I'm all about any excuse to justify chocolate with breakfast. Truthfully it doesn't take much, as I usually have some sort of chocolate stashed in my desk that I eat before 10am anyways, but that's neither here nor there. There's something about biting into a muffin or piece of coffee cake that seems to start the day off right. I'd be in trouble if I kept either around the house on a regular basis because I love breakfast sweets so much I end up eating them all day long. I don't know how some people skip breakfast. It's literally the first thing I think about every morning. 

I brought these muffins into work today and everyone kept calling them cupcakes because they are chocolate...with chocolate chips. I've always thought muffins and cupcakes differed in two main ways. I'm sure Google could answer this question as well, but I won't bother looking it up. The first is that muffins don't have icing. It doesn't matter this muffin is rich and chocolatey. It doesn't have icing. It's a muffin! The exception: coffee cake muffins with any sort of glaze. It can still be a muffin even with a sweet glaze. Go ahead and eat it for breakfast. No one's judging. The second is the way in which the ingredients are combined. Here's where these delicious chocolate muffins tip toe the line.

I got this recipe from Dough Puncher, and though she originally combined the ingredients according to a standard cupcake method, she suggested that she might like it better if she switched to the cake method next time. Well, she may not have tried her recommendation yet, but I'm here to vouch for these muffins mixed according to the cake method. These are so good I see no reason to go back to the original method next time. They are most certainly muffins, but they're sweet enough that you wouldn't imagine spreading a piece of butter or jam on them like some people do with muffins.

The flavor is rich and chocolatey. The texture is denser than some of the lighter muffins (which, let's be real, we could eat like five of anyways), but lighter than most cakes. They stayed moist (sorry) beyond the first day and a half, and that's a big accomplishment with muffins. You will LOVE these. Make them and find any way to share them..because keeping them around the house is a dangerous thing!


Double Chocolate Muffins
Recipe from Dough Puncher (adapted from Barbara Bakes)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (skim, 1%, 2%, whatever you have works)
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini chips)


1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners to make 12 muffins.
2) Cream together the butter, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla until light and fluffy - about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated between each addition.

3) Stir together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with the milk, in 2-3 additions each (so add a third of the flour, half of the milk, another third of the flour, etc.).
4) Divide batter between 12 muffin cups and bake 24-27 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean (a little melted chocolate is fine - the toothpick may hit a melty chocolate chip). 


5 comments

Erika said... @ June 12, 2013 at 3:24 PM

These look super amazing! I'm curious about these cake vs. cupcake methods you speak of. In any case, great photos!! I'd love to give these a whirl sometime soon!

Anonymous said... @ July 9, 2013 at 1:31 AM

I made these upcakes and they were very, very dry for some reason. Which I found very odd because of the sour cream and milk. The chocolate flavor was rich and decadent but the lack of moisture made them not go over very well at all.

Anonymous said... @ July 12, 2013 at 2:13 AM

These turned out magical and amazing. I'm gonna add a little nutmeg and make them to take home for Thanksgiving. Yum!

Sarah said... @ July 23, 2013 at 5:49 PM

Anon - I'm sorry to hear the muffins turned out dry! There's nothing worse than a dry muffin. It may have had something to do with over-mixing after the flour was added, or maybe your oven cooks faster than most (mine is like that). I will try making these again sometime soon to take notes on any additional tips I can think of!

Anonymous said... @ January 29, 2014 at 8:35 AM

I made these muffins and mine were very dry as well. The last 2 were eaten last night by my 18 year old. He didn't seem to notice, but I couldn't eat them without adding butter to moisten them!

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