Category Archives: Double Chocolate Muffins

These have a deep, dark chocolate flavor, but aren’t so decadent that you can’t rationalize eating one for breakfast (if you’re me, anyway). Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and buttering (or spraying) a muffin mold.

Combine the butter and half the chocolate in a small bowl…

…and zap in the microwave in bursts of about 10 seconds each (on high). When you still have some chunks left, stop zapping and allow the residual heat to melt the mixture the rest of the way.

Next, combine your dry ingredients plus the sugar in a medium bowl…

…and whisk.

Making sure your buttermilk and egg are at room temperature, combine them in another bowl.

Whisk that mixture, then add it to the dry ingredients.

Add the chocolate mixture next…

…then gently stir/fold it all together.

When there are still a few unmixed patches of flour left, add the remaining chocolate pieces.

Fold them in gently.

Divide the batter evenly among the cups…

…and bake about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Cool them on a rack for at least five minutes before you attempt to de-pan and eat one. Arrange them artistically on a plate in a misguided attempt to create a chic photograph.

In general I like to stick with the classics, but I had a special plea for a chocolate muffin recipe, so I decided to put one up. These were inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins from her excellent book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. The only difference is that I increased the sugar, since I felt they needed a little more sweetness (no offense, Dorie!). For a more austere muffin, something you would eat with a sweetened cup of coffee, subtract 1/3 cup of sugar.

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
10 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose flour
7 ounces (1 cup) sugar
1 ounce (1/3 cup) cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10.5 ounces (1 1/4 cups) buttermilk
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a muffin pan. Melt half of the chocolate and the butter together in a microwave, using as many 10-second bursts as necessary (stirring between each) to melt the ingredients most of the way. Use the residual heat to do the rest of the job.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl whisk whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients as well as the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and gently stir the mixture until it’s mostly blended. Stir in the remaining chocolate pieces.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing the muffins from the mold.