I don’t know about you but the start of a new year can feel such a letdown, even if nothing happens – especially January 1st. So, you should have a few tricks up your sleeve to give yourself a little nudge just when you need it the most. This recipe is my trick, and after a particularly blue day I definitely wanted to share it with you. It’s not the general recipe for survival (that should include the January sales, obviously), just the recipe for the best muffins ever. The essential pick-me-up to beat the January blues.
For the original recipe I must credit Nigella (it appeared in one of her TV shows and in her book ‘Feast’). We have been making these muffins at home for years now so we have made some adjustments just to fit our own ingredients and personal taste.
They are absolutely tasty, springy, just the right kind of gooey, a bit less sweet than what you get in coffee shops. In a single word, heavenly.
Ingredients
- 250g plain white wheat flour (I use a big 400ml mug and lightly pile it full, even over the brim)
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder (here, it comes in sachets of 10g, exactly the amount we need)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda (make it a light teaspoonful, not piled as high as it would go)
- 2 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder (the darkest, unsweetened kind of stuff)
- 175g powdered white sugar (I use the same 400ml mug and lightly fill it until it’s almost full)
- 250ml milk
- 90ml vegetable oil (I use extra virgin olive oil, the light-taste version)
- 2 chicken eggs (mid-sized ones)
- 1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
- Optional: peel of 1 orange, finely grated
- Now, about the extra chocolate: the original recipe suggests 150g chocolate chips you can buy in many supermarkets. Instead, I buy 2 (or better, 3) of my fave ‘standard’, unfilled chocolate bars (100g each), like Milka’s plain alpine milk chocolate, plus white chocolate. If you are a fan of dark chocolate, you can use 1 milk choc bar, 1 white choc bar of 100g each, plus a dark choc bar of 50mg. Cut them all up in small cubes, then save about a quarter of each type for sprinkling on top later.
Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (I use an electric oven and select the two-sided baking option – not ventilation)
Fill a 12-bun muffin baking tray with paper cases (I use paper cases of 7 cm in diameter)
Weigh out the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Include 3/4 of the chocolate chunks you want to use.
Pour the liquid ingredients together (in a measuring jug or a smaller bowl).
Mix the dry and the liquid ingredients together in the large bowl (just until you eliminate any dry patches)
Spoon the runny mix into the muffin cases.
Sprinkle the remaining choc chunks on top.
Put the muffin tray into the preheated oven (I put it on the middle shelf or the second one from the top)
Cook for 20 minutes (the muffins should be risen).
Enjoy 🙂
Muffin baking tray and black steel lantern by Ikea