Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling #MuffinMonday

Who out there watched the Great British Bake Off?   I first heard about the show when we were in Abu Dhabi for my birthday weekend.  I’ve since found it online and I am HOOKED.  I know it’s actually over but I am only up to episode six for season three so please don’t tell me who won.  All of the contenders are amateur home bakers and the technical challenges are quite difficult.  So many times while I’ve been watching, something has gone horribly wrong and I gasped like others do during a horror film and even made the dog jump.  My kind of drama!


Meanwhile, it’s Muffin Monday again, and I’ve got a lovely chocolate muffin that anyone can make.  You won’t be surprised to hear that muffins haven’t featured at all in the Bake Off challenges.  Too easy.

Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

I'm dedicating these muffins to my wonderful mother-in-law.  You've all read about her here.  Today it's her birthday!  So, happy birthday, Heather!  I love you!

Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 cups or 250g flour
3/4 cup or 170g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 45g cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling:
1 3/4 oz or 50g dark chocolate
2 1/2 oz or 72g cream cheese
pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Topping – optional
1/2 cup milk chocolate M&Ms or chocolate chips

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.   Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper cups.

Measure your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into large bowl and shift the cocoa into it.  Mix well and set aside.

In smaller bowl, whisk your eggs, oil, milk, yogurt and vanilla.

Set it aside and get on with the filling.

Put the chocolate and cream cheese and the pinch of salt into a microwaveable bowl.  Heat 20-30 seconds at a time on high, stirring in between, until they have melted and are completely combined.

Add in the tablespoon of sugar and stir well.

Now back to the muffin batter.  Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Divide half of your batter between the muffin cups.

Using a small spoon, divide the filling between the muffin cups, trying to place it in the center of the batter.

Cover the filling with the balance of the batter.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with mini M&Ms, if using.  Since Mars have decided not to make the baking bits except seasonally at Christmas time, (and then, only the milk chocolate) the regular mini M&Ms have to do.  The color comes off but I think it has rather a neat effect so I still use them.   You could also use chocolate chips.

Bake in your preheated over for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes then remove to rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Birthday Party Pancake Muffins #MuffinMonday

Perfect for whatever your celebrations, these Birthday Party Pancake Muffins have all the flavor of chocolate chip pancakes but are much easier to make and serve! Bake some today!

 

Our Muffin Monday recipe for today was a pancake muffin with maple syrup and a streusel topping.   Which sounded delightful. But at our house, the pancake of choice, especially when the girls had slumber parties, always included either little chocolate chips or mini M&Ms and not a drizzle of syrup.   So I decided that if I were going to make pancake muffins, I’d better do it right.

I was baking these on Saturday in preparation for posting on Monday and we were indeed celebrating a birthday, although, sadly, without a gaggle of giggling girls sleeping over. And I learned a new term: Golden Birthday. I guess the whole world knows what that is but I had never heard it before. 

It was my elder daughter’s Golden Birthday, which means that she turned 22 on the 22nd.  It also means that my grandmother is now 99 years old! 

She and my daughter share a birthday and a special bond, as she was the first great-grandchild. So I offer you these special birthday party pancake muffins in celebration of two very special birthdays. Perhaps there is someone in your family that needs celebrating too? Make them these!

Birthday Party Pancake Muffins

This recipe is adapted from one on Bakingdom, a recipe blog that is no longer online. The link above is from the Wayback Machine where you can still see the original post. If you were a follower and are curious about what happened to Bakingdom, check out this post from BakingHow.

Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/4 cup or 50g vanilla sugar (or 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
3/4 cup or 150g mini M&Ms

For the topping:
1/4 cup or 50g mini M&Ms
1/2 cup or 115g Nutella

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan or fill it with paper liners.


Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, eggs, butter and vanilla (if using.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined.

Fold in the first lot of mini M&Ms.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for about five minutes then remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

Fill a decorating bag with Nutella and pipe it all over the muffins.  (If you don’t have a decorating bag, put the Nutella in a Ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole in one corner.)

Top with the second lot of mini M&Ms.  Now don't those looks just like a party, but for breakfast?

Enjoy!

Pin these Birthday Party Pancake Muffins!

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