Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Every once in a while, I get a hankering for muffins.  Usually it’s blueberry or banana.  But this time I was looking for something a little different and wasn’t looking to spend $3.49 on a half-pint of out-of-season blueberries.  So I leafed through a few of my cookbooks and decided that Dorie’s has been fairly neglected since the dreamy cheesecake I miracuously discovered at Thanksgiving.

And while I’ve seen a few different Dorie muffin recipes floating around the blogs recently, I had my eye on just one:  chocolate-chocolate chunk muffins.  I had visions of those delicious and full-fat chocolaty muffins from Costco or BJs.  You know the ones…the ones that are sold in the rectangular cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic…but homemade and not so full of artery-clogging fats.  So when I read Dorie’s description of this recipe, I was a little let down…”slightly sweet”?  I knew I didn’t want a chocolate cupcake but I wanted a fair amount of sweetness.  So I fixed the recipe. I added some extra sugar and used a nice mix of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate rather than all bittersweet.

And they turned out perfect!  I think I would even add a wee bit more sugar the next time I made them.  They were dense and definitely chocolaty and they definitely had the best muffin top I’ve gotten out of any of the muffins I’ve made yet.  Because they are so dark, you could definitely sneak some dried fruit in the there like cherries or raisins, which I might try next time I made them.  And of course if you wanted to add some nuts, you could do that too.  I doubled the recipe (which yielded exactly 24) without any issues (except for my bowl size – yikes!!) and froze about half of them on a sheet pan until hard and then transferred them to a large zipper bag.  To thaw, heat in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Dorie suggests eating them with some cherry jam but I prefer mine smeared with some peanut butter – YUM!!!!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

source: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours

• 3/4 stick (6 tbsp) unsalted butter
• 4oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 350 (for a dark nonstick pan) degrees F.  Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.  Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups.  Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
2. Melt the butter and half of the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; or do this in a microwave.  Remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined.  Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend.  Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter.  Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for about 20 18 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.