Chocolate Muffins
Aperçu
A plain chocolate muffin batter: dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, combined quickly and baked. No country is claimed. Muffins in this sense are American, and the method is the standard muffin method. That method is the only thing that matters here, and the source is right to shout about it. Mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately and then combining them with as few strokes as possible is not a shortcut, it is the technique. Every stroke after the flour is wetted develops gluten, and developed gluten in a muffin gives you a tough, rubbery crumb full of long tunnels instead of a tender open one. A properly mixed muffin batter still has visible lumps and streaks of flour in it. That is what it should look like. This is also why muffins are quick. There is no creaming stage, no aeration to build, nothing that rewards patience. The raising agent does the work and the oven does the rest. The recipe as written is fairly lean, no butter, no chocolate chips, no sugar beyond half a cup, which makes it closer to a breakfast muffin than a dessert. The source's own description mentions chocolate chips that appear nowhere in the ingredients. Adding a handful is an easy improvement.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Set the oven to 190°C and line a muffin tray with paper cases.
- 2
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together, then combine with the sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- 3
In a second bowl, whisk the milk, oil and eggs together.
- 4
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix only until the flour has just disappeared. Do not overmix, lumps and streaks are correct, and a smooth batter means tough muffins.
- 5
Fill the cases about three-quarters full.
- 6
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- 7
Cool briefly in the tray before moving them to a rack.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de iam.nkay- Stop mixing while the batter still looks lumpy. This is the whole technique, and it is the difference between tender muffins and rubbery ones.
- Have the oven fully up to temperature before the batter goes in. Baking powder starts working immediately and a waiting batter loses its lift.
- Fill the cases three-quarters full. Fuller and they spill; emptier and they will not dome.
- A handful of chocolate chips folded in at the end is worth adding, the source's description mentions them though its ingredients do not.
- Check early. Fifteen minutes is the outside limit for muffins this size and overbaked ones dry out fast.
- They are best the day they are made. Freeze any extras rather than keeping them.
Questions fréquentes
Why does the recipe say not to overmix?
Because it is the single thing that determines whether the muffins are good. As soon as flour meets liquid, gluten begins to develop, and stirring accelerates it. Developed gluten in a muffin produces a tough, chewy crumb riddled with long tunnels rather than a tender, evenly open one. A correctly mixed muffin batter still shows lumps and streaks of dry flour, that is what you are aiming for, and it feels wrong the first few times.
What is the difference between a muffin and a cupcake?
Method and richness. A cupcake is a small cake, butter and sugar creamed together to trap air, more sugar, more fat, and usually frosted. A muffin uses the muffin method: wet and dry mixed separately and combined quickly, with oil rather than creamed butter, less sugar and no frosting. Muffins are denser and less sweet, which is why they read as breakfast food and cupcakes read as dessert.
Should I add chocolate chips?
The source's own description promises them, though they appear nowhere in its ingredient list. Half a cup folded in at the very end, after the batter is otherwise mixed, so you are not stirring it further, is a genuine improvement to what is otherwise quite a lean recipe. Tossing them in a little of the flour first stops them all sinking to the bottom of the cases.
Is this an African recipe?
No, and none is claimed. Muffins in this sense are American, and the page sits in Worldwide Recipes under Global with its URL unchanged. Africa has its own baked snacks with real traditions behind them, chin chin, puff puff, benne cakes, Somali doughnuts, and those have their own pages on this site.
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