Weekly recipe: Chocolate walnut muffins

There is something exceedingly pleasing about a dark, nutty, chocolatey muffin - and not the least because it takes less than 15 minutes before you can shove them in the oven. A crackly muffin top holding fort about a dense, dark tiny little cake? Yes, please.  With no mixers involved, the batter is something you can put together with your eyes closed when you are running on fumes. All you need is measuring cups, spoons, a couple of large bowls and a spatula, which is why this will be the work-shy baker’s go-to dessert recipe for all time.  Preheat your oven to 200C and line a 12-piece muffin tin with muffin/cupcake liners. This yields between 12 and 14 muffins, so you may either need an extra tin, or re-use your tin after your first batch is done. In your first large bowl, tip in 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking soda (or 3 tsp baking powder, if you have no baking soda on hand) and ½ tsp salt. I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for that midnight dark flavour and look, but you can use any unsweetened cocoa powder you have lurking about in your cabinet. Add 200g chocolate chips and 100g crushed walnuts. As always, I always use chocolate chips with a minimum of 70 per cent cocoa solids, but nothing is stopping you from using milk chocolate chips, or even white chocolate chips if that is what floats your boat. Mix everything together with a fork or spatula and set aside. In your second large bowl, crack open 2 eggs. Add ¾ cup yoghurt, ½ cup milk, ½ cup oil, 2 tsp vanilla extract and - if you have it - 1 tsp almond extract. The combination of almond and vanilla extracts elevates the flavour to the next level. Whisk it all together with a fork and pour it all into your dry ingredients.  Your batter will be thick - this is normal. Mix until everything appears combined and there are no specks of powder. A non-stick spatula would be best, but this is nothing the humble fork cannot handle. Do not overmix the batter, or you may end up with a muffin that sinks into itself, which would be a travesty.  Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin case to the top with batter. If you do not have an ice cream scoop, this translates to roughly ¼ cup, or 4 Tbsp, in each muffin case. Bake at 200C for five minutes, and then reduce to 180c for the next 15 minutes. That extra burst of heat in the first five minutes ensures your muffins stand tall and proud, and the lowering of the heat means they do not dry out and burn.  The shelves in my oven, for reasons beyond my control, are at a slight angle, which is why my muffins look lopsided. Do not let this slight blemish put you off. These are a delight to bite into, and any optimistic declarations of ‘I’ll just have half a muffin’ will quickly deteriorate as you reach for the second half to finish off with your post-iftar cup of tea.  Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. 

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