Chunky Chocolate Muffins

 

I am really struggling to do any recipes on my blog over the past couple of weeks as whenever I’ve had a free day it’s been raining, which means clouds, and as I use natural light to take my food photos I need some sun…..at least just a little.
Today I wanted to make my Cadbury Creme Egg Cheesecake but hello, the remnants of Cyclone Debbie that struck northern Australia has arrived. We’ve had heavy rain since midnight last night which is expected to last a few days, I hope it isn’t as bad as they’ve predicted and any flooding is minimal.

I made these a few weeks ago and to be honest I never just put chocolate in a muffin, not all by its little lonesome. They were supposed to contain pears because I always add fruit to chocolate muffins, ie; to these, I’d usually add some pears, apples, apricots, strawberries, bananas, peaches and/or throw some caramel or custard into the centre. Anyway I forgot to buy the pears and time was of the essence that day so I upped the usual chocolate quota and left them simple, Simon.
If you haven’t tried my muffins before you might say “Oh, just boring old chocolate chip muffins” but if I have fed you, you’ll know there are no boring old chocolate chips (again, sorry to my Dutch friends) in sight, only warm, gooey, morsels of chocolate and the soft crumbly texture created from the use of natural yoghurt, makes this muffin recipe a keeper.

Go ahead, don’t just take my word for it, try them out for yourself…..make em….lol.

 

INGREDIENTS

115 g / 4 oz butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 large eggs (I use size 7’s)
2 cups standard flour (loosely packed)
3 teaspoons baking powder (yes….3!)
300 g / 10 ¾ oz milk chocolate (from a block or buttons)
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons of plain, unsweetened, natural yoghurt

Optional – 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
Also optional – x 12 standard-size muffin cases or x 6 large Texas-size muffin cases

 

Makes x 12 standard-sized muffins (7 cm W x 3 cm D holes) or x 6 large Texan-sized muffins (8.5 cm W x 4 cm D holes)

 

Note

• I buy a normal family size block of chocolate for baking as they are often cheaper than cooking chocolate and I use my biggest knife to roughly cut it up. I don’t use chocolate chips as I love biting into a piece of gooey chocky when the muffins are still warm! If I use chocolate buttons, I keep them whole for the Texas-sized muffins or roughly chop them up for the smaller ones. If you are using ‘morsels’ they are perfect just the way they are!!

 

STEP BY STEP

First, liberally spray the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or place your cases into the holes.

• I don’t bother spraying muffin papers but my mum does, just a light spray. I’d say it’s a personal preference! It may also depend on the quality of them as to how easily they come away from the muffins or cupcakes.

Next, preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.

Getting started on the muffin mix, roughly chop up the chocolate, quite small if you are making small muffins and a bit larger for the Texas size. If you’d like to drizzle chocolate on top, later on, place approx 50 g / 1 ¾ oz of it into a small microwave proof bowl and leave it aside.

• If you’re using chocolate buttons they can be kept whole in the Texas-sized muffins but are better if they are roughly chopped up for the smaller ones.

Place the castor sugar in a large bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat or on HIGH in the microwave for approx. 1 min, 20 secs (or until done).

Add the butter to the sugar (no need to let it cool down) and using a large spoon, mix the two together until they are just combined.

• I was told that using the butter hot gives the muffins a better colour so I use it straight away. I also think it gives the muffins a fudgy texture as it melts the castor sugar a bit.

Now add both of the eggs and quickly mix them in well.

Next, throw on (literally) the flour, baking powder, the chocolate and the yoghurt.

• If ‘throwing’ in the flour and baking powder together worries you, you can sift or stir them together in a separate bowl first.

Fold it all together until it’s all just combined. Usually I leave a bit of flour around the edges of the bowl so I know it’s not over mixed.

• Muffins are like scones, they don’t appreciate a lot of handling. Over mixing will cause them to be denser and not as ‘fluffy’ in texture.

Now carefully spoon the muffin mixture into the sprayed tin or cases (either 6 large or 12 small), being careful not to push the mix down as they will rise less and be denser in texture.

I wait until I have distributed the whole mix before I check that they all have the same amount in them because like I said they hate being played with. Then I take bits from the bigger ones and place it on top of the smaller looking ones, still not pushing the mixture downwards…..more like moving it around, not down. For example I will take some from a larger one and add it to a gap on top of a smaller one or I will move some mix sideways to fill in a gap but I still try not to push the mix down.

• If you are using those muffin papers that are higher than the tin be careful to try not to get any batter on the paper as it will cook on there and they won’t look a nice.

Place them in the oven and bake the smaller ones for 20 minutes and 30 minutes for the Texan-sized ones or until they are a medium brown all over, feel firm when you gently press the centres and a small, sharp knife inserted into the centres comes out clean.

Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes before gently removing.

If you reserved 50 g / 1 ¾ oz chocolate for the tops, once the muffins have cooled, place the chocolate into the microwave and melt it, starting with 20 seconds and then stirring and repeating until melted. Use a small spoon to drizzle it over the tops.

If using them, scatter over the sliced almonds.

WALA. delicious muffins filled with gooey morsels of chocolate!

These are beautiful warmed….just above room temperature, enough so that the chocolate is soft. 🙂

Keepin’ em fresh – They are best kept in the pantry in an air-tight container and I really like them to be eaten on the day. The second day they’re still okay but not as awesome as they are on day one, so I like to warm them up for 15 seconds in the microwave to freshen them up a bit….just above room temperature to where the chocolate has just started to melt. 🙂