Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with liners and spray them lightly with oil.

Step 2

Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup or small bowl and set aside to curdle. This is your vegan buttermilk.

Step 3

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and cornstarch. If the cocoa powder is really clumpy, sift it in.

Step 4

Pour the vegan buttermilk, oil and vanilla into the dry ingredients bowl. Stir with a spatula gently, being careful not to over mix. Over mixing muffin batter makes them hard instead of soft.

Step 5

Fold in most of the chocolate chips, saving about 1/4 cup for the tops.

Step 6

Fill muffin cups nearly to the top and sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on the tops.

Step 7

Bake for 26-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Be careful not to over bake, or the muffins will become dense and dry.

Step 8

Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Step 9

Enjoy! Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days. They also freeze perfectly.