The Mississippi Mud Muffins are typical American chocolate muffins, often found in coffee shops like Starbucks, Costa, etc. I first tasted them at Starbucks, drawn by this chocolate apotheosis! Mississippi Mud Muffins are indeed cocoa muffins with a soft chocolate cream center, topped with plenty of chocolate chips… what could be more sinful? And since temptation is naturally within everyone’s reach, let me tell you that there’s no need to search for a Starbucks to enjoy these soft breakfast sweets; making them at home is really easy and quite fast, with guaranteed results even using gluten-free flour.
The Mississippi Mud Muffin recipe I propose starts from the classic American muffin recipe, like the blueberry muffins, appropriately modified to obtain the same softness and intense chocolate flavor as the Starbucks muffins. For the soft chocolate center, I used a chocolate and hazelnut spread, hardened in the freezer to prevent it from mixing with the batter during baking (as in this recipe for muffins with a Nutella center). As for the buttermilk, essential for achieving the typical softness of American muffins, if you can’t find it, you can replace it with a mixture of milk and yogurt as I did. Traditionally, Mississippi Mud Muffins are served at breakfast, but I’d be lying if I told you that, once you have them ready, you could wait until breakfast time!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 12 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for 12 chocolate muffins with a soft center
If you are celiac, instead of all-purpose flour you can use 1 2/3 cups of rice flour + 1/4 cup of corn starch; remember to check that the following ingredients have the “gluten-free” label: unsweetened cocoa powder, rice flour, corn starch, baking powder, chocolate chips, hazelnut spread.
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 2/3 cup oz sugar
- 1/2 cup cups butter (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 cups cups all-purpose flour (for gluten-free muffins: 1 2/3 cups rice flour + 1/4 cup corn starch)
- 2 tsp tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup cups buttermilk (or: 1/3 cup milk + 1/3 cup plain yogurt)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/3 cup cups dark chocolate chips
- 5 tbsp hazelnut spread (or chocolate spread)
Tools
- 1 Chocolate mold silicone mold for 12
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 12 Cupcake liners for muffins
- 1 Muffin pan for 12
How to make Starbucks-style Mississippi Mud Muffins
To prepare the Mississippi Mud Muffins, start by filling 12 silicone molds (you can use those for chocolates or even those for ice) with a bit of chocolate or hazelnut cream (1). Keep them in the freezer for at least half an hour; if you don’t have suitable molds, you can also form small heaps slightly larger than a hazelnut on a tray lined with parchment paper.
Cut the butter into cubes and keep it at room temperature for about 30 minutes until it has the consistency of an ointment (2). To speed things up, you can put it in the oven turned off with the light on. If you don’t have buttermilk, replace it by mixing 1/3 cup of milk with 1/3 cup of plain yogurt in a glass (3).
When the butter is soft, mix it in a bowl with the granulated sugar (4). Work it for a few minutes with a wooden spoon until it forms a cream (5). Then add the eggs (6) and continue to mix. Remember that to achieve the right consistency of American muffins, DO NOT whip the ingredients with electric beaters or work the batter for too long.
Now pour in the buttermilk or the milk and yogurt mix (7) and work it for another minute to blend the ingredients well. At this point, add the cocoa, baking powder, and flour (8) and mix briefly until a homogeneous and rather firm mixture is formed (9).
Line a muffin pan with the appropriate paper liners, then place a scant tablespoon of batter (10), filling them almost halfway (11). Mix the chocolate chips into the remaining batter (12), keeping aside a handful to decorate the surface of the Mississippi Mud Muffins.
At this point, remove the molds from the freezer and unmold the chocolate cream cubes; place them at the center of each mud muffin, pressing slightly (13). Cover the Mississippi Mud Muffins with the remaining batter and garnish the surface with the reserved chocolate chips (14). Bake the Mississippi Mud Muffins in a preheated oven at 350°F (static) for about 25 minutes. When they are cooked, take them out of the oven (15) and let them cool completely before unmolding.
Serve the Mississippi Mud Muffins for breakfast or a snack and let yourself be tempted by their soft chocolate heart!
Storage
These chocolate muffins stay soft and fragrant for 3 or 4 days under a glass bell or in a cake container.
