I don't know who Costco is trying to fool calling these a "muffin" perhaps it makes some people feel better when they are eating them for breakfast - I however, I perfectly fine eating a chocolate cupcake for breakfast - even one with frosting... but you already knew that about me.
I do want my kids to make good food choices though, and setting a 6-pack of uber giant "muffins" invites them to eat the whole huge thing and call it a meal.
So because of their wild-obsessive teenage boy love-fest with those muffins, I decided to tackle the recipe myself and make it as healthy as I could (without them noticing the difference and refusing to eat them)
I was pretty darn successful,
Major Disclaimer : These are NOT a health-food, They are not something I recommend having around all the time - unless you want to weight 700 pounds and have muffin crumbs all over your entire house. But they are a fun little treat and they are slightly better for you (and cheaper) than the store version.
As you can see, I made just a "few" of them.
INGREDIENTS:
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and half A/P flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
2. Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Do not over mix the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.
