Behold My Delicious Chocolatey Guts!

Okay folks,

Sorry for my brief absence.
Just tired.

So very, very tired. As in, so tired that after coming home this afternoon, I wanted to take a quick nap. Aaaaand ended up sleeping for about 5 hours.

But there has been awesome things and goings ons.

Like finally getting this badass sewing machine.

 Look at it! Look at it's glorious sewing machine...ness! I did a buttload of research before making this purchase and at this point I don't regret it.











Hopefully there are still no regrets when I finally get to my first sewing crafts project.












 But anywho,

With what little free time, I made this delicious recipe of chocolate goodness. They are chocolate muffins from my favorite joyofbaking.com website.

So, first things first again. Gather up all those yummy ingredients peoples.

I did portray ALL of your necessary ingredients. Even those for the optional frosting. (But why the hell would you skip out on chocolate buttercream?)

Another note, the recipe does call for buttermilk. My first trials with baking, I mistakenly always bought buttermilk. But, unfortunately, never used it all so that ended up being a huge waste.
Best kitchen shortcut I use on a frequent basis? Making my own damn buttermilk. All you do is add one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per one cup of whole milk, let that sit for 5 to 10 minutes and voila! Works like a fucking charm.

Next step, line your muffin pan with paper liners.

 

I was SO excited to use this jumbo or (regular sized) muffin pan for the first time. 

No regrets.

I'll also mention that I doubled the recipe once again, because, well, muffins. 

 Now for anyone who hasn't made muffins before you'll come to realize how easy they are. Just two bowls with wet and dry ingredients, fold one into the other and you're ready to bake. So first we get our wet ingredients together.

Mix your melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

 Next, in another large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix in your chocolate chips.

Now to get these two bad boys to join in sweet, sweet, chocolatey love. Make sure to fold the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir only until just combined.
DO NOT OVERMIX. If you overmix the batter, you'll get tough muffins and be forever hated by all of your friends and family.
And I don't think you want that.

Mmmmm, doesn't this look like chunky diarrhea? I know it's making me hungry.

Side note: if you noticed the bowl change, then you're very perceptive. Like I mentioned earlier, I doubled a JUMBO muffin recipe. After combining all of my ingredients in the first bowls I realized a mistake had been made.
The bowl just wasn't big enough to contain all the madness.

Now fill your muffin liners. They will be mostly full. I usually use an ice cream scoop for this step.

Time to get them in the oven! Bake muffins for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees F as per the original recipe. I usually don't move my oven dial from 350 degrees F so mine took about 24 minutes to fully bake.

Take them out and let cool on a wire rack.

 

Onto the frosting!

Which is always my favorite part. Chocolate buttercream is best buttercream. 

First, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water. Chopping it makes it easier and faster. 

Since this is unsweetened chocolate, I'm always tempted to lick remnants off of my fingers. But looks are deceiving, especially after realizing plain cocoa tastes like acrid dirt.
Delicious.

Next, in your stand mixer or with a handmixer, cream your butter until smooth and creamy.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Good to keep everything nice and incorporated.

Add your powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. I always eyeball the powdered sugar part since frosting sweetness can be adjusted to your personal preference.

 

Beat in the vanilla extract. 

And finally, slowly add your COOLED chocolate. Don't melt your butter folks. Rookie mistake and not a fun one to make. 

 

Beat on low speed until all mixed in. Then increase speed until smooth and glossy.

Omnomnomnomnomnomnom! 

Now onto decorating. Which is my utmost favorite part. The original recipe just says to spread the buttercream onto the muffins but that just doesn't cut it for me. 

I had to jazz it up a bit. 

So I melted some white chocolate and made hearts on parchment paper. I actually piped them just using a ziploc bag. Easy peasy. 

Then I piped the buttercream on with a decorative star tip. I forget which number though. 

 But you get this. 

Have you ever seen anything more delicious? 

I think not.

These were pretty sweet but I still managed to eat it without a problem. It was just a chocolate explosion in your mouth you just couldn't control. The muffin wasn't dense and the chocolate chips were still melted enough after cooled that it gave a gooey interior. 

What's not to love?

Had to share with the friends of course. 

Needless to say they enjoyed it.

Until next time!