FOOD FOR THOUGHT - CHOCOLATE AND PECAN MUFFINS

I've been so busy lately with visits to universities and masses of schoolwork that I haven't posted in almost a week. I thought that I'd kill two birds with one stone and make a baking post as well as satisfying my hunger for something chocolatey (to compensate for all of my rushing around). The recipe in this post is actually one that I came up with myself, and these tried-and-tested muffins are a result of lacking cupboard ingredients and experimentation.

INGREDIENTS:
170g of self-raising flour
170g of butter
140g of caster sugar
30g of soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
120g of dark chocolate
50g of chopped pecans
A few whole pecans to top the cakes
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
1 tbsp. of Nutella

METHOD:

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and place the muffin cases in a baking tray.

- Combine the butter and both types of sugar in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is creamy. The reason for using two types of sugar is to make sure that the top of the cakes are chewy in a similar way to brownies.

- Sift in the self-raising flour until it is fully combined into the mixture. Add each egg in, mixing vigorously in between to make sure that the mixture comes together properly.

- Melt the dark chocolate - I use a bain-marie to do this, but any other chocolate melting method works fine. While the chocolate is melting, chop the pecans into rough quarters.

- Pour the melted chocolate into the cake mixture and add in the tablespoon of Nutella and the teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix well to ensure that the Nutella incorporates into the mixture properly - this may take a little while because of its consistency.

- Sprinkle the chopped pecans into the finished cake mixture and stir them in. Once this is done, spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cases; usually, the mix makes nine large muffins. Place one whole pecan onto the top of each cake.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. To test if the cakes are cooked, poke a skewer or a small knife into the top of one of the muffins. If the skewer comes out clean (without any raw cake mixture on it), then the cakes are cooked properly.

On the left are the muffins before baking and on the right are the finished cakes

So there you have it - my recipe for chocolate and pecan muffins. If you try out the recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below.

- Kate Shortt -