Chocolate and Walnut muffin Heaven!

Chocolate is of course one of the most popular flavors in desserts and its not hard to know why. The depth of flavor chocolate imparts to sweets is hardly rivaled by any other ingredient. The flavor of chocolate is made even more sensational by pairing with nuts that, especially when toasted, add a penetrating rich buttery flavor that goes so well with chocolate.

Muffins are one of the joys of baking. They are extremely versatile, a snap to make, both savory and sweet. I had some leftover walnuts so I decided to use them with chocolate to make a wonderfully easy yet incredibly delicious muffins.

For 5 to 6 muffins you need:

• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• 35 g melted butter
• 20 g melted chocolate
• 75 g brown sugar (this quantity is a minimum you can add more if you like a sweeter result)
• 50 g flour (I used whole grain barley flour)
• 10 g cocoa powder
• 40 g ground toasted walnuts
• 4 g of baking powder
• 50 ml milk
• One tsp vanilla essence (I also added some coffee liquor)
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (optional)

First combine the combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon (if using) and walnuts mix and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk the butter and the melted chocolate with the sugar, add the egg and mix until well combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture mix then add half of the milk and combine, add another 1/3 of the flour, mix then follow by the rest of the milk and finish by adding the remaining flour. 

Pour the mixture into your muffin tins, you can add some chopped walnuts on the top, and bake them in a preheated over (between 180 to 200C) for 20 to 25 min.

Those muffins didn't rise too high because I filled just about more of the half of the muffin cups, but you can fill them almost to the top if you want them higher.

The time of the baking will vary from one oven to another, so check them after 15 min, if they spring back when touched then they are done!

These muffins are rich, dense and crumbly perfect. They are perfect for chocolate and nuts lovers. Give them a try and I am sure you will like them.