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 them in a container. The crabs would make the traveling team. 

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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Deviled Quail Egg Shrimp Canapés

Made with hard-boiled quail eggs and cold boiled shrimp, you'll want to serve these tasty deviled quail egg shrimp canapés at your next party! 

When I came across a dozen already cooked quail eggs at my local grocery store the other day, discounted price even, I knew they were coming home with me. And then, in the very next refrigerated case there was another discounted item, a container of cold boiled shrimp. I couldn’t wait put them together to create a delicious appetizer. 

I debated about what to set them on, besides a flavored cream cheese (in my head, that was already a given) and finally settled on making blinis but if you want, you can serve these atop cucumber slices or even round toasted slices of baguette, depending on the size of your shrimp.

Shrimp Deviled Quail Egg Canapés

If you don’t have already hard-boiled quail eggs, you can follow my instructions in my Scotch quail egg post, but let the eggs boil for four minutes. It’s a bit of a faff but not cooking them all at once makes them easier to peel, in my humble opinion. The blini batter will make more than you need. Eat the extras like pancakes with butter and jam and/or syrup. 

Ingredients

For the spread:

1 green onion top (green part only)

3 1/2 oz or 100g cream cheese, softened

1 fresh lemon wedge for juice

freshly ground black pepper

For the blini batter:

1 1/2 cups or 188g all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup or 240ml milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for the pan

For the toppings:

12 hard-boiled quail eggs, peeled

12 cold boiled shrimp, peeled

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

hot sauce, optional

Smoked paprika for garnish

Method

First, finely mince the green onion top and set aside a little bit for garnish. Mix the rest with the softened cream cheese and a good squeeze of fresh lemon. Give it a few good grinds of black pepper, stir then set aside. 

Next, make the blini. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, whisk the milk, egg, and 1 tablespoon melted butter together.  Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and whisk until the batter is fully combined.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Cooking several blini at a time, drop batter, one tablespoon at a time, onto the heated skillet. Cook until bubbles form, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until brown, about 1 minute more. 

Move to a paper towel-lined plate.  Repeat with the remaining batter until all the blini are cooked.

Halve the quail eggs and carefully remove the yolks to a small bowl.

Mash the yolks with a fork then add in the mayonnaise and mustard, continuing to mash and mix until you have a smooth mixture. Add a dash of hot sauce, if desired and mix again. 

Slice the shrimp in half lengthwise. 

To assemble the canapés, divide the cream cheese mixture between 24 blini arranged on a serving platter and spread it.

Top with a half shrimp followed by a half quail egg white. 

Use a piping bag or baggie with a corner cut off to pipe the yolk mixture back into the egg whites. 

Sprinkle with smoked paprika and the reserved green onion.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and we are celebrating National Egg Month by sharing egg recipes. Check out all the links below.

• Breakfast Pizza from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cottage Cheese Scrambled Egg Skillet from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Egg Ghee Roastfrom Mayuri's Jikoni
• Deviled Egg Dip from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Deviled Quail Egg Shrimp Canapés from Food Lust People Love
• Indo Chinese Style Chilly Omelette Stir Fry from Sneha's Recipe
• Pickled Quail Eggs from 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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Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad

A fresh twist on the classic tomato and feta combo, this kiwi tomato feta salad is bright, flavorful and delicious. 

If you know any New Zealanders, I can guarantee that they will correct you on calling our main ingredient here kiwi without its whole name, kiwi fruit because, of course, the kiwi is also their national bird. Recipes for kiwi? Horrifying. No one eats the flightless bird! At least no one does anymore. 

So, I debated with myself about the name of this recipe. Do I add the word fruit so search engines will know I’m not cooking a protected bird? But then, please forgive me, NZ friends, it occurred to me that most of the world has never even heard of the bird that gives you your nickname. Kiwi tomato feta salad it is! 

As a small aside, regarding the kiwi fruit, I’ve been reading online that you can actually eat the fuzzy peel but I’ll be honest, that really doesn't sound like a good idea to me. (I prefer nectarines to peaches because of the fuzz and peaches aren’t even sharp.) Some Reddit users claim they scrub or even shave the little hairs off to make the peel more palatable and more power to them. I’ll stick with peeling! For this salad, you do you. 

Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad

Since this recipe makes more dressing than you actually need, this salad is very easily doubled. Add a protein, like cooked salmon or chicken and, as is, it makes a lovely lunch for two. I added salmon to mine but since I put it on last, it covered up the lovely green kiwi fruit in those photos, our star ingredient. Without the protein, it's the perfect side salad. 

Ingredients

For the dressing:

1 green onion, divided

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (like Colman’s)

Good pinch flakey sea salt

A few good grinds of black pepper, plus extra to finish the salad

For the salad:

3 ripe but firm kiwi fruit

1 ripe but firm tomato

1 oz or 28g feta cheese

Method

Slice the green part of the green onion and finely mince the white part. 

Put the white part in a small jar with the vinegar. Set aside for a few minutes then add the rest of the dressing ingredients. 

Give it all a good shake until fully mixed, then set aside. 

Peel and slice the kiwi. 

Core and cut the tomato in to small pieces. 

Lay the kiwi slices out single file on a plate. Scatter the tomato on the sliced kiwi. 

Crumble the feta and scatter it on the kiwi and tomato. 

Give the salad dressing another good shake and then pour or spoon some over the salad. You will not use it all and the rest of the jar can be stored in the refrigerator. Sprinkle on the green onion.  Give the whole thing another couple of grinds of black pepper to finish. 

Like all good tomato salads, this is best served at room temperature. My husband and I both loved the salad, agreeing that the kiwi was a great addition to the classic tomato feta combo. I don’t buy kiwi fruit very often but using it in this salad will certainly change that! 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 11th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter K. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the K recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Khoya/Mawa Gujiya With Dry Fruits 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Strawberry Kuchen 
• Food Lust People Love: Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Kachumbari,Kenyan Salad 
• Blogghetti: Chipotle Lime Shrimp Kabobs 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Fresh Kielbasa Sheet Pan Dinner 
• A Messy Kitchen: Kimchi Udon 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cheese Tortellini Soup with Kielbasa and Kale 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Fresh Kielbasa Sheet Pan Dinner 
• Magical Ingredients: Kimchi Gochujang Dip

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad – this post! 

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