Espresso Chocolate Chip Cupcakes … Espress-o-love for Mother’s Day!!
Deeba @ PAB
“Mothers are those wonderful people who can get up in the morning before the smell of coffee.”
Author Unknown
Expresso Love.Have you heard the song? Its sung by my favourite band of all time, Dire Straits, whose timeless, classic music never ceases to amaze! Money For Nothing, Sultans of Swing … yank them up to the ‘are you crazy levels‘ and its nirvana for me!! Similar to the effect coffee has on me. Espresso love … Those who have known me for long, know that coffee is my favourite flavour of all time. There was a time when every celebration cake was coffee or espresso. Then came food blogs … each offering fresh perspective, new insights, flavours I had never dreamt of using. Now fruits of the season charm me and prod me to pick them off shelves. Good days are back again and we’re treading slowly into stone fruit season. I made a delicious chocolate & cherry dessert yesterday; should be my next post! Here’s a sneak peek…Yet I couldn’t let the mother in me not post about coffee this week.I was googling for coffee or espresso muffins, one link led to another, and I halted at a tempting site espresso machine reviews.I don’t own an espresso maker, though I do have a coffee maker of sorts; the reviews made me want to own one of those beauties!The lad decided to explore the site further and offered to buy me one for Mother’s Day! He read the reviews and zeroed in on the rancilio silvia review. “Would you like this one Mama?”, the ever charming creature queried. Ever since I ordered the misplaced pinch cap for my Sigma lens from ebay and it was shipped from the US, he thinks we can ship anything in! It’s a great idea, but one who is oceans apart from those mean machines, these espresso dark-chocolate chip cupcakes are good enough, for now at least. Are you a coffee junkie? Does your morning begin with a cuppa coffee? Mine does. Coffee just makes things better! These muffins are great for a coffee loving Mum! Nothing like a deep, delicious espresso cupcake to make the day complete. Dark chocolate pairs beautifully with coffee, and IMHO, a creme chantilly topping might compliment these cupcakes nicely too. I love the cases too, and have to thank my friend Bina for sending these vibrant and beautiful liners to me. I love the colours Bina!
[print_this]Recipe: Espresso Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with a Chocolate Espresso Ganache
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup vanilla sugar
1 tbsp espresso powder {or 2 tbsp coffee powder}
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup milk, room temperature
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line {or grease} a 12 mold muffin tray
With a fork, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Reserve
Beat the butter, vanilla sugar, espresso powder, vanilla extract and egg in a large mixing bowl.
Add the flour mix and milk, and blend on low speed until smooth, 30 seconds.
Fold in the chocolate chips
Spoon into muffin cases upto 2/3 full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool in the tin for about a minute before putting the muffins onto a wire rack to cool completely.Top with ganache if desired. {Recipe follows}
Recipe: Chocolate Espresso Ganache
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
100gms dark chocolate, room temperature
50ml low fat cream
1/2 tsp espresso powder
Method:
Place the chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl, and microwave on full power for 30 seconds. Stir, and give it another 10-15 seconds if need be.
Add the espresso powder and blend well with a spoon until smooth and shiny. Cool and use.
