Chocolate Breakfast Muffins
These muffins are rich and tender, high-rising, and deep chocolate, both in color and flavor. Warm from the oven, spread with butter or raspberry jam, they're a totally decadent way to greet the day. We recommend them anytime you feel like treating yourself to something really special. And, by the way, they don't need to be relegated to the breakfast table; frosted with fudgy icing, they double as an awesome cupcake. A final aside–one of the King Arthur taste-tester comments we received was as follows: "This is the best chocolate thing I've ever had to eat in my whole life, and the best thing I've ever eaten here at King Arthur." Fair praise, indeed!
2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-proces cocoa
1 3/4 cups (7 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cups (9 3/8 ounces) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) butter, melted
coarse pearl sugar, for topping (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a standard muffin pan with paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a large measuring cup or medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend; there's no need to beat these muffins, just make sure everything is well-combined.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin; the cups will be heaped with batter, and the muffin will bake into a "mushroom" shape. Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if desired.
Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, allowing them to cool for about 15 minutes on a rack before peeling off the muffin papers or silicone cups. Yield: 12 muffins.
Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, 101g): 335 cal, 13.8g fat, 6g protein, 18g complex carbohydrates, 28g sugar, 3g dietary fiber, 69mg cholesterol, 273mg sodium, 265mg potassium, 101RE vitamin A, 3mg iron, 108mg calcium, 117mg potassium, 18mg caffeine.
Reviews
02/03/2009
Excellent muffins - light and fluffy, chocolatey and not too sweet. I made them twice, first with the volume measurements, then with the weight measurements. The ones by weight were superior - lighter, fluffier and more moist. I omitted the pearl sugar.
03/05/2009
I baked this twice, first using the weight method, later using the volume method. I prefer the volume method. They taste wonderful, very moist and chocolaty; but not overly sweet. I also changed out the type of chips, using cinnamon chips for one recipe. When using the weight method, my batter was very loose, the consistency of cake batter. Although the volume method produced a thicker batter, it was still not as stiff as the recipe implies. Both methods also required significantly less baking time. Each time I was able to remove the muffins in 17 or 18 minutes. One the plus side, the recipe yielded MORE then 12 muffins each time, 20 with the weight method and 18 using the volume method.
03/06/2009
These are excellent! I've been using the recipe for years. Besides being wonderfully chocolatey and moist, the recipe is very versatile. I've used all manner of chips, nuts and dried fruit in them. I've baked them as mini muffins and as jumbo ones. And I've baked the whole recipe as a bundt cake. In fact, if you're familiar with Miss Grace's Chocolate Fudge Cake (which is quite famous in Los Angeles), this is it! When I make them for breakfast, I combine the dry ingredients and separately mix up the wet ingredients. In the morning it takes no time to mix them together and have the muffins in the oven.
04/30/2009
This is THE chocolate muffin to bake. I cannot get enough of them and my family loves them. I bake 2-3 doz. at a time and keep some in the freezer at all times. They keep longer than most muffins and are not too sweet. I do not use the pearl sugar on them...they don't need any thing else. Although frosting them would be an extra treat! I bring one to work with me every day.
08/12/2009
This recipe is a great find! It is extremely quick and easy and yields a lovely, chocolatey, sturdy cupcake (or muffin). I did use the pearl sugar and it is both pretty and tasty as it adds a sweet crunch to the top.
11/10/2009
This is the best chocolate muffin, great taste and texture. I have made these several times and they never fail. Everyone loves these, can't keep enough of them on hand. Thanks for such a great recipe.
11/10/2009
The flavor of these muffins is really good - and not overly sweet. The described procedure also works, except for the baking time. Mine too were ready in about 18 minutes (I made 12 in 1/2 cup capacity muffin tin - used the weight method). Thanks!
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