Chocolate Chip Muffins

When I was younger, I swam competitively for the district swim team and then later for the high school team. I attribute swimming to my direct path towards type-a mania in my later years. Swimming required a lot of commitment and dedication. My daily life became a structured routine full of prioritizing: 4:00 a.m. wake up. 5:00 morning practice. 7:00 shower. 7:20 homeroom. 7:20 - 3:10 school. 3:30 practice. 6:00 lifting or running. 7:30 dinner. 8:00 - 10:00 homework. 10:00 bed. 4:00 a.m. wake up, etc. Each day. Everything was on a regime.

Thanks to swimming, I became a creature of habit. And thanks to law school, it's even more evident that I am a creature of routine in my every day functioning. Ron takes issue with it because I tend to get cranky when my routine is messed up. But this is where his laxidazical style and my high-strungtivity clash. I'm adventurous - to an extent - but I stick to the same thing pretty much every day. My study habits. My eating habits. My exercise habits. If I don't get out for my workout by a certain time, it's pretty much a crapshoot after that. My family members and close friends have pointed out than my eating schedule is so strict and rigid that if the time is overshot, my mood plummets and it is a noticeable 180 from happy to royally pissed off in a few short seconds. Ouch. This isn't a good thing but I really can't help it. I was young when I picked up on these patterns of such inflexibility and it's terribly difficult to break a longstanding habit. With swimming, I became obsessed with the same morning rituals and before the meet strategies for success. Perhaps there should have been an intervention at this time, but alas, hindsight is 20/20. O.C.D. is cute when you are 9 years old.

Mini Muffins. Mini muffins were my number one routine. You know those highly processed, fat fueled tiny little bags of muffins you get at the local gas station? Yep, that was my ritual. Morning breakfast was picked up at the Sheetz gas station nearly every Saturday and Sunday morning while en route to the swim meet. They had to be from the individual serving bag; I swore the family pack muffins tasted different. And there were 5 muffins in the white little plastic bag. I even had this cheeky conversation with my mom about the muffins. "Mom, do you want a muffin?" Mom didn't dare answer yes because she knew I needed all five. "No, but thank you." Then I'd eat them all. And mom would say "Ah man, I really wanted that last muffin" leading me to feel terrible about my decision to not give my last muffin to my mom. (Hmm, my "I want to please everyone" approach developed around this time as well.)

And the mini-muffins were always, always, ALWAYS chocolate chip mini-muffins. If I walked into Sheetz and saw only blueberry or banana-nut, my heart would sink. My stomach would drop. My throat would swell up. What the heck was I going to do with those flavors? But I'd suck it up and eat them. Something about them being the same brand or some mind-twisting b.s. like that. And then if I swam poorly, well damn those friggin' blueberry muffins and Sheetz was to blame for not appropriately stocking their shelves!!!!

Obviously, life is not structured to this extent anymore. My O.C.D. habits have dwindled enough to allow me to buy another product if my staple is not in stock. And thankfully my feelings about the food I put into my body have matured as well. (I don't buy meals from the same place I buy my gasoline.) And even more exciting is the fact that I can actually bake my own chocolate chip muffins! The entire time I was making these delicious treats, I had delightful (mostly delightful) memories of my chlorinated past. And if mom was in the house at the time, I certainly would of asked her if she wanted the last muffin.
Chocolate Chip Muffins
from Two Peas and Their Pod
Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients

• 2 cups AP flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs, lightly beatened
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt.
3. In medium bowl, stir together melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract until well blended. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and gently stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool before serving.