These muffins are not exactly “healthy”, and in reality are closer to cupcakes than muffins. However, they’re so delicious, it may be worth your while to double this recipe. You will definitely find you’re making new friends every time you pull these out of the oven!

There’s a small amount of instant espresso powder in these muffins, but don’t worry if you don’t have any; you can either substitute with an equivalent amount of instant coffee granules mixed with a tbsp of hot water so it’s a paste, or skip the ingredient altogether. You won’t taste the coffee flavour in the final product, but it will enhance and deepen the chocolate flavour beautifully.

Double Chocolate Muffins

YIELD: 12 servings | PREP: 10 mins | BAKE: 20 mins

• 2¼ cups/308g cake and pastry flour
• ¾ cup/75g brut (dark) cocoa powder
• 2½ tsp/12g baking powder
• ½ tsp/2g baking soda
• ½ tsp/3g kosher salt
• 1 cup/220g light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1¼ cups/300 mL buttermilk or soured milk*
• ½ cup/110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tsp/5mL pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp/1g espresso powder
• 1 cup/170 g chocolate chips of choice (dark, milk, white, flavoured, or a mixture)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C and set rack to middle of oven. Grease 6 large (or 12 standard) muffin cups or line them with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add light brown sugar and whisk together until combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract, and espresso powder until thoroughly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until barely combined. Do not over mix; the batter will be thick and lumpy. Briefly stir in chocolate chips.
4. Fill the muffin cups to ⅔ full (best to use an ice cream scoop/disher for this). Bake for 17-20 minutes, rotating the baking tray once during baking, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan to cool completely.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 days, or frozen well-wrapped for up to 2 months.

*to sour milk, add ¼ tsp white vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk; heat in microwave for 30 seconds and stir