Chocolate Workshop Part One — Cappuccino Chip Crumble Muffins

This past Friday evening I attended a chocolate workshop at a local culinary school.  I should tell y’all that I’m a cooking nerd — I love studying the science of what happens in the kitchen — so this class was a blast.  Who doesn’t love cooking and having someone else clean up the mess?!?  I got to hang out with some cool folks, and I came home with 7 new recipes, 6 of which we tasted during the class–score!

Each person was assigned a different recipe to prepare and mine was the Cappuccino Chip Crumble Muffins from Chocolatier October 1996.  I will be posting each of the six recipes (with permission of the instructor) in the upcoming weeks as well as a bonus recipe.

These muffins are easy to assemble, delicious with your morning coffee, and received the husband stamp of approval.  While the original recipe yields 11 jumbo muffins, it will also make about 20 regular-sized muffins if you don’t have a jumbo muffin tin.

Enjoy!

 
Cappuccino Chip Crumble Muffins
Yield: 11 jumbo or 20 regular muffins

Crumble:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg*
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup walnuts, chopped
6 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes

Batter:
1 1/2 cups milk, divided
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg*
1 cup granulated sugar
9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375F. Spray 11 jumbo or 20 regular muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.

Combine all crumble ingredients and blend with a fork (or your fingers) until crumbly. Set aside.

Scald 1/2 cup milk in small sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in espresso powder. Pour into a medium mixing bowl, add remaining 1 cup milk, and set aside to cool completely.

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg*, and granulated sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Toss in the chocolate chips.

Whisk the melted butter, dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract into the cooled milk mixture. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Divide batter between muffin cups, filling each cup a generous ¾ of the way full. Lightly press about ¼ cup of the crumb mixture onto the top of each muffin (each cup will now be filled to the brim but don’t worry—you will have beautiful muffin tops!).

Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pan and cool completely.

Source: Chocolatier October 1996

*Nutmeg is one of the most disgusting flavors to me so I omitted it from the recipe with good results 😉

Tags: chocolate, muffins