Double Chocolate Guinness Muffins #MuffinMonday

The deep flavor of stout enhances the chocolate in these rich double chocolate Guinness muffins baked with cocoa and lots of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I’ve been on a bit of a savory muffin kick lately but our younger daughter is here to visit so I decided I’d go sweet this month. I bought a 500ml bottle of Guinness Extra Stout for these muffins but also ended up using it for marinated chicken thighs and then the balance in a steak pie at her request. 

All three turned out beautifully and now I need to keep Guinness on hand all the time. You know, just in case. 

Double Chocolate Guinness Muffins

As mentioned above and indicated by the title, I used Guinness Extra Stout for this recipe but you can absolutely substitute your favorite stout. This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins, chock full of chocolate chips. This recipe is adapted from one on Floating Kitchen.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups or 219g all-purpose flour

3/4 cups or 150g golden caster sugar (Sub white if that's what you have)

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g, butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for buttering pan, if needed

1/2 cup or 120ml Guinness stout beer

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups or 300g semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or brush with melted butter. (Or if you have silicone muffin cups, use them. I love mine which were a gift from my daughter.) Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, Guinness and eggs until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold.

Set aside a generous handful of the chocolate chips to sprinkle on top then fold the rest into the batter. 

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups of your prepared muffin pan. Top with the reserved chocolate chips. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Allow the muffins to cool in their pan for about 10 minutes, then remove and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month which means it’s Muffin Monday time! Check out all the lovely muffins my baker friends are sharing. 

• Banana Oreo Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Chunky Monkey Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Coconut Bran Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Double Chocolate Guinness Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page. 

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Chocolate Espresso Muffins #MuffinMonday

The deep rich flavor of these chocolate espresso muffins makes them the perfect accompaniment for a hot beverage or a cold glass of milk.

Last week my husband and I were packing up the car, ready for a road trip to France when our neighbor, a retired fisherman, knocked on our door with the gift of two immense spider crabs.

I thanked him profusely then went to the kitchen to show them to my husband. There was no way we could leave them for a week, even in the refrigerator so that afternoon, I wrenched all their legs off and popped them in a Ziploc bag. Then I picked the meat from the bodies and put that in a container. The crabs would make the traveling team, albeit in no intact.

Whenever our neighbor brings over crabs, and occasionally lobsters, my return gift is something homemade. Sometimes carrot cake which is his favorite, or jam or fudge sauce but often it’s muffins. Because muffins are easy, versatile and everyone loves them. Bake some for a neighbor or friend!

Chocolate Espresso Muffins

This recipe makes nine standard muffins. If you don’t have a nine-cup pan, just use a 12-cup one and add a little water to the empty cups so the pan heats evenly.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 156g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup or 100g semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a little extra for topping, if desired.

1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil, plus extra for greasing the muffin pan

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup or 140ml milk 

1 egg

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a nine-hole muffin pan brushing or spraying the insides with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. (I did put the espresso powder but somehow missed taking a photo after!)

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your oil, milk and egg.

To help the chocolate chips remain evenly in the batter, I like to mix them around with the residual oil left in the measuring cup. It’s just enough to wet them a little so that the flour mixture sticks to them. Toss and stir. 

Mix the chocolate chips into the flour mixture and use your clean hands to separate any that are stuck together. 

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until they are just combined. 

Divide the batter evenly between the holes in your oiled muffin pan. Add a few more chocolate chips to the top, if desired.  

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are puffed up and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Run an offset spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pans and gently turn the muffins out of the pan and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s time for Muffin Monday. Check out the lovely muffins my blogger friends are sharing today! 

• Banana Crunch Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Chocolate Espresso Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rhubarb-Ginger Muffins with Vanilla Bean Streusel from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Sour Cream Banana Rhubarb Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Teff Brownie Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Western Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins

Made with the iconic Girl Scout cookies, these Thin Mint chocolate muffins are sweet and chocolatey with a little crunch for fun. 

The idea for these muffins popped into my head in the middle of the night unbidden. I wasn’t even thinking about muffins! What if, my brain said, you put a thin mint at the bottom of the silicone muffin cups and spooned chocolate batter in on top? Intriguing idea, I replied. 

So the first thing I did the next morning was to open the box of Thin Mints I had just bought from the cutest little scout outside my local grocery store the day before, to check if one would fit nicely in the bottom of my silicone muffin cups. It did! 

A little backstory. My very first job out of university was at the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council, in development (read: fundraising) which included the annual cookie sale. In my first year, we joined together with Houston area chefs who created recipes using the cookies which were then served at a party for donors. It was a lot of fun and raised substantial funds. Ever since, when I see Girl Scout cookies, I can’t help but think of creative ways to use/eat them. 

Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins

I highly recommend using silicone baking cups for this recipe so that the Thin Mints don’t stick to your pan. If you can’t find Thin Mints, Keebler makes one called Grasshopper Cookies (or Fudge Mint Delights in some countries) which would work. Walmart brand Fudge Mint Cookies are also very similar.

Ingredients for 12 muffins

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 3/4 cups or 220g flour

3/4 cup, packed, or 150g dark brown sugar

1/2 cup or 40g natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 Thin Mint cookies for the batter and topping

12 Thin Mint cookies for lining the silicone baking cups

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Roughly chop the 8 Thin Mints, setting aside about 1/3 for topping. 

Add the two teaspoons of vinegar to the milk in a measuring cup. Stir and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla, along with the slightly curdled looking milk/vinegar mixture.

Add the larger pile of chopped cookies to the dry ingredients.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until just combined. There may still be some flour showing and that’s fine.

Put one Thin Mint at the bottom of each silicone muffin cup, rounded side up. 

Use a scoop or large spoon to fill the prepared muffin cups. They are going to be pretty full. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining chopped cookies.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took only 20 minutes. You do not want to over bake these and dry them out.

Put the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for about five minutes.

Remove the muffins from the pan and continue to cool on the wire rack. 

Carefully remove the silicone muffin cups. Here's one upside down! 

Enjoy the chocolate muffins with crunchy bottoms! 

It’s the last Monday of the month, which means it time for Muffin Monday! Check out the lovely recipe links below.

• Apple Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Oat Bran Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Maple Corn Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road

This no-bake Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road is made of dried fruit, crunchy cookies and pecans covered in rich dark chocolate with butter and miso. It works wonderfully with any dried fruit, nut or cookie. Feel free to make substitutions! 

A couple of months ago, I was visiting a dear friend and she gave me a brand-new cookbook, Dominique’s Kitchen. The author had won the honor of being published after competing on Jamie Oliver’s 2022 show, The Great Cookbook Challenge. As the show’s blurb says, “Jamie Oliver and Penguin Books team up to find the next big cookbook author, as cooks compete to impress the judges for a one-of-a-kind publishing deal.”

Imagine being offered the potential opportunity to have your cookbook published by such a large and prestigious publishing company! So much more pressure than The Great British Bake-off where all they get for sure is a cake stand. (Many do end up publishing cookbooks but it’s not guaranteed.)

I had watched a few episodes but somehow missed the final. The cook who won, Dominique Woolf, trained at Leith's School of Food and Wine. According to Amazon, she’s a food writer, entrepreneur and home cook to her young family.

All I can say it that we have thoroughly enjoyed cooking several recipes from Dominique’s Kitchen and this recipe is adapted from one of hers. 

Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road

This recipe is a great use of any stale cookies you might have in the cupboard. In fact, that’s why I made this the first time. While cleaning out the snack bin, I came across some milk chocolate Hobnobs that were past their best. They were perfect for rocky road though! I’ll never throw stale cookies away again and you shouldn’t either.

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g 70% cocoa dark chocolate

1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup (or honey)

1 tablespoon miso paste

10 Hobnobs (or your favorite crunchy cookie)

3 1/2 oz or 100g dried fruit, chopped if large (I used a mix of strawberries and cherries I had dehydrated myself)

3 1/2 oz or 100g pecans

Method

Line a 9x9 in or 23x23cm baking pan with baking parchment.

In a large skillet, toast the pecans over a medium heat, shaking the pan frequently so that they don’t burn. 

Roughly chop the pecans with a sharp knife. 

In a large bowl break up the Hobnobs or your chosen cookie, and stir in the chopped pecans and dried fruit. 

Put the chocolate, butter, golden syrup and miso paste in a microwavable bowl. 

Heat in the microwave on medium for one minute. Stir well and heat again for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat until everything is melted and well combined.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Tip the whole lot into your prepared baking pan and spread it out to the edges.  

Cover with cling film and press the mixture down. Put the pan in the refrigerator to set. 

Once set, slide the baking parchment on to a cutting board and cut the rocky road into squares. Store chilled if you live someplace warm.

Enjoy!   

It's Sunday FunDay so today my blogger friends and I are sharing candy recipes. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories. Check out the links below. 

• Chocolate Brigadeiros by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Medallions by Mayuri's Jakoni
• Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road by Food Lust People Love
• Honeycomb Toffee by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Honeycomb Candy by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Milk Cream by Sneha's Recipe
• Snowberry Torrone by Culinary Cam

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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