When it comes to double chocolate muffins, these giant muffins are the best of the best - moist, tender, and extremely chocolatey. They're loaded with three kinds of chocolate for an intense amount of chocolate flavor. And they can be made gluten-free!
Quick Note: This is an updated version of a post that originally appeared on Bright-Eyed Baker in 2014. Updates include new text and photos, and very minor tweaks to the recipe, including an option to make these muffins gluten-free!
I'm just gonna put this out there to begin with: this is the kind of double chocolate muffin you make when you mean business. They're chocolate on chocolate to the max and you can't be sorry about that; this is not the time for lightened-up or healthified chocolate muffins. Are you with me? Then keep reading!
You know those jumbo, bakery-style double chocolate muffins you see at the store? I look at those and I expect something moist, cakey, and most of all CHOCOLATEY, but usually you get something else, something that makes eating chocolate for breakfast not-so-worth-it. And that? Well that just sucks. I've made my fair share of double chocolate muffins over the years, but these were the first to really check all the boxes for me. Moist? YES. Soft? YES. Tender? YES. Chocolatey? HECK YES. And in one of those rare moments of baked good perfection, these taste phenomenal whether you eat them at room temperature, warm, or - I hate to say it but I will - straight from the fridge. They're a straight-up splurge if you have them for breakfast, or you can really get wild and serve them with whipped cream for dessert. Either way, I promise you, they're SO worth making.
Ingredients
It took a lot of tweaking to get the ingredients and proportions in these muffins just right, so it's important to stick to the recipe on this one. You'll need:
- All-purpose flour (gluten-free or regular) - YES, you can make these GF! Just use your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour (make sure it contains xanthan gum).
- Natural cocoa powder - A full cup makes these muffins extra chocolatey. Natural cocoa powder is also acidic and will react with the baking soda in this recipe to create more rise.
- Baking powder - Like I mentioned here, baking powder is key for making bakery-style muffins with perfectly-domed tops.
- Baking soda - Neutralizes the acidic cocoa powder & sour cream, and helps the muffins rise.
- Salt - Brings out the flavors!
- Eggs and egg yolk - Eggs add structure; the extra egg yolk makes the muffins more tender.
- Granulated sugar - Balances out the cocoa powder for sweetness, and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Avocado, canola, or vegetable oil - For chocolate recipes, oil often trumps butter because it makes for a softer, more moist crumb. Butter is typically used for its flavor, but chocolate usually takes over the flavor anyway. ;)
- Sour cream - Sour cream keeps the batter thick (perfect for tall, giant muffins), and the fat content keeps the muffins moist & tender. You can use yogurt if you absolutely must, but for the best possible results I recommend sour cream.
- Vanilla extract - Adds another layer of flavor & complexity. I use vanilla extract in 99% of my baked goods.
- Chocolate chips / chopped chocolate - I highly recommend using a combination of different chocolates in this recipe (milk, semisweet, and bittersweet). The better the chocolate, the better the muffins.
- Sparkling sugar - Gives the muffin tops a sweet crunch, annnnd makes the muffins look even more like they came straight from a bakery (bonus).
Recipe tips
Tons of readers have already made these muffins successfully since I first shared the recipe, but if you're making these for the first time, here are a few extra pointers:
Wipe off the surface of the muffin tin after spraying it with cooking oil. When you fill the muffin cups, they will be FULL. To help prevent this from turning into a sad muffin-top disaster, we want to pull out every stop to make sure these muffins rise up and not out. Slick cooking oil on top of the muffin pan isn't going to do us any favors.
Cream together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale and the batter ribbons down from the beaters when lifted. This ensures the sugar is dissolved into the eggs, adds structure to the muffins, and gives the muffins their shiny, crinkly, brownie-like tops.
Use the best chocolate you can afford. I mentioned it before but it's worth saying again. If you want to make the ultimate double chocolate muffin, splurge on good cocoa powder and chocolate. I typically use Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa, along with their milk chocolate baking chips, semisweet chocolate chips, and bittersweet baking bar.
Fill the muffin cups TO THE BRIM with batter. You're going to make this batter and think that surely you have enough of it to make 18 muffins. But hear this: If you want giant, bakery-style muffins, fill only 12 muffin cups, and fill them to the very top. I do this with my lemon poppy seed muffins, I do it with my banana chocolate chip muffins, and I do it with these muffins. Just follow the recipe and I promise you all will end well.
More chocolate muffin recipes
For more reasons to eat chocolate for breakfast, try these muffins!
Lightened-Up Double Chocolate Muffins - If you're looking for double chocolate chip muffins, but on the lighter side, here's where to look! These use a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and almond flour, and are made with almond milk to be dairy-free.
One-Bowl Glazed Chocolate Chip Muffins - These are simple-to-make, classic chocolate chip muffins topped with a sweet vanilla glaze. Can't go wrong there.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins - These muffins are easy to make, super soft & tender, and loaded with peanut butter and chocolate chips. They're also lightened up a bit from your typical peanut butter muffin, and dairy-free!
