, use milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can also use white chocolate. 
• Vanilla: If you don’t have vanilla extract, try any of these vanilla extract substitutes instead!
• Sprinkles: Change up the sprinkle colors if you’re making these for another holiday.

🔪 How To Make Christmas Muffins

Here’s how to make this easy Christmas muffin recipe. For more detailed instructions and nutrition facts, see the recipe card below.

Mix Dry Ingredients: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or with muffin cups. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Combine Sugars: In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, brown sugar, and oil until smooth and well combined.

Incorporate Eggs: Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.

Add Remaining Wet Ingredients: Beat in the milk and vanilla.

Combine Wet And Dry Ingredients: Add the flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Add Chocolate And Sprinkles: Fold in the mini chocolate chips and sprinkles until well mixed.

Fill Muffin Tin: Fill each cup of the muffin pan 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips and sprinkles on top of each muffin, if desired.

Bake: Place in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, and the top of the muffins are slightly golden brown.

Cool: Allow to cool in the pan until safe to touch, then transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

💭 Expert Tips

• Mix Separately: Mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls.
• Only Mix As Much As Necessary: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Don’t over-mix. If you overwork the batter, your muffins will be tough. Fold together until combined.
• Create Uniform Muffins: Use a measuring cup or ice cream scoop to pour the batter into the muffin liners. This will ensure that your muffins bake evenly.
• Use Non-Stick Cooking Spray: Spray the cupcake liners with cooking spray. This will keep the muffin from sticking to the liner when it’s removed.
• Check the Temperature: Make sure your oven is completely pre-heated before putting the muffins in – this will help to ensure the muffins rise completely.

📖 Variations

This easy muffin recipe is the perfect Christmas morning breakfast just as is, but you can make some changes too. Feel free to experiment with different flavors or toppings! Here are some of our favorite Christmas muffin ideas:

• Topping: Spread a cream cheese frosting over top for a super decadent treat. Or, add a cinnamon crumble topping using ground cinnamon, sugar, flour (or a flour alternative like almond flour), and light brown sugar. You can also try different glazes – an orange glaze or lemon glaze with a sprinkle of powdered sugar would both taste great.
• Christmas Mini Muffins: Make this recipe as is, but add the batter to mini muffin tins instead of a regular muffin pan. Check the muffins after 9-10 minutes and check them every minute after that until they’re done (they will likely take about half the time to bake!)
• Cranberry Muffins: Instead of chocolate chips, use dried or fresh cranberries!
• Gingerbread Muffins: Instead of chocolate chips, add 1 tsp ginger powder, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamong, and 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg into the batter
• Candy Canes: Fold crushed candy canes into the muffin batter or use as a topping.
• Surprise Center: Create a surprise center by filling the muffins with jelly, frosting, or peanut butter.
• Extract: Swap out the vanilla extract for almond for nutty flavor.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

These easy Christmas muffins make for an excellent breakfast, snack, or dessert! I like to serve them with a tall glass of milk and a small dab of butter. There’s no need for added jam, as these muffins are sweet enough with the added chocolate chips and sprinkles.

• Breakfast: If you’d like to make a more balanced meal with this festive treat, serve with scrambled eggs, a keto breakfast casserole, or a breakfast fruit salad.
• Drinks: Wash these holiday muffins down with a mocha latte, healthy hot chocolate, an oatmeal honey latte, or a spinach and banana smoothie. 

🙌 Dietary Adaptations

• Vegan Option: In order to make this holiday recipe vegan, you’ll need to substitute the eggs and milk. You can use 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp of ground flax mixed with 5 tbsp of water), 2 chia eggs (same process as the flax eggs), or 1/4 cup of whipped aquafaba as an egg substitute. Use a dairy-free milk of choice as a milk substitute.
• Make it Gluten-Free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend instead of whole wheat pastry flour to make gluten-free Christmas morning muffins.
• Reduced Sugar: To make healthy Christmas muffins, I recommend cutting the amount of sugar and chocolate chips in half. You’ll end up with a muffin with only about 9 grams of sugar per serving! To reduce the sugar even further, use sugar free chocolate chips.

🫙 Storage Directions

These muffins store really well and still taste great the next day! Here’s how to store them properly:

• To Store At Room Temperature: Allow the muffins to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. I like using my cupcake holders to store my muffins! They will keep for 4-5 days.
• To Freeze: Freeze these Christmas breakfast muffins in a freezer-safe container or wrap them tightly with plastic wrap and store them in a freezer bag. 

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🎄 More Festive Breakfast & Holiday Recipes!

• Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
• Reindeer Holiday Sandwiches
• Dried Fruit Cookies
• Cornbread Gluten Free Stuffing
• Cherry Crumb Pie
• Puff Pastry Christmas Tree
• Cranberry Sauce From Dried Cranberries
• Snowman Cupcakes
• Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
• Healthy Pumpkin Pie
• Vegetarian Breakfast Ideas

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