Chocolate muffins

I have several muffin recipes, all of which are easy and delicious, but this is one of my favorites. These chocolate muffins are cakey and fluffy and have a wonderful chocolate flavor, and they taste just like regular muffins. It let's "you won't believe it's gluten free" live up to its name.

What you will need:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup rice flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional but quite tasty)

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line or grease nine sections of a muffin tin.

-In a medium-size bowl, mix the oil with the sugar. Add the eggs. Mix until light yellow and a little thicker. This will take a minute or two with your mixer, or, if you've only got a fork, it's a chance to build up a little arm strength. Add the other ingredients except the chips if you are using them. Batter will be quite thick. Divide among the nine sections of the muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle tests cleanly.



Note: If you are using the chocolate chip option, I would recommend against using semi-sweet chocolate chips, and opting for more classic chocolate chips. The semi-sweet flavor just doesn't quite meld with the chocolate taste of the muffin.

Also, the only reason all of my recipes to date have been rice-flour based is because I have more rice flour than corn starch and I'm trying to be resourceful :-)

(Thanks to Roben Ryber, author of "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free". This recipe was the rice-flour based version of Chocolate Chip Muffins. Corn starch, oat flour, and potato starch based versions also exist.)