A delicious way to start the day, these muffins have enough chocolate to feel special but not so much that it’s like eating chocolate cake. My husband shared the recipe with me eons ago and I adapted it for my café, making a few additions including a touch of cinnamon, which helps amp up the chocolate flavor. I also added chopped almonds, but you could use whatever kind of nuts you like or have on hand—or none at all.
For the cocoa, I prefer Dutched cocoa powder (see this post for the difference between natural and Dutched cocoa) because it makes the muffins a little more dense and fudgy. But don’t go out and buy it special unless you want to experiment. The difference isn’t huge and the muffins are amazing either way.
Makes 20 regular or 8 to 9 jumbo muffins
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder, ideally Dutched or alkalized (see headnote)
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup chopped toasted almonds, plus 1/4 cup chopped raw almonds (untoasted), divided (see note)
Preheat an oven to 375°F. Coat muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and butter. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture, stirring until almost combined. Add the toasted almonds to the batter, stirring until just combined.
Fill the muffin tins barely to the top. Arrange the raw almonds on top. Bake until the muffin tops are lightly browned and set, about 20 minutes for regular muffins or 25 minutes for jumbo muffins.
NOTE To toast nuts, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the nuts onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake until lightly browned and fragrant, 6 to 10 minutes, depending on the type of nut and the size of the pieces. (Read this post for more about toasted nuts and why they'll make such a difference in all your cooking.)
