Chocolate Chunk Espresso Muffins

When I dream of chocolate muffins, these are what I dream of. A moist and tender sour cream batter with big chunks of melted dark and milk chocolate. All nestled under a blanket of salty, crisp chocolate streusel and sweet coffee mascarpone cream. I think they're quite beautiful with their rough rocky surface and different shades of cocoa. My perfect chocolate muffin.

Chocolate Chunk Espresso Muffins - makes 10

Chocolate Streusel:
55g unsalted butter, melted
65g caster sugar
70g plain flour
10g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt

Muffin Batter:
115g unsalted butter, melted
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g sour cream
220g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fine instant coffee powder
75g dark chocolate, chopped
75g milk chocolate, chopped

Mascarpone Coffee Cream:
250g mascarpone 
60ml double cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
Cocoa powder, to finish
Chocolate decorations, to finish

Method

For the streusel: Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl before pouring in the melted butter. Mix until you have a crumb, using a spoon and then your fingers. Place into the fridge until needed.

For the muffins:

Pre-heat the oven to 210°C and line 10 muffins holes. If you have two muffin trays, line every other hole as this will ensure an even rise. 

Mix together the butter and sugar until combined. Add in the eggs and beat again until combined. Add in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix together. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together before sifting into the muffin batter. Once mixed, gently fold through the chocolate chunks being careful not to overmix. 

Split the batter evenly between 10 muffin cases. Sprinkle over the chocolate streusal. Bake the muffins at 210°C for 5 minutes before lowering the temperature to 190°C and baking for a further 15-20 minutes. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out dry (unless you hit a pocket of melted chocolate), with a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

For the mascarpone cream:

Place all of the ingredients together in a bowl and gently whisk together. Be careful not to overmix the cream or it will split.

Once the muffins have cooled, spoon on a dollop of the coffee cream on top. Warm a teaspoon in a mug of hot water, dry it and push an indent into the middle of the cream with the back of it. Tap a little cocoa powder over each of the coffee creams using a mini sieve. Pop on your chocolate decorations and serve.