“Caramels are only a fad. Chocolate is a permanent thing.” – Milton Snavely Hershey.
The origins of the word ‘Muffin’ is uncertain. It either comes from the French Moufflet; which means ‘soft bread’ or from the German Muffe, which is a type of cake.
What is certain about muffins however, is that they are ideal for all occasions. A mid-morning snack; a naughty nibble in the middle of the night or a sumptuous gift to give. There is absolutely no better feeling than to wake up to a warm muffin right out of the oven.
I ran a quick poll on Twitter and asked my closest tweeps what their favorite muffin was. The answer was near unanimous: chocolate! Blueberry was a distant second. So here we go: a super quick chocolate fix. Dark, rich cocoa powder and chocolate chips. These muffins are just the thing for a late-morning pick-me-up with a cup of coffee or cold milk.
A sure shot winner recipe, I always go back to Nigella Lawson‘s Double Chocolate Muffin Recipe. It’s versatile, fairly simple and tastes divine every single time.
Apart from the simple double chocolate chip, I have made two more versions – mint and peanut butter.
- 250g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Half?teaspoon bicarbonate soda
- 2 tablespoons best quality cocoa
- 175g caster sugar
- 150g chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling later)
- 250ml milk
- 90ml vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F and line a 12hole muffin tray with paper cases.
- Weigh out the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug.
- Mix both together – it will be a runny batter but spoon into waiting muffin cases.
- Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top then cook for 20 minutes or until the muffins are risen and springy
Our muffin monday team today has 7 fantastic bakers:
Junia, author of Mis Pensamientos, is a food blogger inspired to find creative ways to eat healthy and cook schmancy vegan delights for her family and friends. She has very efficiently adapted this recipe and made it both vegan and gluten free. Click here to view her post. And follow her on twitter: @juniakk
I’m delighted to have Annapet bake with us once again. She has magically incorporated two of my favorite chocolate combinations together. Orange Chocolate and Raspberries. She used Orange Blossom Water in lieu of vanilla and a pinch of kosher salt and two (2) fresh raspberries per muffin. You can imagine the divinity of biting into raspberries laced with molten chocolate. Click here to view her post. Follow her on twitter: @thedailypalette
Kristen from Mind Your Bees and Trees. A new blog that focuses on mindful eating–being aware of the foods we put into our bodies and choosing to eat real, unprocessed foods. She adapted the recipe adding cane sugar, skimmed milk and chopped walnuts. Click here to view her post.
Yuri, Our Dominican-Japanese island baker is back this week with her take on Nigella’s muffin recipe. She not only reduced the quantity of oil by half but she also used olive oil. Another interesting twist she added was using a mixture of coconut flour along with all purpose flour. Click here to view her post.
Elizabeth is a writer by profession and has created food advertising for global ad agencies. She loves to cook, photograph and write about her Filipino & Asian culinary adventures on her 2 blogs Queens Notebook and Asian American Mag. Click here to view her post and follow her on twitter @AnalystQueen
Malou, Author of Skip to Malou is joining us for the first time. She’s used Milo in place of cocoa and choco nut instead of chocolate chips. Click here to view her post and follow her on twitter: @malou_nievera
Terra, Author of Cafe Terra Blog is back this week. Our yoga loving food stylist has baked a lovely coffee version. Click here to view her post. Follow her on twitter: @cafeterrablog
Happy Baking!
First of all Missy I had no clue of the origin of the word muffin so there I learned something new. Second whoah whoah wait a second those muffins in thos chocolate colored cups Mmmm, crazy good! Loved how they popped! Super cool! Yummy photography too!
& oh forgot many of my friends joined & did an awsome job. I wanna too!! next muffin I am in!
WOOHOOO!
Aw, sad I missed out this week and crazy enough, I made chocolate muffins (topped with Italian Meringue!) on Friday for my brother’s birthday! All of them look great!
I always wondered where the word muffin originated but was too lazy to look it up. Thanks for this. The muffins you’ve all made look fantastic! I love chocolate muffins and double chocolate make me smile.
what a feat hosting Muffin Monday and I’m glad I participated this week! yay! (thanks for the invite)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could taste all the muffins here today? That would be amazing and totally a great exchange.
I like the peanut butter versionof yours and btw, how did you put the plump out of your muffin, mine was flat LOL!
have a great week ahead of you!
with muffin love,
Malou
forgot to rate you!
Thanks for having me again this week and for teaching me something new before the day is over! Had no idea about the origin of the word “muffin”, I am now smarter than I was 5 minutes ago :) Love the brown muffin cups and both of your variations. Sweet dreams! xo
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Thanks for including me on my first Muffin Monday! It was so fun to see the different adaptations to the recipes…they all look so good :) I’m already looking forward to next week!
this was so much fun. i can’t wait for next week’s muffin monday! :D sending some chocolate chip muffin love to ya! :D btw, where did you get those cute muffin cups?!! are those normal cups?
we have something awesome planned for next week!! ;) i found the brown cups at a local store, the best thing about them is you can bake in them directly as in you don’t need a muffin pan.
Thank you again for the opportunity to bake with you, An! I have updated the links and I think I have everyone!
This was a lot of fun!
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What wonderful muffins! A great event.
Cheers,
Rosa
what a fantastic post ! i love chocolate best too :) these muffins are big :D they sure are calling out to me ;-)
What a lovely treat to start a week with! Off to check all the beauties.
Super An! So much fun to come to our website on Mondays…the blues just vanish for that bit of time. So I’m going to leave my details on your Contact page for the next muffin challenge. Btw, is it necessary to have a blog to participate? I just want to bake for the fun of it :)
Of course, will email you the details by wednesday.
I’m such a sucker for dessert muffins… probably a reason I don’t make them very often. These look glorious!
Oh my – so much deliciousness! I’d have to go for the peanut buttery ones. :-)
Lovely muffins there An. Nothing like a choco muffin with a hot cuppa black coffee to banish the monday blues away
So many choices…and they all look delicious! I may have to try the mint version first…then the peanut butter…then… :)
Thanks for sharing!
Those look AMAZING and would definitely be a great mid-morning snack!
I have 2 questions:
1. What is caster sugar?
2. Is the cocoa powder sweetened or unsweetened?
Thanks for the great post!
Hi Becca. Thanks for stopping by. :)
– Caster or Castor sugar is also known as very fine sugar in Britain or superfine sugar in the United States. Its generally used because it dissolves quicker than regular white sugar.
– Use unsweetened cocoa powder. I used hershey’s. :)
Happy Baking!
What an amazing spin you’ve put to the classic Double Chocolate Muffin! Thanks for bringing me to this lovely cirlcle of bakers. I’m so honored to be in such good company of baking aficionados!
chocolate is something i need everyday.. these are just great.. i love those mint chips you have used.
Love love the addition of peanut butter, my hubby would adore those! They looked so fluffy and beautiful:-) Thank you for having me again, I really enjoy doing muffin Monday with you:-)
Hugs, Terra
Love all the muffins! Muffin Monday is a great idea, can’t wait to see next week’s.
Chocolate mint is my all time favorite. can’t wait to try it .. XOXO
I enjoy your writing style genuinely loving this website .
Double chocolate muffins are always a WIN in my book :)
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I would eat these Monday muffins any old day of the week! They look wonderful!
Yeah chocolate muffins: dessert and snack! How in the world did you get them to rise up so high out of the muffin cups?! Amazing! And oooh love the peanut butter version – peanut butter with chocolate is a match made in culinary heaven!
you know what i like the most about muffins ? They don’t need extra decoration.. they are pretty on their own :) I don’t like cupcakes only because of frosting and muffins I can eat all day long.
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