Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

What is better than a chocolate muffin? A muffin with more chocolate! So why not try to make chocolate-chocolate chip muffins?! They are easy and quick to make, and everyone at the table will rejoice. Bake them for your fancy dinner party, pack some in your kid's lunch box, prepare them for your better half for a romantic dinner, make a batch for your colleagues at work, or simply make them because it's Monday ... They work for every occasion.

For 9 muffins (7 centimeter diameter at the top, 4 centimeter diameter at the bottom, and 4 centimeter tall) or 12 small-sized muffins (6 centimeter diameter at the top, 4 centimeter diameter at the bottom, and 3 centimeter tall), you will need:

• 240 grams of flour
• 11 grams of baking powder (1 packet)
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 25 grams of cocoa powder
• 150 grams of sugar
• 180 grams of chocolate chips
• 235 milliliters of buttermilk
• 100 milliliters of canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15-20 minutes*


Start by pre-heating your oven at 205 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and sugar together.

Add the chocolate chips to the dry mix and stir together.

In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, canola oil, egg, and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet mix slowly to the dry mix, and stir together.

Slightly oil your muffins trays, and add the batter into them.

9-muffin batch

12-small-sized-muffin batch

Bake the muffins for about 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure to check at 15 minutes the inside of the muffins by poking with a knife. If the knife gets out clean, the muffins are baked. If the knife gets out with some uncooked batter, let them bake a few more minutes.

9-muffin batch

12-small-sized-muffin batch

Once baked, let the muffins rest until serving time.

As a suggestion, you can serve the chocolate-chocolate chip muffins with a delicious vanilla cream or a cardamom cream.

*Note: For the small-sized muffins, don't forget to readjust your baking time to 12 to 13 minutes.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Charline Leblond

Blueberry Scones

Sunday mornings can mean many things; carefree lazing, sunrise jogging, or hangover nursing. But how ever you spend your early moments on the day of rest, sooner or later breakfast will become a nagging craving in the back of your mind. Sure, the classic standards are always an option; eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles; the typical diner denizen. But why not try something new? Something flaky and buttery? Something that is as comfortable with breakfast or if someone pops around for tea? Something ... British!

The lovely scone is a versatile dish. Have it with jam for breakfast, or as a late afternoon snack. Have it plain or stuffed with blueberries, raspberries, or chocolate chips. You can even have it savory; with cheese, poppy seeds, or cumin.

And the thing is, scones are easy to make! I was surprised when I first started scouring the internet for recipes. The basic recipe idea is simple and you can make whatever variation you want.

I will be making both plain and blueberry scones today, as the basic batter is the same. The only difference is that I add some blueberries in half the batter.

For 15 - 20 scones, you will need:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 5 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 180 grams of cold butter
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 100 grams of blueberries (if you are making a full batch of blueberry scones)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Start by preheating your oven to 200C (390F).

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a bowl and whisk everything together.

Now add the cold butter.

If you have a food processor, you could add the butter and dry mix to it, and pulse until you get a rough powder. Otherwise, you can use your fingers to incorporate the butter by taking some butter and some flour between your fingers and squeezing.

Either way, you should end up with a rough-textured, dry powder.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg well ...

... add the milk ...

... and mix well.

Make a well in the center of the buttered dry mix.

And add the milk and egg mixture to the well.

Fold the mixture together to form a sticky dough.

Yes, I know it is very sticky, but that is why your scone is going to be oh-so-melt-in-your-mouth soft and delicious. A drier dough would make a drier scone, so resist adding more flour.

Now, I divided my dough roughly into two parts and added 50 grams of blueberries to one half. Fold the blueberries in until they are somewhat evenly distributed.

Sprinkle some flour onto your working surface.

Roll out the dough onto the floured surface.

And gently knead a little, just folding it into itself on all sides until it firms up a little.

You can, if you like, roll them into small balls and flatten them, or shape them however you want. I chose to roll the whole dough until it was about 2 centimeters thick.

And then I basically cut out triangles and arranged them on a parchment-paper lined baking tray.

Allow them to rest for a few minutes and then pop them in the oven. 15 minutes of cooking time is a rough estimate, but it is going to depend a lot on your oven and the original temperature of the butter, amongst other things. It is best to keep your eye on them after 10 minutes.

And that is all there is to it! Best served with jam, for breakfast or afternoon tea, and can be kept sealed in an airtight container for a few days.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki

Buttermilk Pancakes

There is still nothing that says "Sunday Morning" more than some warm, fluffy pancakes. It is even better if they are buttermilk pancakes; but you can always make a healthier version by replacing the buttermilk with regular milk, and omitting the butter entirely, as shown here.

But I am feeling especially Sunday-ish today, so we are going full buttermilk. Mmmm; then I shall take a well-deserved nap.

For about 6-8 medium pancakes, you will need:

• One tablespoon of melted butter
• One egg
• One tablespoon of sugar
• One cup of buttermilk
• A quarter teaspoon of baking soda
• One tablespoon of vanilla sugar*
• One tablespoon of baking powder
• One cup of flour
• A pinch of salt

* If you do not have vanilla sugar, you can substitute this with a half teaspoon of vanilla syrup and a half tablespoon of regular sugar.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes


Start by mixing all your dry ingredients with a whisk, i.e. the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Next, break and whisk the egg in a bowl until it is nice and frothy.

Add the rest of the wet ingredients, i.e. the melted butter and the buttermilk (and the vanilla syrup if you did not use vanilla sugar).

Whisk the mixture until it is homogenous and frothy.

Make a well in your dry ingredients.

And add the wet ingredients into the middle.

With a spoon or spatula, incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Do not over stir, or mix too quickly, or you will start developing gluten which will make your pancakes taste weird and feel elastic. A general guide is to stir ten times and then stop. Okay, sometimes I go to twelve, but the point is to actually count each stirring revolution you make and be conscious of not over-stirring.

If your batter seems lumpy, that is fine.

Let the pancake batter sit for about ten minutes so that the wet and dry ingredients can get to know each other a little bit better.

After the ten minutes are up, warm up a flat pan or griddle on medium heat and grease it lightly.

Scoop some of the batter onto the pan. If you have a large enough pan, you can make a few pancakes at a time. If this is your first time making pancakes, I suggest making one at a time.

There are many different guides for when you should flip your pancakes. Some say it is ready to be flipped when the bubbles stop forming on the top. Others say the edges will seem dry. Some even follow a strict 90 second rule. I find that if you keep a close eye on the edges, you will get an idea of when is it ready to flip. It is okay, go ahead and slip the edge of a spatula under the pancake and sneak a peak to see if it is ready. Eventually, you will find your own way.

Whichever way you choose, flip your pancake when it is ready.

This side will take less time to cook, so keep an eye on it.

Finally, serve  your pancakes with maple syrup and jam, or whatever other decadence you like.

Yum.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki