It seems that there is room in this world for another chocolate muffin recipe. You see, I already have a Perfect chocolate muffin recipe. It's a family favorite from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe cookbook. (Read the recipe over on my other blog.) Those muffins are light, chocolatey, and simply cannot be improved upon.


But I recently found a new favorite cookbook author: Dorie Greenspan. And it seems that Dorie has a chocolate muffin recipe that competes with the Perfect Mollie Katzen ones I referenced above. And we're talking serious neck-and-neck competition.


We're also talking serious chocolate flavor. The kind that you can only get using a combination of chocolate bits, cocoa, and melted chocolate. The buttermilk gives these muffins a tang. All that chocolate gives them a kick. This is a recipe you've got to try.

Chocolate Muffins from Dorie Greenspan's Baking
I used chocolate chips instead of the bittersweet chocolate, and these were fantastic. 


3/4 stick butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or substitute chocolate chips)
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (the recipe says to sift it, but I didn't)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, optional

Preheat the oven to 375*. Fit the molds in a regular size muffin pan - the kind with 12 molds - with paper muffin cups.

Melt the butter and HALF the chocolate (or chips) in a microwave or double boiler.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla together. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients along with the melted butter and chocolate. Combine gently (don't overmix). Stir in the remaining chocolate or chips.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool the muffins for a few minutes in the pan before removing them and cooling on wire racks.