Chocoholic Muffins

 
The men in my life all have one thing in common: a strong, deep-seated penchant for chocolate. Growing up, my dad lived on a steady diet of Nestle Crunch bars and Oreo cookies. These days, I live with chocolate lovers of a more discriminating sort (no offense, dad:)) – my husband and son, who know that a little begging and praise is all it takes to get me in the kitchen, covered in cocoa powder. These tender muffins with a double hit of chocolate are one of their favorites...and just as true chocoholics would, they eat them for breakfast. 

If you’re wondering what kind of woman would feed her family chocolate for breakfast, please don’t confuse these muffins with chocolate cupcakes…they’re not nearly as sweet, and since they’re made with buttermilk, brown sugar and baking soda, they have an open crumb as opposed to a fine, cake-like texture. No frosting makes them entirely plausible for breakfast and not too decadent for an after school snack.

 

Hmmmm...



Okay, who am I kidding? They're not exactly good for you - they're chocolate! - but who cares...  :)

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Chocoholic Muffins
Adapted from JoyofBaking.com
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup low fat buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (be sure it is fresh with no hard lumps)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ - 1 cup (to taste) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli)

Directions

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat 425 degrees. Spray a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line with paper liners.

2. In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.  In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. Add the wet ingredients and the melted butter to the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter or the muffins will be tough (it's okay if there are still a few specks of the dry mixture).

3. Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, fill the muffin cups to the brim with batter. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for about 12 minutes more, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (check a few spots as the melted chocolate chips will make the tester look wet). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan; cool on rack.

Comments

[leslie]

I eat chocolate EVERYDAY...seriously!
These look amazing..with a big ass glass of cold milk!

[the domestic mama]

ooo, these do look inviting.Just put some rolled oats on the top and call em breakfast! AWESOME PICS!

[Full Time Foodie]

I definitely don't care. I could eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm sure you could "health" these up by making them with white whole wheat flour. Chocolate masks any whole wheat flavor very well.

[Kellie Choi]

I made these today; They were very good! These muffins fulfilled this chocoholic's every need!!

Just one question...why do you spray the pans before lining with paper liners?

Thanks!

Kellie C.

[Jenn]

Kellie - So glad you enjoyed! I always do that with muffins so the muffin tops don't stick to the pan when they rise and spread. You could just grease the top of the muffin pan, but I'm lazy...it's easier to just spray the whole thing :)

[Jen Kuck]

I agree...who cares? LOL!!! Love, love, LOVE chocolate muffins for breakfast!

[iEatDarkChocolateEveryDay!]

What an inspiring recipe! My slightly health-ified version turned out delicious today! I have been obsessed with making them since you posted the recipe and I finally got a chance today during The Big Snow.
Alterations: (doubled the recipe) 1 cup regular unbleached flour, 1.5 cups white whole wheat, 1 cup spelt flours, one extra egg; and then I mixed about 1/4 cups rolled oats, 2-3 tablespoons mini chips and 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar up in a small bowl, and topped each of them with a scant teaspoonful. I got 30 muffins out of the double recipe.

Next up, the chili for Superbowl Sunday!

Thank you for the great recipes (pictures are fabulous)!!!

[Belinda]

Really good and easy to make. This will become a staple in my house! My husband is always a little dubious about trying anything new. Now I just tell him it's from "Once Upon a Chef" and he's happy to try it - and he has not been disapointed yet. THANKS :)

[Carol McFarland]

They are so light and fluffy...I'm in chocolate heaven. Thank you for the recipe! I made them today and doubled the batch for our family of ten. I believe they will be gone soon. Delicious!!