Recipe Card
Ultimate Double Chocolate Muffins
When it comes to double chocolate muffins, these are the best of the best - moist, tender, and extremely chocolatey. They're loaded with three kinds of chocolate for an intense amount of chocolate flavor. And they can be made gluten-free!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 17-22 minutes
- Total Time: 37-42 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: muffins
- Method: baking
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 cups, spoon and level (8 ½ ounces) all-purpose flour (gluten-free or regular)*
- 1 cup (3 ½ ounces) natural cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 ¼ cups (8 ¾ ounces) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (3 ⅞ ounces) avocado oil, canola oil, OR vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups (12 ¾ ounces) sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 10 ½ ounces chocolate chips and/or chopped chocolate, divided**
- sparkling sugar, for tops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray, wiping off any excess spray on the top of the pan.
- In a bowl, whisk (or better yet sift) together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld electric mixer), begin beating the eggs on medium-high speed. Slowly stream in the sugar while beating and continue to beat until the mixture is pale and thickened and ribbons down from the beater when lifted before settling back down into the batter (see photo in post above). Wipe down the bowl and beater as needed.
- Beat in the oil until fully incorporated. Wipe down bowl and beater and beat in sour cream and vanilla until evenly incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold in just until only a few visible streaks remain. Add 8 ½ ounces of the chocolate and fold in just until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. The batter will be thick!
- Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups, smoothing the tops if needed but keeping the scoops mounded; fill all 12 muffin cups completely. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate and sparkling sugar on top.
- Bake muffins in preheated oven for 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350ºF and bake another 7-12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs or streaks of melted chocolate. Cool muffins in pan for about 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the refrigerator to keep for more than a few days.
Notes
*When this recipe was originally posted, only regular all-purpose flour was specified. However, I have since tested it with gluten-free all-purpose flour, and can confirm that this works just as well!
**For the chocolate in this recipe, I recommend using 3 different types for added flavor and complexity. You can use a mixture of milk, semisweet, and bittersweet chocolate (3 ½ ounces of each).
Keywords: ultimate double chocolate muffins, double chocolate muffins, double chocolate chip muffins, gluten free chocolate muffins, giant chocolate muffin recipe
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Senthil Muthiah says
Also, is it possible for me to use 3 whole eggs instead of 2 eggs and 1 yolk?
alexandra says
Hi,
Technically yes, you could use 3 eggs and a combination of milk/sour cream, but it’s going to change the final product. The point of the additional yolk is for the added fat that makes the muffins more soft and tender. Adding the extra egg white will somewhat counter that. Using some milk in place of the sour cream will also cut down on the fat and make the batter less thick, which will affect how the muffins rise. Essentially, you are better off just making the recipe as written. Hope that explains it. :)
Senthil Muthiah says
For this recipe, can I use a combination of milk and sour cream? If I do, how much milk and how much sour cream?
Eva says
Will never need another chocolate muffin recipe! Those are the best muffins ever!
Maggi says
I made some chocolate chocolate chip muffins (not your recipe) yesterday, and they came out horribly. I wish I'd just made your recipe to begin with, because we made them tonight, and they were amazing! So chocolately, with a perfect "muffin-y" texture. I wound up using 3 whole eggs (because I didn't want to waste the extra egg white). Made 16 beautiful muffins. Took about 22 minutes in my oven. LOVE.
alexandra says
YAY! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed them. :)
Gabriella says
Would bake time change at all if I used baking papers instead of greasing the muffin tin? And is the quality compromised at all?
alexandra says
You should be able to use muffin liners instead without any issues/modifications
Denise says
I substituted g/f flours, honey for sugar, carob for cocoa, and flax-chia mix for egg - they turned out great! Cooking time varied slightly as reduced temp for honey substitution .. also good with walnuts
alexandra says
Awesome! So glad the substitutions worked well for you!
Jo says
OMG I have just made these are they are amazing,
slightly worried that they might need longer to cook, but they cooked perfectly.
Thank you
alexandra says
Aw SO happy to hear that! :)
David Hartley says
Don't usually comment on recipes but these are truly superb,lovely lingering after taste. Had to use crème fraiche last time and it worked fine, this morning's are sour cream so any difference will be interesting. Thanks for my favourite muffin recipe.
alexandra says
So happy you liked them! I can imagine crème fraiche would have worked just as well!
Andrea Ayala says
Hi, your recipe looks wonderful I can't wait to try it! One question though - can all the dry ingredients be sifted together or only the cocoa powder?
alexandra says
You can sift them all; it's not necessary but definitely won't hurt. :)
Jusine Mower says
Just to say, I used this recipe in an office baking competition today and came first! They went down a storm in our office in the U.K.!
alexandra says
Omg how cool! Love it - thanks so much for taking the time to share. :)
Ana says
I must give credit where credit is due and Damn! These were good, great recipe!
alexandra says
Haha thanks! :D
Nadya Ahmad says
I tried making them today...and I must have done something wrong because even though the flavor was great, but they were TOO moist and couldn't come out of the rubber muffin tray I used and the one that I put in a muffin cup to bake inflated and then sank in the middle like a big hole. :( I'm sad.
alexandra says
Hmm, it might have something to do with baking in a rubber tray. Silicone doesn't conduct heat as well, so perhaps baking them a bit longer would help. When you say you put one in a muffin cup, what type of muffin cup was it?
Leslie says
Hi, how will I get that perfect cupcake top?
alexandra says
The recipe is designed to create a nice domed top based on the consistancy of the batter and baking time/temp, so if you follow the instructions carefully you should be good to go!