Double Chocolate Muffins

Studded with mini chocolate chips, double chocolate muffins are something I would typically serve with lunch or as an afternoon snack, but we've been known to enjoy them as an indulgent breakfast item from time to time. 

These muffins are best served a day or two after they're baked, but they freeze beautifully in an airtight container for up to a month.  To thaw, keep in airtight container as they thaw overnight in the fridge.  I enjoy these muffins chilled or at room temperature, but my girls enjoy them heated in the microwave for just a few seconds to melt the mini chocolate chips.  If you should happen to find yourself with slightly stale muffins, try this indulgent twist - break a muffin into bits, place the bits in a bowl, and drizzle with heavy cream - heaven!

Ingredients:  eggs, applesauce, flour, unsalted butter, the best dutch-processed cocoa powder you can find, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and mini chocolate chips.

Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer).

Use the paddle attachment or, even better, a BeaterBlade attachment!  If you love to bake, do yourself a favor on get a BeaterBlade.  It eliminates the pesky task of having to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl.  Love, love, love this thing!

On a side note - I have tried a similar attachment that's made by the company that makes the stand mixer and there's no comparison, the BeaterBlade works much better.  They're available for various makes and models of mixers so have that information handy before you purchase. 

Back to the recipe - add the eggs, applesauce, and cocoa sifted cocoa powder.  Nothing worse than biting into a dry clump of unsweetened cocoa powder so don't forget to sift that cocoa!! 

Mix until incorporated.  Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled - it's fine.

Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; mix until no traces of flour remain.

Stir in the mini chocolate chips.  Did you set aside a few to nibble on?  I did!

Mmmm... time to dish up the batter. 

I use a rounded #20 scoop to portion the batter into a professional grade muffin pan that is lined with these awesome liners that I've absolutely fallen in love with.  I especially like using them for chocolate muffins and cupcakes - they make my baked goods look so rich and decadent! 

(affiliate links)

Using a portion scoop is neat and tidy... and all my muffins are going to turn out the same size.  Win-win!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• professional muffin pan https://amzn.to/3uBm5uT

• brown grease-proof paper liners https://amzn.to/3uzKEbr

• #20 portion scoop https://amzn.to/34MdFG9

• high quality dutch-processed cocoa powder https://amzn.to/34wD4DI

• beaterblade attachment http://amzn.to/2yxCz9Y

• heavy duty stand mixer https://amzn.to/3HCXIAF

• baker’s joy https://amzn.to/3JfdySc

• The Low GI Cookbook https://amzn.to/3LmQ6o8

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Double Chocolate Muffins

makes 18

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted

• 1 1/2 cups applesauce

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray or paper liners.

3. Cream butter and sugar together until light in color, about 2 minutes.

4. Add eggs, cocoa powder, and applesauce; mix until smooth.

5. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix just until combined (don't over mix); stir in mini chocolate chips.

6. Use a heaping #20 portion scoop to fill cups about 3/4 full.

7. Bake 22-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a couple crumbs attached.

8. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pan, placing on cooling rack to cool completely.

adapted from The Low GI Cookbook 

Lyle's Golden Syrup Cookies

Lyle's Golden Syrup is one of my all-time favorite ingredients - it has a rich, caramelized flavor just can't be beat and I'm thrilled to see it gaining in popularity.  Here's the flavorful syrup is paired with oats, butter, and vanilla to make chewy cookies.  Incidentally, leftover cookies freeze beautifully (just in case you're tempted to eat too many in one sitting).  

Start by whisking together all purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder. 

In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, and golden syrup together until melted and smooth.

Mmmm.

On a side note, Lyle's Golden Syrup is available in cans, squeeze bottles, and jars (see here).  The squeeze bottles are the least messy, like honey.  

Stir in pure vanilla extract - be sure to use the good stuff!

Now stir in old fashioned oats and the flour mixture.

Stir until no traces of dry oats or flour remain.

For this recipe, I use a #50 scoop to ensure all my cookies are the same size (affiliate link).  I have a number of scoops in different sizes, but this is the size I use for the majority of the cookies and mini muffin recipes that appear on this blog.  

NOTE:  when buying portion scoops, check for "#__" on the sweeper arm.  This scoop is a #50 (that means 50 scoops will equal one quart).  WARNING:  some vendors sell their scoops by diameter size (example:  50mm).   DO NOT order a 50mm scoop if you want a #50 scoop.  The diameter of a 50mm scoop is almost 2 inches, while the diameter of a #50 scoop is much smaller at 1 1/4 inches.    

Pro Tip:  whenever I bake a cookie recipe for the first time, rather than commit an entire tray of cookies to unknown variables such as baking time, baking temperature, and baking surface, I do a small test batch first to refine those unknowns (all of which can make or break your recipe).

First I preheat my oven fully and check my oven thermometer to ensure the interior temperature is accurate, then I bake for the suggested time directed (you'd be surprised how often the directions are wrong).  In addition to verifying baking time and temp, I check to see which baking surface produces the best results.  Here you can see I baked one cookie on parchment paper and one on a small quarter-sized silicone baking mat (like this one).  

Let's check out the results below, shall we?

The differences aren't always this clear, but for this particular recipe, it's obvious the cookie baked on silicone turned out much better than the one baked on parchment paper (and obviously, the suggested oven temp was too hot - thankfully I didn't ruin an entire tray of cookies discovering that fact).

Back to baking surfaces, silicone almost always wins my baking tests - not quite as dramatically as shown here, but I encourage you to give it a try and discover your own results.  

Alrighty - pour yourself a glass of cold milk and enjoy! 

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• lyle's golden syrup https://amzn.to/3B5OA54

• pure vanilla extract https://amzn.to/3ovS9fE

• #50 scoop https://amzn.to/3gugJcy

• magnetic measuring spoons https://amzn.to/3suac74

• small silpat liner for test baking https://amzn.to/3rCjXBd

• large silpat liner https://amzn.to/3SJkxsC

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3Lhy06R

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Lyle's Golden Syrup Cookies

makes 18 cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons lyle's golden syrup

• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup old fashioned oats

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder, set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, and golden syrup until melted and smooth; remove from heat and stir in pure vanilla extract.

3. Add flour mixture and oats and stir well to combine.

4. Place cookie dough in an airtight container and chill for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325F and place rack in the center position.

6. Line two half sheet pans with silpat liners (parchment doesn't work well for these cookies).

7. Use a #50 scoop to portion dough, 6 cookies at a time, evenly spaced on sheet pan.

8. Bake for 8 minutes; remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Note

• I suggest baking only one tray of cookies at a time, being sure to place chilled dough on room temperature (not hot/warm) sheet trays.