Death By Chocolate Muffins Recipe

This recipe is for all the chocolate lovers out there — with two kinds of chocolate in these muffins, they are sure to satisfy even the most intense of chocolate lovers. Recipe developer Jessica Morone didn't just stop with two kinds of chocolate, explaining, "I wanted to put as much chocolate in this recipe as possible, and I achieved that by adding a luscious chocolate ganache drizzle on top of these muffins." So, sure, maybe the cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the batter would've been enough, but the drizzle really takes these from chocolate to death by chocolate territory.

These muffins are the perfect excuse to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, but they can also be a fun snack or a dessert, and moreover, there are lots of great reasons to make these muffins right now. Since they are made mainly with pantry staples, you might be able to make these muffins without any special trips to the store for ingredients. They also take less than 40 minutes to make start to finish, which is always a positive in a recipe. So, no, these death by chocolate muffins won't make you feel like you're dying — in fact, they just might make you feel like you're in heaven instead.

Before you start making this recipe the first step is to gather all the ingredients. You will need all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, a neutral oil like canola or vegetable, sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, and heavy cream.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners, or spray generously with nonstick cooking spray. Set pans aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together sugar, milk, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined.

Add 2 cups of chocolate chips to the batter and mix until combined.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tins until each cup is about ⅔ full.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let muffins cool completely.

In a small bowl combine the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips and heavy cream.

Heat in the microwave in 20 second increments until the chocolate melts. Stir together until the mixture is smooth and shiny.

Drizzle the ganache on top of the baked muffins.

Let the ganache set, then serve the muffins.

The term "death by chocolate" generally refers to a very chocolate-forward dessert. These rich, decadent desserts are a chocolate lover's dream because they are absolutely full of chocolate flavors. Though you may be most familiar with death by chocolate cake, there is no reason it can't also apply to muffins. "Chocolate is one of my favorite flavors, and I tend to each chocolate several times a day so this recipe is right up my alley," Morone says. And, naturally, it's safe to assume that such a chocolate enthusiast really knows how to pack in all of that rich goodness.

There are two types of chocolate in the muffin batter itself — cocoa powder and chocolate chips — and the chocolate ends up being used three ways. While plain chocolate muffins might just contain cocoa powder to give the batter a chocolate-forward flavor, death by chocolate muffins aim to amp things up a little bit. The real cherry on top is the ganache drizzle, however, which transforms these baked goods into something straight-up moreish and decadent, also two characteristics that often come into play when talking about death by chocolate.

When made correctly, muffins are a sweet, light, and moist treat that are perfect any time of day. But when made incorrectly, they can be dense, dry and crumbly. Morone has a few tips and tricks for making the absolute best muffins, so you can ensure that your baked goods will stay in that ideal moist, light territory.

It's easy to think you can just throw all the ingredients for this recipe into a stand mixer and mix it up for a few minutes to make muffins, but really there is a whole science to the combination and mixing of ingredients in muffins. One of the biggest mistakes people make that result in dense muffins is overmixing the batter.  You really only want to mix it until the wet and dry ingredients and just combined and there are no dry steaks of flour left in the batter.  Also, keep the wet and dry ingredients separate until you are ready to mix up the batter and bake it. This keeps the leavening agents in the batter from starting to react early and causing the wrong texture in baked goods. 

Finally, when making the ganache, you want to work in microwave increments so as to avoid burning the chocolate. Check on the mixture every 20 to 30 seconds, stirring, and even if the chips aren't completely melted by the end, there's a good chance that one final stir will get the job done.