Double Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

Mmmmmm.... sounds good yeah? That's what I thought too. I am studying, really, I am... but these muffins have been hovering around my thoughts for at least a week now. I HAD to make them! They wouldn't leave me alone otherwise! ;) I've been baking quite a lot these days, since I've finished my final year practical project. (woohoo!) I'm supposed to spend that extra time studying, but....

(Recipe is from Thanis' blog - the Food Addiction of Cookie Monster. Other yummy recipes there as well! Do pay him a visit :D Last recipe was deep fried Mars bar, something which I am too afraid to consider ;) )

What you need:
75g cream cheese (about 3 heaped tablespoons)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cups chocolate chips (about 100g)
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
60g butter, melted
1 cup milk
Dark brown sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 190 C. Prepare a muffin tray - either line with paper cases or grease well. Beat cream cheese and 2 tablespoons caster sugar together, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, chocolate chips, 1/2 cup caster sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre. Mix egg, butter and milk together, and pour into the well. Stir until just moist.
4. Spoon some chocolate batter into each muffin case (1 generous tablespoon) and drop 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture on top. Cover with another heaped tablespoon of chocolate batter. This will form the cheesecake centre. (Yum!)
5. Sprinkle some dark brown sugar over the tops of the muffins, and bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, or until springy to touch.

It's the weirdest thing, but for some reason, supermarkets in UK do not sell baking cocoa powder! Well, Bristol anyway, and I checked their websites as well! I had to substitute that with Cadbury's Hot Chocolate powder instead (closest thing I can come up with). Perhaps because of this, my muffins were not the deep brown that other people have obtained (as in Thanis' entry, and here as well). Phoo~ Oh well, next time I go back Brunei, I'll be sure to pack in some cocoa powder... (along with vanillin powder, which is being sold for FIVE pounds for a TINY bottle here!)

Anyway... The last step of sprinkling the brown sugar is entirely optional, but I fully recommend it. It makes the top of the muffin nice and crisp! Sooooooo good! One of the best muffins that I've tasted before this were all crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the inside - and these come pretty close to that! The sugar coating was crisp, and the inside was the softest I've ever baked in a muffin. The cheese filling was soooo good, and the chocolate chips were all melty (I ate straight from the oven, hehe). It was absolutely fantastic!

I was a bit overenthusiastic though, and took out the muffins out of the oven a bit too early. My first batch collapsed slightly in the centre (after cooling) but my second batch (of exactly 1 muffin! ahahaha) turned out absolutely perfect. I didn't see any cream cheese oozing out of the top though, so next time I do this, I'll probably put 2/3 of the chocolate batter at the bottom and the last third over the cheese.

Also, I got a grand total of 7 muffins, which is a sort of odd number. I think that was because I overfilled the first few muffins, since those were spilling out of the cases, but the ones after that were just perfect. So I think you should be able to get about 8-10 muffins from this. Just fill the muffin cases about 3/4 full, I think. They rise by quite a lot. But I suggest that you don't overstir, when mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, otherwise the muffin's texture will be all tough and not at all fluffy. Stir until just moist, as mentioned. It doesn't matter if there are still pockets of flour. They will disappear in the baking.

But I'll be telling Hadi and Justin that I got 6 muffins though, so shhhhhh! 7 isn't easily divisible by 3, so I took the liberty of eating up the evidence. They never read this blog, so I have nothing to fear, hoho :P

This is an easy dish to cook for breakfast as well! Prepare the cream cheese with the sugar and leave in the fridge. Mix the dry ingredients together, and store in an airtight container. The next morning, all you have to do is mix together the wet and dry ingredients, then bake in the oven! Won't take you more than half an hour, guaranteed. What is better than warm muffins fresh from the oven to start your day??? Otherwise, bake and store in an airtight container once cool, then heat up briefly in the oven the next morning. Yummy!

Again, thank you Thanis for a fantastic recipe! I would definitely be making these again!

Quote of the day: I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance???