Thursday, November 18, 2010

Nigella's Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins


I'm on a Nigella kick and may be for a while. She rarely lets you down in the kitchen (we just won't mention her plastic lime phase, okay?) And with all the cooking I'm doing this time of year, I like to pretend she's actually in the kitchen with me. I suppose you could say it's my culinary version of singing in the shower, though possibly weirder and more disturbing. Hopefully none of my readers are psychologists.

Anyway my sweet mother in law is coming for a visit today so I made these to have on hand for an easy breakfast or snack. If there are any more diehard chocoholics out there than she and my husband, I'd like to meet them and possibly have them studied for scientific purposes. The funny thing about chocolate is, even as a person who often thinks it's over-rated and over-hyped, I usually end up being the one to finish up the last piece of chocolate cake, or in this case, muffin.

Wow, in just one post I've revealed that I'm not only somewhat delusional but that I sometimes cook with imaginary friends. I'll stop writing now.

Nigella's Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 large egg
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips plus more for sprinkling on top
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray (or fill with paper cups.) Set aside.

Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with a whisk. Measure the wet ingredients into a large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisking or stirring well to break up the egg. Make a well in the dry ingredient bowl, then add about half the wet mixing with a spatula or spoon just until blended (don't over mix or you'll have chocolate bricks instead of muffins.)

Add the rest of the wet and mix again, JUST until mixed. Divide the batter evenly between the cups and sprinkle over the additional chocolate chips.

Bake for 16-20 minutes until the muffins have risen and become firm and springy. Let sit in the tins for a few minutes to finish setting before removing to a wire rack (though to be honest I often forget to remove them for a couple of hours and all ends well.)

Store in an air tight container for up to 3 days or freeze.

15 comments:

Zoe said...

Oh...I have this book too. Got to make these muffins too :D

Unknown said...

A perfect treat for Chocolate lovers! These look great!!!

I do the same thing...it's usually a male chef though like Bobby Flay or Curtis and (in my imagination) they're always overly complementing me on my cooking AND my cute outfit :)

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...

Zoe - I love her cookbooks! They're probably the only cookbooks I read cover to cover like a novel...

DW&D - LOL that you do that to. I would never kick Mr. Flay or Curtis out of my kitchen, that's for sure;)

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Girl.. talk about thinking alike.. I just made these back in October... LOL Get out of my head, will you!! :)

http://jennsfoodjourney.blogspot.com/2010/10/chocolate-chocolate-chip-muffins_29.html

Heidi said...

My favorite part of Nigella's shows is right at the very end when she raids the fridge in her oh so chic robe. My husband caught me doing that in my oh so drab teacup pajamas and said, "What, are you trying to be like Nigella?" I made these muffins years ago, thanks for the reminder.

Brownieville Girl said...

Nigella says in one of her books that she wants her readers to feel as if she were a friend with them in the kitchen ... she'd be delighted to read your post.

Muffins look great!

Simply Life said...

oh my gosh, I want to eat all of those!

Katie@Cozydelicious said...

Oh man, I want one of these muffins right now! I bet they would even be good with a scoop of icecream for a dessert treat!

lisa is cooking said...

I've been loving the Nigella show on FoodNetwork on Sunday mornings lately. And, I'm now convinced I need more of her books. These muffins look delicious! Further proof I need more of her books.

blackbookkitchendiaries said...

this looks so yummy! thanks for sharing it.

Karen said...

Ha! Your admissions made me laugh. I think we all do versions of that though.
These muffins look fantastic! Chocolate for breakfast (or lunch or dinner) is fine by me.

Velva said...

Oh my! These muffins would be with me all day for breakfast, lunch and snacking. Awesome!!!

Deborah said...

I was just craving muffins, and these look amazing!!

Diana's Cocina said...

You had me at Nigella!!!