Day 349 - Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

The doggie likes to be with me whenever I take my pictures.  Ok, and whenever I'm baking in the kitchen.  He watches me like a hawk, forever ready to leap at the first sight of something hitting the floor or waiting for the gift of a handout.

Once again, I was craving some chocolate.
Is that a surprise?
Seems like the majority of this year I've been craving chocolate.
I was thinking a chocolate chip muffin would do the trick.
But it couldn't be just a vanilla muffin with chocolate chips, it had to be a chocolate flavored muffin with chocolate chips IN it!
Yeah.
Just. plain. yum.

I left the SD card in the computer my husband took to work, hence the pictures of the finished product and none of the process.  That's ok.  I like looking at these anyway.  It's almost as good as eating them.  Saves you on the calories, anyway.

This comes to us from the Brown Eyed Baker which she found in Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  Thanks, Michelle!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins - made 16 muffins for me, 12 for Michelle ( I think my muffin tins are smaller)

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.  Place muffin cups into a 12-cup muffin tin and place on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl placed over a small pan of simmering water, melt the butter and 1/2 of the chopped chocolate.  Remove from heat.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, mix together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla.  Mix until thoroughly combined.
Add the buttermilk mixture and chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients.  Stir quickly and gently with a rubber spatula being careful not to overmix.
Fold in the remaining chopped chocolate.
Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow the pan to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the tin.

I rate everything I bake on a scale from 1-4 and these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins earned 3 rolling pins.
I loved the bittersweet chocolate chunks, but I think the only thin that held me back from rating these higher was that I was hoping for a fudgier muffin.  It was more like cake and I am SO into chocolate fudgy brownies.
Don't get me wrong though, these were very good and did satisfy my chocolate craving.

We have A LOT of new faces over at our Facebook page.  We're up to 611!!! Can you believe it??  And here I was thinking that we might not reach the 500 mark before 365 was up and we still have two weeks left!  Woo Hoo!  If you haven't already "like"d it, head on over here.  I'm telling you now because it will be to your advantage when we have the giveaway on Day 365 - you'll get another entry!
Thank you!!

I love you all and give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!