Marble Mini-Muffins - Improv Challenge

This month’s Improv Challenge is to make and blog about a recipe containing vanilla and chocolate.  I made the assumption that half the posts would be marble cake (the other half chocolate cake with vanilla extract). So I decided to be different – marble mini-muffins.

Yes, dare to be different … my middle name.

I like the occasional (okay, at least once a week) slice of marble pound cake. Besides looking very pretty,  *cough* healthy *cough* chocolate swirls through and about buttery-rich vanilla-flavored pound cake.

What is my favorite part of this recipe … besides the taste? No electric mixer needed! That’s right! Just a whisk or two, a wooden spoon and a toothpick. Didn’t even bother with a spatula.

In an attempt to use all the batter, I very carefully overfilled the cups to the 2/3 mark. Don’t make the same mistake! And try to fill the cups evenly, while you are at it.

On the other hand, the spilled-over muffins were easier to remove from the tins. Go figure.

Marble Mini-Muffins  
Yield: about 24 mini-muffins

Cooking spray
1-1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. table salt
5 Tbl. unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup Milk (whole or 2%)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbl. (1/8 cup) chocolate syrup

Preheat oven to 350F. Spritz a 24-cup (or two 12-cup) mini-muffin pan with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking powder and salt.

In a small mixing bowl or large (4-cup) measuring cup, whisk together the melted butter, milk, egg, and vanilla.

Slowly pour liquid mixture into dry, stirring with a wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Transfer about 1/4 cup of the batter into a small measuring cup. Whisk in chocolate syrup until no streaks remain. Set aside.

Less is more, as you will see later.

Spoon barely a tablespoon of the batter into each muffin cup, just until they are half filled.

Too much batter.  And not uniformly filled either.

Top each with a 1/2 teaspoon of the chocolate batter. Poke a toothpick deep into the batter and gently fold and/or swirl a figure-8 a few times to create the marbleizing effect.

Later is now.

Bake in preheated oven for 11-15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed with a finger.

Remove tin(s) from oven and set on a cooling rack. Let sit for about 5-ish minutes, then remove muffins from tins (you might need to run a thin knife around each). Let cool completely on the cooling rack.

Store leftovers in a tightly covered container at room temperature. They were all gone by the next day so I’m not sure how long they can be stored.

Disclaimer - because this recipe is part of an online cooking group, the linked recipes below might not be kosher.

An InLinkz Link-up