I have always loved chocolate, but I have never considered myself a chocoholic. It’s just one of many things I like! But the list of desserts I plan to develop recipes for reveals the truth… There is chocolate almost everywhere! So, now that I am clearly a chocoholic, I can confidently say that these double chocolate muffins are a chocolate lover’s dream: moist, soft, and full of indulgent chocolate flavor.
The secret of moist double chocolate muffins
Chocolate muffins often tend to be dry because cocoa powder is a very drying ingredient. But not in this case. In this recipe, cocoa is bloomed with hot coffee, which enhances the chocolate flavor and adds moisture. A generous amount of sour cream also plays an important role here. Many people would suggest using oil for a moister result, but no, thank you, I did not choose oil this time. Ok, to be honest, I tried it, but I did not feel any change in moistness simply by swapping butter for oil. What I definitely felt was a significant decrease in flavor quality, and flavor is something I never compromise on.
Baking time and temperature are also important players in the moisture game. The longer you bake at a higher temperature, the more water evaporates, and the less moisture is left in the baked muffin. But hey, we usually start baking muffins at a higher temperature to get those high-risen tops, don’t we? Here, I made a compromise: I baked these muffins at a higher temperature just long enough to kickstart the rise, but shorter than usual so that the muffins would not dry out too much. And they still rose beautifully!
Video Instructions
Moist Double Chocolate Muffins
These double chocolate muffins are a chocolate lover’s dream: moist, soft, and full of indulgent chocolate flavor.
- Prep Time10 min
- Bake / Cook Time20 min
- Rest / Chill Time30 min
- Total Time1 hr
- Yield12 muffins
Ingredients
- 60 g | 2.1 oz strong black coffee
- 30 g | 1 oz cocoa powder (Dutch-processed)
- 10 g | 1 tbsp | 0.4 oz dark rum or brandy
- 160 g | 5.6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (50%)
- 200 g | 7 oz wheat flour (all-purpose or plain)
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 200 g | 7 oz brown sugar (Demerara)
- 2 large eggs (100-120 g | 3.5-4.2 oz without shells in total)
- 150 g | 5.3 oz sour cream
- 100 g | 3.5 unsalted butter (melted)
Directions
Prepare coffee, and while it’s still hot, pour it onto cocoa powder. Add rum and mix well. Set aside to cool slightly.
Chop the chocolate roughly with a knife. Set aside a small portion of the chocolate chunks to decorate the muffin tops.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix everything well and set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, sour cream, and cocoa mixture and mix everything well.
Add melted butter and mix well again.
Add previously mixed dry ingredients and the bigger part of the chocolate chunks to the batter. Mix everything lightly, just until combined.
Cover the batter and let it rest at room temperature for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 220°C | 425°F. Prepare a cupcake baking tin with standard-sized muffin liners (bottom diameter ~5 cm | 2 inch).
Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. Don’t mix the batter; just spoon and flop. You should fill the cups almost fully.
Sprinkle the tops with the remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 5 minutes at 220°C | 425°F, then without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 180°C | 350°F. Bake for ~15 more minutes.
After taking the muffins out of the oven, leave them in the pan for a few minutes. Then, take them out and transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
notes
- You can substitute the sour cream with the same amount of Greek or natural yogurt.
- Coffee can be decaffeinated, or if you don’t drink coffee at all, you can substitute it with the same amount of hot water.
- Alcohol adds some depth of taste, but it’s optional. You can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract instead or skip it altogether.
- When the muffins are just baked, there is a lot of melted chocolate inside, so a toothpick test does not really help. To test the doneness, slightly press the top of the muffin with your finger. If it springs back, it is done. Or simply trust the timing.
