Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Flavored with cocoa powder and adorned with semi sweet chocolate chips, these muffins are one of the best ways to start your day. Be it spring, summer or winter, I never shy away from having chocolate in my baked goods.

There might be some body in your family or friends that you know of who aren't fond of dark or bittersweet chocolate, though they do indulge in semi sweet chocolate desserts or chocolate based goods that are not overly chocolatey (my husband being one of such humans). These chocolate chocolate chip muffins are perfect for such characters since it is flavored with cocoa powder and the chocolate chips are mixed in the batter to give the muffins a sweet chocolate flavor.

I like my muffins to bulge up and have a nice mountain like shape. To achieve this, preheat your oven to 220 degrees C / 430 degrees F. What this does is, as soon as you place your muffins in the preheated oven, the high temperature gives a burst of heat to the muffins, helping them to expand and peak up. However, do keep in mind that whichever muffin you bake, if your muffin batter's consistency is on the thinner side, you wouldn't be able to get a peak top (there's absolutely no difference in the flavor though, whatever the shape). Also, do not forget to reduce the oven's temperature about 10 minutes after you place the muffins. Else, you'll have the muffin tops burnt by the time they are cooked from the inside.

Craving for more chocolate recipes? Head on to Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Traditional Dark Chocolate Cake, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies, Dense and Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.
Recipe Source: Nigella Feast

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients
250 grams / 8.8 ounces plain four or all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
175 grams / 6.1 ounces caster sugar or superfine sugar
150 grams / 5.3 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips plus extra for sprinkling
250 ml / 8.5 fl oz milk at room temperature
90 ml / 3 fl oz vegetable oil
1 large egg at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C / 430 degrees F. Line a muffin tray with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sieve together all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips and mix the ingredients thoroughly with a hand held whisk until well blended.

In a separate measuring jug or a bowl, beat in all the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Fold in with a rubber spatula until the ingredients are just mixed. It's fine if there are lumps but do not over mix or else you'll have tough muffins.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners. Sprinkle a few chips on top of the muffins pressing them just a little into the batter so that they do not fall out when the muffins bulge up.

Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees C / 390 degrees F and bake for another 10 minutes or until a cake tester or a wooden skewer inserted in the muffins comes out with a few dry crumbs attached to it.

Place the muffin tray on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the tray and keep them on the wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy your freshly baked Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins with a cup of hot coffee.

Storage Suggestions: Muffins are best eaten on the same day or they can be frozen in a ziplock bag or an airtight container for up to a month.

Happy Baking!!!