On a whim I tried a new variation on my favorite muffin recipe and it came out TOO YUMMY. It is not really muffins anymore, it is more like cupcakes. Like brownie-muffins. And yet, nutritionally about the same as muffins. I altered it so much, I’m just going to post the new recipe, rather than saying “instead of this, use this” a million times and getting everyone including me all messed up.
Chocolate Mint Muffins (or Possibly Cupcakes)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 ten-ounce bag (like, 3/4 – 1 cup) mint chocolate baking chips
2 eggs
1 cup mashed stuff (pumpkin and/or banana and/or carrot baby food)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Mix dry stuff in one bowl. Mix wet stuff in another bowl. Mix dry with wet. Divide evenly into 12 paper-lined (or greased) muffin cups. Bake 350 degrees F. for 23-24 minutes. Say, “OMG!”
You can instead make 12 regular muffins (dividing evenly makes slightly larger-than-usual muffins) plus maybe 8-10 mini muffins. In that case I’d put the regular-sized muffins in for 22 minutes and then put the mini muffins in when there were 12 minutes left on the timer.
Don’t get confused: this is a double batch, so it’s 24 muffins plus 22 mini-muffins
I can personally attest to the yumminess of these muffins/cupcakes.
Question: I can’t use mint chocolate chips, so what amount of mint extract would you recommend? (I’d use dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips.)
Wow, man.
Those look TASTY.
Did you also add nuts? Or alternately, what are those white things?
(I shall be making these later today…minus the mint, because apparently I’m the only girl in the world who doesn’t care to mix my mint with my chocolate. Feel free to gasp, I can take it.) :)
oh. . . these would be a big hit at my house!
I wish I was the next door neighbor you took pity on and fed with baked goods.
Nowheymama – I think I’d toss the chips you are going to use in a bowl with 1 1/2 tsp of the mint extract. Then the mintiness will still be part of the chips and not the entire cupcake.
Sounds YUMMY!
sounds divine – I will definitely try them.
Nowheymama- I will experiment too, because I’d like to be able to make these even if I don’t happen to have the Andes chips I use (which I can only find at Walmart). My GUESS is that it will be 1.5 or maybe even 2 teaspoons of mint extract. I hesitate because my mint brownie recipe takes 1 teaspoon and that seems like it’s about the same amount of batter as the muffins.
Bethtastic- I use the Andes mint baking bits, so they have a little layer of light green mint in between two layers of chocolate.
I am impressed. How did you get such clean looking muffin tins as you bake so often….and not a drop of batter caked on the top, either….not to mention that each and every muffin is exactly the same, the crown rounding off perfectly just above the pan line.
They look so yummy, I can smell them cooling!
What happens if you skip the chips? will it screw with the consistency?
I think skipping the chips would be fine, but I haven’t tried it yet. I’ll add that to my experiment list!
Ooooo those sound good. I’m going to have to put this into my Word doc of recipes I want to remember. YUm!
Do you put the mint chips with the dry stuff, to coat them, or do you add them at the very end after wet and dry are mixed? Or does it matter?
Those sure look yummy.
I’ll just gaze lovingly at the picture. If I made them, I’d probably eat the whole batch. However, my girls (like their mommy) LOVE LOVE LOVE the mint and chocolate combination. I’ll save this recipe to make on special occasions.
Thanks Swistle!
so… shall i just send you my mailing address? ;-)
Rah- I put them in with the dry, but I’ve also (1) accidentally put them in the wet bowl, and (2) accidentally forgotten to add them until after wet and dry were mixed together—and both of those ways turned out the same as far as I could tell.
That’s it, the picture has convinced me- I NEED a mini muffin pan. So I don’t waste batter. I’m avoiding waste by buying this gadget. Win win!
They sound and LOOK so yummy. Any WW ladies care to guess how many points there are in them?
I think only one.
Take a look on my blog, I left you something there.
Runswithscissorsjackeeg.blogspot.com
I made these yesterday–they were sooooooo good!! I was afraid the mashed banana would overwhelm them–I could taste it in the batter–but I couldn’t taste it at all in the baked muffins.
Thanks!
Yum! I used canned pumpkin and couldn’t taste it at all. I also couldn’t find mint chips, so I did 2 T of the peppermint and it was nice and minty, but I didn’t think it was too minty. Thanks so much for the delicious recipe! One thing: I don’t make muffins often (this may be my first try, in fact), and I’m wondering if there’s a way to keep them from being too crumbly. These were just a bit more crumbly than I would have liked. Thanks!