Double Chocolate Muffins
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Chocolate is my son’s best friend. Whatever I baked that has chocolate in it will definitely please him more than anything else. However, I don’t bake with chocolate that often as I don’t want to over-indulge him with it.
These double chocolate muffins are something that my son has been looking forward to all these while. As his final exam was just over recently, I thought it would be a good time to make him this sweet treat as a way to “de-stress”. He was very excited and eager to learn how to make them.
I showed him how to measure both dry and wet ingredients, and the right way to mix them. When the batter was ready, I said, “Let’s fill up the muffin cups. And, they can go straight to the oven. ” My son was puzzled and asked, “Don’t you need to proof the batter first?” “No, dear. Making muffins is a lot easier and quicker than making bread.” I replied. He was so amazed and told me that he planned to make his own muffins soon. Is it a good news?
My little helper had problem spooning the batter into the mini muffin cups. He spilled some batter on the cups and created quite a mess. It was my mistake for not using a piping bag. Lesson learned!
After 15 minutes of baking, I let the muffins sit inside the oven for another 3 minutes. They turned out beautiful with a nice domed top and no overflow. Taste wise, they were delicious, very chocolaty (which comes from cocoa powder and chocolate chips) and have the right sweetness. These double chocolate muffins are truly every chocolate lover’s dream!
When I shared them with my friend, she had mistakenly thought they were steamed muffins. She never expected baked muffins to have such a soft and moist texture. She was even more surprised when I told her how quick and easy to make, and no electrical mixer is needed.
I had baked these muffins twice so far, and they had disappeared at a rate faster than my previous muffins. These muffins can be kept at the fridge for 2-3 days, or frozen for future consumption. As for mine, they never made it to the freezer!
Recipe
Adapted and modified from Nigella Lawson
Yield: 14 small muffins
(6ch opening diameter x 4cm base diameter x 3.5cm depth)
Ingredients
Steps
- Pre-heat oven to 210°c.
- Sift plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add in sugar, salt and chocolate chips and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Set aside.
- In a separate small bowl or jug, whisk milk, yogurt, egg and oil until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Mix using a hand whisk and half way change to a rubber spatula. Fold until the flour just disappears (do not over mix, or else the muffins will be hard and dense). The batter will be slightly lumpy.
- Pour the batter into a piping bag (note 2) and pipe into the muffin cups until each cup is 90% full. Another way is to spoon the batter into the muffin paper cups. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
- Bake at 210°c for 2 minutes, 190°c for 11 minutes and 180°c for a further 2 minutes (note 3, 4 and 5), or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy. After baking, leave the muffins inside with the oven for a further 3 minutes. Let the residue heat in the oven cook the muffins.
- Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Yogurt makes the muffins stay moist. Greek-style yogurt is creamier and thicker than normal plain yogurt. You can use either one, or substitute the amount with milk.
- You can create your own piping bag by using a clean square or rectangular plastic bag. Transfer the mixture into the bag, tighten the opening with a rubber band and cut a small corner for squeezing. You may need to cut a bigger hole so you can squeeze the chocolate chips out easily.
- Start off the oven hot – This sets the top crust quickly which allows the batter underneath to stay liquid, build up pressure and eventually burst up like a volcano. You may refer to my early post on how to get a nice dome effect.
- Baking time for small muffins is 15 minutes, and large muffin is 20 minutes.
- The baking time and oven temperatures may vary depending on the oven, the size of muffins or the type of muffin cups. So please do your own experiment.
- You can keep these muffins for 2-3 days in the fridge, or freeze inside a zip-lock bag for future consumtion. Whenever you feel like eating them, thaw them completely first and then place them inside a preheated oven/ toaster oven for 5 minutes (power off) before serving.