coffee muffins that pack a punch

Photo Credit: Cooking Light Magazine/Johnny Autry

These muffins are so stimulating because they contain so much caffeine in them!  Each muffin is about 200 calories.  How do I know this?  It's because this is a Cooking Light recipe that I found in my January/February 2012 magazine and the nutrition facts are listed.  If you read the reviews for this recipe, others will tell you about all the wonderful things about this recipe.  My two cents are that these muffins will overbake and dry out easily so don't overbake them!  I learned my lesson; these will go into the oven for 14 minutes and no longer than that.  They will finish baking from the residual heat.  These muffins are soft and tender but sturdy enough to be classified as a muffin and not a cupcake.  What I love about this recipe is that I increased the instant coffee granules and the vanilla extract both by an additional 1.5 teaspoon (see the modified recipe below) and the flavor was beyond amazing.  Because the coffee is so strong, the muffins are not overly sweet!  I made the recipe with and without chocolate chips and I think the ones sans chocolate are fantastic!  That's probably because I don't eat chocolate for breakfast :)  I also strongly recommend using a food scale to measure out the flour because the approximation listed for 9 ounces of flour is supposedly equivalent to 2 cups of flour.  But the density of your flour is dependent on the humidity in the environment in which your flour is stored.  For me, it turned out that 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour weighed 9 ounces and not 2 cups worth as the original recipe stated.  The batter for this muffin recipe will be very thick too!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins

Recipe adapted from CookingLight

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole milk

5 tablespoons butter, melted

3 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 400°F

2) Combine first 5 ingredients (milk, butter, coffee granules, vanilla, and egg)

3) Measure the flour.  Combine flour and the remaining ingredients (sugar, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

4. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until done. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.