Espresso Chocolate Muffins

“Can you make something with espresso?” asked Kate.

Of course I can.

We have a house full of visiting family this week and couldn’t be happier about it. I plan to stuff them full of baked goods as much as they’ll let me, and they get to make requests too. Tonight I whipped together a quick batch of banana yogurt muffins and then dove into the espresso muffins, happy to make something rich and decadent without having to worry about eating too much of it. If they’re good, I thought, there probably won’t be any left when I get home from work tomorrow anyway.

The first task was to sift together flour (I used whole wheat white), cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

(I know, it looks pretty messy. Such is the state of my kitchen. And my brain.)

I put that aside and got out another bowl, into which I added the sugar and cracked two eggs.

I whisked.

Then I poured in the oil. It looked a little…oily.

I whisked. Then I added one cup plus two tablespoons of milk.

It started looking less oily and more milky. I put in the vanilla and a tablespoon of espresso powder.

Once I whisked that together, it got a little frothy, like iced coffee.

I don’t actually drink iced coffee, I prefer mine hot, but this evoked memories of coffee milkshakes and made me thirsty.

I poured in the flour mixture.

The recipe said to whisk them together, but I didn’t think that was a great idea. The last time I tried whisking something with wet & dry ingredients mixed, I warped my whisk! So I used the spatula. The results did not disappoint.

I was supposed to add a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, but Linus & I conferred and decided upon a mixture of dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Good choice.

I folded them in, then did my best to divide the batter evenly among twelve full size muffin cups.

Now after that I sprinkled a bunch of chips on top, but I forgot to photograph it. Luckily I had a lot of batter left over, so I made mini muffins with the rest, and those I managed to get a shot of with the chips on top.

I only got about half the tray filled, but having half a tray of mini muffins is a lot better than no mini muffins. When the large ones were done baking — about 20 minutes later — I popped the small ones into the oven.

The big ones looked pretty good.

Kate seemed happy about how things were going.

And since I had to wait a while for the muffins to cool, I took some time to photograph my amazing gift from Linus, my very own Adventures In Baking apron. I LOVE IT.