Jeni Iannetta’s easy double chocolate muffin recipe

These are such a favourite in the bakery. Dark, rich and chocolatey without being too sweet, the muffins are surprisingly light and fluffy, and the sour cream makes this a really moist bake. It is a simple, wet into dry method and a great base recipe to have up your sleeve since you can easily mix up the flavours by using white or milk chocolate chips, or by replacing the chocolate with fresh raspberries or chopped fudge and pecans.

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• Chocolate, coconut and pecan cake recipe from Jeni Iannetta

Makes 8 big muffins

Ingredients

• 240g self-raising flour
• 60g good-quality cocoa powder, the darker the better
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 150g caster sugar
• 250ml sour cream
• 100g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 medium eggs
• 50ml hot, strong coffee (or 2 heaped tsp instant espresso powder dissolved in 50ml boiling water)
• 150g 70 per cent dark chocolate chips (or chunks)

To finish (optional)

• 100g 70 per cent dark chocolate chips (or chunks)
• 25g unsalted butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 6 and put 8 large tulipmuffin wraps in a 12-cup muffin pan. Put the flour, cocoa, and brown and caster sugars into a big bowl with a pinch of salt and give them a quick mix to combine. If there are lumps of brown sugar, rub them in with your fingers as if you were making crumble.
2. Pour the sour cream into a jug, then add the melted butter, eggs and coffee, and whisk with a fork to combine. Make sure it’s well mixed — the less mixing you have to do later, the better. It will look curdled, but don’t worry.
3. Pour the sour cream and egg mix over the dry ingredients and stir gently until the dry ingredients are nearly combined. You want to be able to see some dry flour in the batter. Add the chocolate chips and give it a final gentle stir. Again, you want everything to be only just combined.
4. Divide the batter equally between the tulip wraps with an ice-cream scoop if you have one (or a spoon if you don’t) — they will seem very full. Bake on the top shelf for 30-35 min, checking after 25 min with a skewer. The muffins are ready when the skewer comes out clean and dry and the top feels springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 min, then transfer to a rack to cool completely — although we often skip that stage and eat them warm!
5. If you’re going to top the muffins, let them cool, then gently melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave (on low in 20-second bursts, stirring after each) or in a heatproof bowl over just-simmering water. Stir the mixture until it’s smooth, and set aside to cool and thicken slightly. Dollop a spoonful on the top of each muffin and scatter over a few more chocolate chips if you fancy.

From Bad Girl Bakery by Jeni Iannetta (£20 Kitchen Press). Buy from timesbookshop.co.uk. Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Discount for Times+ members