Chocolate chip and cola muffins

Despite my love of large chocolate cakes, sometimes I want those neat self contained muffins.  Not delicate cupcakes covered in sticky icing.  I much prefer good honest chunky muffins.  They are particularly attractive now that I try and put some home baking in Sylvia's lunchbox these days.

I am far more experienced at making large chocolate cakes than smaller cupcakes or muffins.  So I looked at my recipe index expecting to find proof.  Even so, I was surprised to find I had blogged 40 large cakes, 15 brownies and only 12 cupcakes or muffins.  Perhaps it is that when I was young we had large chocolate cakes but little cakes were usually vanilla.  Not that we would call them vanilla.  We just called them plain.  If that is any indication as to how they were viewed.  Yes, a bit boring.

In an ideal world, I would make hearty healthy muffins filled with wholegrains, seeds and fruit or vegetables.  Which might explain my lack of chocolate muffins on my blog.   Sometimes I just want chocolate.  Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella is one of those bloggers who takes amazing photos.  She made these her chocoletta muffins look so dark and brooding and gooey and just so enticing that they went straight to the top of my to do list.

These muffins had cocoa, cola and choc chips.  Unable to stop just there, I added caramel chips too.  Because I had some.  Sylvia was very excited about these muffins.  They were great sport for her.  The aim was to eat as many of the caramel chips before the muffins went in the oven.  My challenge was to stop her.  And I had to work hard to avoid the temptation of eating the whole batch as soon as they came out of the oven.  

We all loved these muffins.  Soft with lots of chocolate and caramel chips, they were warm and snuggly as befits cold foggy morning, sudden hail showers and bone rattling winds at this wintery time of year.

I am sending these muffins to Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes for her Bookmarked Recipes event to share the bookmarked recipes that we actually manage to cook.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: WW Open House Melbourne, Green Lentil Dal and Om Vegetarian
Two years ago: Treacle gingerbread and more Open House Melbourne
Three years ago: Vegetarian meatballs
Four years ago: Nutty fries and other people’s plates
Five years ago: Apple and date cake
Six years ago: Do I dare to cook with one less pear?
Seven years ago: Baking cake for climate change

Chocolate chip and cola muffins
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella
Make 12 to 15 muffins

2 1/4 cups self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup cola drink
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup caramel chips
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 160 C.  Line a 12 hole muffin tin with papers.   (If desired you can add a few extra muffins or some mini muffins - I made about 10 mini muffins as well as 12 regular muffins.)

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Lightly whisk together cola, oil and eggs in a large jug.  Make a well in the flour mixture and tip in the cola mixture.  Mix until combined.  Gently stir in caramel chips and choc chips.

Spoon mixture into lined muffin tray, almost to the top of each muffin cup.  Bake for 23 to 25 minutes.  (I baked my mini muffins for 20 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.)  Check they are done with a skewer inserted in the middle - it should come out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

On the Stereo:
Christmas: Low