Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

This recipe is an adaptation of Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins, which was recently featured on Stella Bites.

The adaptation part of this recipe was really an accident. I didn't have enough milk to make the recipe, but I did have some leftover coffee from the morning and still desperately wanted muffins. So I made some substitutions, performed some muffin magic, and enjoyed the results quite a bit.



Mocha Chocolate-Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, and more for sprinkling on top
3 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1/3 cup, plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a large measuring cup, mix all wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir ONLY till moistened. It's very important not to over-mix quick breads, such as muffins, or they can get very tough.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill with batter. I wanted substantial size muffins, and to wash only one tin, so I squeezed all the batter into just 12 muffin cups, but if I had cut back a little in each, I could have easily gotten about 4 to 6 more muffins. I sprinkled with some of the remaining chocolate chips and then baked for 18 minutes in a 400 degree oven.



The muffins were tender and soft, not overly sweet and very chocolaty. Thanks to Nigella and Stella for the inspiration.