I'm letting the author of this recipe take the blame for the misnomer; there's quite a lot of chocolate in this recipe but it hardly makes the muffins bulge with it! They might have looked more bulging if they had risen better, but I think this was another case of me and muffin recipes not getting on. I'm trying to find a reliable muffin recipe using oil, and chose this Sue Lawrence recipe because it was the first I came across, in my cook books, from a cook who is considered reliable. I haven't baked a lot of her recipes but those I've used have been OK, and she usually gets good reviews on other blogs. I guess it's my curse not to be able to make muffins.
This recipe was slightly unusual in using some semolina with the flour - about 1/3 - but other than that it was an ordinary looking recipe - put dry ingredients into a bowl and lightly mix in the wet ingredients without beating. But these muffins rose strangely while cooking and looked neither like muffins nor cupcakes; this could have been an effect of the fan oven, which I don't usually use for baking.
The ingredients were - 170ml milk, 2 eggs, 85ml sunflower oil, beaten together, then mixed into 145g plain flour, 2 tablespoons cocoa, a pinch salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 55g caster sugar, 85g semolina, 145g chopped chocolate (I used a mixture of roughly equal quantities of plain, milk and white). This makes 12 muffins which are baked for 20 minutes at 200C.
To taste, the muffins were richly chocolately, but a little stodgy and not sweet enough, even with the milk and white chocolate. Not a recipe to use again, I'm afraid
What a shame! I'm always really annoyed when I end up using a recipe loaded with chocolate that doesn't work out, I've recently thrown out 2 whole batches of ganache becase the finished product was rubbish! Have you got a copy of "Muffins - Fast and Fantastic" by Susan Reimer? I use that all the time, most of the recipes are oil based and I've never yet had a clanger ... and I've tried a lot of the recipes in the book.
ReplyDeleteI haven't got the book you mention, Chele, but I've found one or two of her recipes online, and they don't look much different to this one - less egg and more milk, perhaps! I think I'm jinxed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame Suelle. I use the Susan Reimer book too, but my mainstay recipe is one from an old Jane Asher book for children. It uses oil, and always works for me.
ReplyDeleteSadly, muffin recipes and I don't get along either..
ReplyDeleteCelia - thank you - that makes me feel much better. I thought I was the only one!;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity they disappointed you. Mind you, the picture in the book shows that they aren't exactly bulging when made according to how the author expects them! Yours look as risen as the photo in the book if that's any consolation!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chele that the Susan Reimer book is good, but the most successful muffins I've made have been these: (plus quite a few variations on them)
http://cakecrumbsandcooking.blogspot.com/2008/06/blueberry-muffins.html
As the base recipe only makes six the outlay in ingredients isn't massive if they don't work out for you, and you'll only have six to get through. Let me know how they go if you try them.
Thanks C! I'll give those a go after a suitable break from muffins, so that I forget how bad they usually turn out. I'll keep you posted.
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