Hello friends!

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Las Vegas.  While it wasn’t a working trip, the baker in me never really turns off.  Every time I saw a pastry display, I geeked out and took pictures.  Photos to follow, in an upcoming post.

As of this morning, I hadn’t baked anything in over a week, and I was jonesing to get back in my kitchen.  So at 6 a.m. there I was, preheating the oven and pulling out my scales.

For something quick and easy, I decided to make chocolate muffins.  To these muffins, I added crushed Heath bar pieces, and this is my one regret: I didn’t have enough on hand.  Typically, in any given cookie or muffin formula, the weight of the extra goodies included should be roughly equal to the weight of the flour.  Since I was short on Heath bar pieces, I threw in some chocolate chips as well.

Formula:

23 ounces all purpose flour

24 ounces granulated sugar

3 ounces cocoa powder

1.2 ounces baking powder

0.4 ounces salt

1 tsp espresso powder (very optional)

4 whole eggs

18 ounces buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

10.75 ounces vegetable oil

16 ounces Heath bar pieces

8 ounces chocolate chips.

This is a simple procedure.  Start by mixing the first 5 ingredients together, and if you are using the espresso powder, add it here too.

Next, stir together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, then mix that into the dry ingredients.  Scrape your bowl and beaters well, to make sure all ingredients are properly mixed.  Last, fold in the oil.

This is the part where I encourage you to scrape your mixing bowl and beaters well, and then spend 20 seconds or so mixing the batter at a medium speed.

Finally, the fun part.  You can add the Heath bar pieces I recommended, or go a different direction.  M&Ms, Reese’s pieces, or white chocolate chips would all work well here, as would lightly toasted pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts.

To finish, I scooped these into muffin tins (lined with muffin cups, of course) and sprinkled granulated sugar on top.  I baked them at 350, for 28 minutes.