Friday, May 9, 2014

chocolate maltesers crunch muffins

I like making muffins. There are days when I just want to bake something simple so as to satisfy my urge to bake. (Yes, it is an addiction.) On such days, I just want to bake SOMETHING. So I'll go look at my vast collection of cookbooks, or at the pile of recipes I have printed out to be tested, and find SOMETHING - usually a muffin recipe because muffins are quick to make, and always great for breakfast or as a snack.

Recently, I bought a book - The Ultimate Muffin Book. When it finally arrived, I was a bit disappointed because there were no pictures in the book.

Yes, I am a serious baker. I can bake without looking at pictures of the final products. But I am also a char boh (woman) and I LIKE ogling at pretty food pictures!


Yet I did buy the book, so it was only fair that I bake something from it. The recipe that really caught my eye was this one - the combination of chocolate and malt is something I find extremely hard to resist which is why this cake remains one of my favourite cakes to bake.

Anyway, I am really glad I baked these muffins because I ate 2 muffins the moment they were out of the oven, and today, I bought more Maltesers because I want to bake these muffins again!

Here's how to make these super-delicious muffins.


To start, I melted chocolate with butter in a ban marie.


While that happened, I whisked the milk and malt powder in a saucepan over low heat until the malt powder had completely dissolved. This was then set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl, I added the eggs and beat with the paddle attachment on my mixer for a minute. Then I added caster sugar and continued beating until the mixture was thick and pale yellow (about 3 minutes).

I added vanilla extract, then the malt powder and milk mixture. And mixed.

Then I added the chocolate and mixed that as well.

This was then poured into the dry ingredients. And using a wooden spoon, I stirred until just combined.

Using a rolling pin, I gently crushed a pack of Maltesers. Don't whack too hard because the bag may burst and you'll have Malteser bits everywhere!

I spooned the muffin mixture into muffin liners with an ice cream scoop.

And topped with the crushed Maltesers.

The muffins were baked for 20 minutes and allowed to cool in the muffin tray for about 5-10 minutes before I transferred them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I can safely say this is currently my favourite muffin recipe.

Which is saying a lot since I have tried so many muffin recipes!

Try making them and see if you agree with me!

One year and 250 posts later, I still love blogging! To celebrate, I am giving away an Epica TM Accupro Digital Kitchen Scale. This is a great kitchen tool and has a capacity of 11 lbs/ 5 kg.

Here's how to take part!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway ends on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. Pacific time. The winner will be selected by random.org and contacted by email. If there is no response after 48 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to overseas entrants.

RECIPE
Chocolate Maltesers Crunch Muffins (Makes about 20-24)
Adapted from The Ultimate Muffin Book by Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough

Ingredients:
1 cup (240ml) milk (whole, low-fat, or skim) - I used low-fat milk
3/4 cup (60g) malted milk powder - I used Horlicks
2 cups (190g) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ounces (85g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped - I used Valrhona 70%
3/4 sticks (85g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (225g) caster sugar - I used 170g
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 packs (37g each) Maltesers, crushed

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line muffin pan with muffin liners.
2. Whisk milk and malted milk powder in a small bowl until the powder dissolves. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until uniform. Set aside.
4. Place chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir constantly until half the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove the top of the double boiler from the pot and continue stirring away from the heat until all the chocolate and butter have melted and the mixture is completely smooth. Cool for 5 minutes.
5. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for one minute, then add sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
6.Stir in vanilla extract, the the prepared malt mixture. Pour in the chocolate mixture in a slow steady stream, whisking all the while. Finally, use a wooden spoon to stir in the flout mixture, just until moistened.
7. Fill the prepared tins three-quarters full. Top with crushed Maltesers. Bake 20 minutes, or until the muffins have cracked, rounded tops and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Note: The muffins will stay fresh in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours or up to 2 months in the freezer.

I am submitting this recipe for Cook-Your-Books hosted by Kitchen Flavours.



I am also linking this post to Little Thumbs Up, hosted by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Doreen of My Favourite D.I.Y., and Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.






32 comments:

  1. I always love blueberry muffins, but gamed to try anything new!

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  2. Thanks! I also love baking muffin. Gonna try this recipe..help me to clear my bottle of Horlick and who can resist Maltesers??!

    LayPeng P

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  3. Looks so good! I love the dome of the muffins!

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  4. My favourite is blueberry banana muffin. Wouldn't mind chocolate though

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  5. My favourite muffin has always been the old school golden muffin with chocolate chips - soft, fluffy with a slightly crispier top. Hehe. Just typing it out is making me want to make some!

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  6. I'm so going to try this. Bought a packet of maltesers and up-to-date, I'm still thinking what to do with it :)

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  7. Your muffins look so tempting! Too bad I have no leftover malted powder to try on this recipe.Thinking off substitute with milo..I need to make something fast to bake!!! Thanks for your recipe it comes in time :)

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  8. it looks simple enough, yet like not so simple. but maltesers are my fav choc snacks! you just made me wanna get my kitchen messy tonight. :-)

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  9. I do not think any Maltesers will make it into the oven as it goes into my mouth first :)

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  10. My favourite muffin is banana walnut crumble muffins :)

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  11. Chocolate is definitely a YES for me!

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  12. My favourite muffin would be the chocolate chips muffin .. simple yet satisfying :)

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  13. I like chocolate banana muffins most.


    robert_sim@yahoo.com

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  14. Chocolate or chocolate chips. But your recipe above is very mouth watering too!!
    magixn@hotmail.com

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  15. Saw this post in CYB #12. I love baking muffins but when they are tough and dense, I feel very disappointed. Moist and light muffins are my favourite. Bookmarked to try.

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  16. Chocolate banana muffin
    edenie98@yahoo.com

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  17. Hi Diana,
    I do not mind books without any photos, as long as the recipes are good. Have heard about this book and I can see why it has such good reviews! Your muffins looks really yummy!
    Congratulations on your Blog Anniversary!

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  18. this is THE ultimatum!!! soooo gooooooddd!

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  19. I love cream cheese muffins! But I suspect this will take over the top spot! Time to buy maltesers and try this out.

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  20. My favourite muffin is chocolate muffin :-)

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  21. Sorry the book didn't have photos but sooo glad you made and shared this scrumptious muffin recipe!

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  22. hi Diana, the muffins look so tempting topped with crushed maltesers!

    thanks for linkup with LTU!

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  23. Hi Diana,

    I have noticed that you are a big fan of maltesers :p Me too! Like extra maltesers for these muffins, please! :p Yum!

    Zoe

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  24. I love the bake muffins since I only have a small oven. I know I am going to try this soon.

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  25. So gonna try this one day!

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  26. Hi, can I replace the plain flour + baking soda + baking powder with SR flour?

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    Replies
    1. Hi KT, you can find the answer here: http://www.thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/p/whys.html

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