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.

11 thoughts on “Double Chocolate Muffins”

  1. There seems to be a lot of leavening for the amount of flour in this recipe… and the extra leavening seems to have weakened the gluten to a point that they didn’t rise as much as they would have if there were a tad less leavening? (At least this seems to be what it looks like from the photos!)
    I’ve always wondered why we shouldn’t add the chips (or whatever solids) in with the flour. Surely mixing them in towards the very end, even when there’re traces of flour left, means extra folding and therefore sacraficing tenderness?

    1. Hey Henry!

      I think the reason they look flatter than regular muffins is because I took lots of care not to activate much gluten, so they had less volume. There is quite a bit of leavening here. Honestly I’m not completely sure why, other than all the cocoa and inclusions undermine the structure of the muffins (and/or weigh it down). More agitation would probably increase the volume…though they didn’t taste overly dense to me. You can add the chocolate earlier if you like, though my feeling is that unmixed flour tends to collect around them. But it’s up to you for certain.

      – Joe

  2. How about little cinnamon buns in the muffin tray? Do you think they would go well with a cupcake liner approach? We do a lot of dessert catering in orange county, but I think those would do well for breakfast.

    1. Hey Eric, I worked at a bakery here in Madison, WI and we did “Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes”, which were just cinnamon rolls baked in cupcake liners. When you do the second rise, you just put them in cupcake lined tins instead of on a baking sheet.

    2. VERY interesting idea, Eric. I don’t see why not. Brioche bakes well in just about any form. But unless your guests really do need a hand-held, you might not even need the liners. Let me know how your experiments go!

      – Joe

  3. Hey Joe, I was browsing through your blog after I stumbled across it straight down Smitten Kitchen and I found this gorgeous recipe. I have just one question – can I substitute oil for butter? And if I can, how much would be good?

    1. Hello Panu!

      Yes, you can substitute oil for butter if you wish, the same amount by weight. I haven’t tried that with these particular muffins, but I can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t work. Please tell me how they turn out!

      – Joe

  4. Hello,
    I made these last night, and they turned out perfect. They were exactly what I wanted (for breakfast).
    Thanks for a great recipe; I know I’ll go back to it. 🙂
    Amanda

    1. Wonderful to hear, Amanda! Thanks so much for weighing in and telling me. I always love to hear about successes.

      – Joe

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