Chocolate Muffins

Here is another recipe that I ran across when cleaning out my recipe cupboard... yes I cleaned and organized my recipes! I now have about 7 binders FULL of recipes (I know , it's way sad) but at least they are organized and I can find what I'm looking for without having to thumb through them all for a half-an-hour. Anyway, I found this recipe which was adapted from Nigella Lawson via The Food Network, and I found it here, and I thought this would be a great breakfast for Saturday or on a Sunday paired with fresh fruit. These muffins are delicious and aren't overly sweet... just a good, moist, chocolate muffin! YUM! Enjoy!

Chocolate Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark or regular cocoa powder works too!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling (I used mini chips for sprinkling on mine)
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons instant espresso granules dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water (you can leave this out if desired, still good muffins)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin, or line with 12 paper muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the milk, oil, egg, dissolved espresso granules (remember you don't HAVE to use the coffee if you don't want to), and vanilla; whisk to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy – that’s okay.
5. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin wells. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top of the muffins.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy. I do the toothpick test, when comes out mostly clean they are done.. there will be a few moist crumbs still on the toothpick.
Eat and enjoy while still warm!

                                                 What could be better than that??