Chocolate muffins

The other week Master JibberJabber came out of school announcing he was 'Star of the Day'. Miss JibberJabber had also come home from school with excellent test results so this meant a mid-week treat for the pair of them. Needing a quick recipe I could whip up after school I turned to muffins. As I use oil in muffins there's no need to wait for butter to soften or get the whisk out to cream the butter and sugar together. Being 12 individual cakes they don't take long to bake either.

I've dabbled with several different chocolate muffin recipes over the years and this variation seems to be the best one yet. All of the muffins came out plump and well-risen plus they have the necessary chocolate hit. I had a little of dark chocolate in the cupboard so I broke it up and placed a few pieces on top as well. As always I would advise to remove the muffins from the tin as soon as they are ready as I think this helps stop the paper cases from sticking to the muffins.

Equipment: 12 hole muffin tin and paper cases, 2 large bowls, wire rack

Ingredients

9oz (255g) Plain flour

1tsp (5ml) Baking powder

½ tsp (2.5ml) Bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp (2.5ml) Salt

4tbsp (60ml) Cocoa powder

5oz (140g) Granulated sugar

1 Egg

8 fl oz (230ml) Milk

3 fl oz (85ml) Oil

1tsp (5ml) Vanilla extract

Chocolate pieces for the top (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5

2. In one of the large bowls sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa powder. Stir the sugar into the mixture.

3. In the other large bowl beat the egg and then add the milk, oil and vanilla extract.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together quickly so there are no dry ingredients. It should look lumpy.

5. Fill the paper cases with the mixture.

6. Top each one with pieces of chocolate if you want.

7. Bake for around 20-25 minutes until the tops are springy to the touch.

8. Remove from the muffin tin immediately and put on a wire rack to cool.