Dark chocolate cocoa muffins
I
am a chocoholic, so I was thrilled when I realized you can substitute
cocoa for flour in baked goods and end up with the same
fluffiness and texture as in the original, but with double the
chocolate
content. My first trial was a chocolate
crust for our butternut pie, then I created this dark
chocolate cocoa muffin recipe based on our favorite chocolate cake recipe.
Mark and I agree that
this is every bit as good as the world class
chocolate muffins we enjoyed on our cruise a year ago, and the muffins
are unbelievably easy to throw together. If you currently fulfill
your chocolate cravings with cake mix or pre-made cakes from the
grocery store, you can save a bundle (and delete some of the bad
ingredients) by using this recipe instead.
- 1 c. sugar
- 1/3 c. plus 1/4 c. white flour
- 2/3 c. cocoa
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c. milk powder, dissolved in water to yield 1/2 c. of dense
milk
- 1/4 c. peanut oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 c. boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350
F. Grease two medium cookie tins --- this recipe will make 12
muffins.
Stir together the sugar,
flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
If you're adventurous, feel free to increase or decrease the flour and
cocoa quantities until you find just the right chocolate point for you
--- the sum of the two quantities should equal 1.25 cups.
Add eggs, dense milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed with
the mixer
for two minutes while bringing some water to a boil.
Stir in the boiling
water. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake until done. (I
can't tell you an exact baking time because the numbers have rubbed off
my oven temperature dial and I'm not certain I was baking at exactly
350.)
I've
tried several times adding chocolate chips to these muffins, but try as
I might, the chips drop to the bottom. I even whirred the chips
in the blender to make them smaller and still ended up with
chips-on-the-bottom. If anyone can figure out a way to make my
chocolate chips stay suspended in the thin batter, I'd be forever
grateful!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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It could be that the specific gravity of the chips are that much higher than the batter that they can't stay in suspension. Try dropping then on top just as you put them in the oven. Does it have to be boiling water? Again thinking of specific gravity.
One trick I use for thin cakes etc that I want to have a surprise filling in is to put half the batter in, cook for 1/4 time probably about 5 min, then add filling in center and other half batter then finish baking, alternatively you could try cooking entire muffin for ~ 5-10 min then adding chips and then finish baking. See if one of those works for you.
Maybe if i get around to it I will post my choc/choc chip breadmachine recipe.
Thanks so much for commenting, everybody! That gives me a lot of great avenues to explore!
I had considered baking the muffins for a few minutes then dropping in the chips, but it seemed like it would mess with the top. On the other hand, if all else fails, chips-in-the-middle would be a great surprise.
First, I think I'll try Ikwig's suggestion of dusting the chips with cocoa. I had thought that was to keep fruit from sticking together, but now I'm wondering if it is to help them stay suspended.
Vester --- I think the boiling water is important to get the full fluffiness of the muffins. I suspect it activates the baking powder and soda to give you extra rise before the heat locks the texture of the muffin into shape.
For the chips to stay in place, you need the mixture to be either thixotropic (become very viscous once you stop mixing) or more like a paste. Try adding some more flour. If that doesn't work, try adding corn starch.
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I am always looking for new tastes and recipes for my blog, I love to bake, eat and write...specially chocolate in all kind of shapes and tastes,,. and mixed with cocoa ..wow...looks delicious.:-)
I will try it this xmas, I think it can be a good combination with my classic gingerbred cookies recipe...:-)
regards