Chocolate Espresso Muffins are very moist, rich, and a chocolate lover’s dream! Cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and add in a little espresso; what a wonderful combination for breakfast with a hot cup of coffee.
During this pandemic, we wanted to create muffins that tasted like they came straight from the bakery. Our household loves having baked goods around and this “Stay At Home” order has really restricted us from having wonderful baked goods from different local bakeries in the house.
With these Chocolate Espresso Muffins, we think we came pretty darn close to bakery quality! And the smell when they are baking will bring your whole family to the kitchen; we know from experience. 🙂
Chocolate Espresso Muffins Baking Tips
When it comes to Chocolate Espresso Muffins, there are a few things we would like to point out in preparation for your first time baking this recipe.
Cocoa Powder
One of our favorite cocoa powders to bake with is King Arthur Flour’s Black Cocoa. It is a super dark, dutch-process cocoa. If you notice in our photos, it creates a dark and intense color for the muffins. It is not a warm brown color like you typically get with a Texas Sheet Cake (however, Texas Sheet Cakes are super yummy, too). Aside from the coloring, the Black Cocoa also creates a very rich flavor, as well. This particular cocoa is unsweetened, so take that into account if you are using it for a different recipe that does not have a lot of sugar in the recipe.
Buttermilk
Make sure to have buttermilk on hand if you are going to make this recipe. The buttermilk creates a perfectly moist muffin. I promise you can’t taste the fermented taste of the buttermilk once it is baked.
Espresso
We have a coffee maker that creates normal coffee and espresso drinks. So that is how we make our espresso that this Chocolate Espresso Muffins recipe calls for. However, if you don’t have access to a coffee/espresso maker like ours, you can use a normal coffee maker with medium/dark coffee and not a lot of water so that your coffee will be highly concentrated.
Muffin Tins
You will need two muffin tins for this recipe if you want to use all of the batter (the second tin will only have two to three muffins in it). We do not recommend filling the liners all the way to the very top because you aren’t allowing for the muffins to rise. We fill them up between 3/4 and full; this allows the muffins to rise as they bake and create that beautiful muffin top that everyone loves (for their muffins…not their torso). 😀
Chocolate Espresso Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick salted butter melted
- 3 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso cooled slightly
- 2 extra large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder we used King Arthur Flour's Black Cocoa (creates a rich flavor and intense, dark color)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 6 ounces mini semisweet chocolate chips divided
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place muffin liners in muffin tins (you will need 14-15 liners).
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine sugar, butter, espresso, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Stir the buttermilk with a fork in the measuring cup.
- Alternate adding the dry mixture and the buttermilk into the large bowl of wet ingredients with the mixer on low (starting and ending with the buttermilk).
- Mix until barely combined (there will still be streaks of flour). You don't want to over mix the batter.
- With a spoon, gently stir in the mini chocolate chips (remove and set aside 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips for the tops of the muffins).
- Fill your muffin cups about 3/4 full and top with remaining mini chocolate chips.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes. You want a toothpick to come out of the center clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the muffin tin, then transfer the muffins to wire cooling racks.
- Once the muffins are completely cool, put some powdered sugar into a sifter/fine mesh strainer and dust the tops of the muffins with powdered sugar.
This recipe was inspired by Browned Butter Blondie. Thank you for the inspiration!
We hope these muffins will bring a little bakery goodness to your home while we all ride out this 2020 quarantine! Let us know how yours turn out!
Have a great day and be safe!
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Wow a great combination of 2 ingredients that are my favorite.
I love Muffins.
Olga.
My cooking blog is in Spanish with Google translation in many languages.
Thank you!
Yum yum! I love anything espresso, and these muffins look so tasty!
They really are!
These look delicious! I had to pin this so I can try them!
They are perfect for breakfast OR dessert!
Oh wow – chocolate and espresso are 2 of my favorite things… these look heavenly!
Thank you! We thought the two complimented each other so well!
These sound heavenly! Take care and be safe my friends!
We really enjoy them! Thank you and you too!