Chocolate Sourdough Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon table salt
• ½ cup steaming hot or boiling water
• ½ cup Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
• ¾ cup sour cream
• ½ cup avocado oil (may substitute canola or vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup sourdough discard
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (plus additional for topping, if desired)

Steps

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

2. 2

   In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.

3. 3

   In a large measuring cup (or a separate mixing bowl), combine the hot water, cocoa, and instant coffee (if using). Whisk until smooth.

4. 4

   Add sour cream, avocado oil, egg, and vanilla extract and whisk well.

5. 5

   Add sourdough discard to the measuring cup and whisk until ingredients are well incorporated.

6. 6

   Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and use a spatula to gently fold together until about halfway combined. Add chocolate chips and continue to fold until ingredients are just combined.

7. 7

   Divide batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each liner nearly to the rim. Note that this recipe makes 18 muffins, if you only have a single 12-count liner it is fine for the batter to sit, covered, on the counter, while the first batch bakes.

8. 8

   Sprinkle muffins with additional chocolate chips, if desired, and transfer to center rack of 425F (220C) oven. Bake for 8 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, reduce oven temperature to 350F (175C) and continue to bake for 9-10 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist/fudgy crumbs (not wet batter).

9. 9

   Allow muffins to cool for 5-10 minutes in the muffin tin before gently removing from the tin (careful, the tin is hot! I use a butter knife to gently pry up each muffin) and transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.