Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

Tonight felt like a 'muffin night'. I have made 'chocolate cheesecake muffins' and they are in the oven as I type. This recipe comes from Muffins: Fast and Frantic. It is a glorious book of muffins. Every so often I try a new recipe and it becomes my favourite.

Muffins
255g plain flour
10ml baking powder
2.5ml sodium bicarbonate<
100g sugar
45-75ml unsweetened cocoa powder<
1 egg<
240-260ml milk
5ml vanilla essence
90ml vegetable oil


Cream Cheese Filling
100g softened cream cheese
30g sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Prepare the muffin tins. I use silicon muffin cases.

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, vanilla essence and vegetable oil. In a third bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar.

Then tip the egg-milk mix into the dry ingredients. Mix well, but quickly. Three quarters fill the muffin cases, then add a dollop of the cream cheese to the centre. Cover with the remaining muffin mix. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes.

You can omit the cream cheese mixture, and put in chopped nuts, or chocolate chips, orange zest etc.

I use Dove Farm flour, bicarb and baking powder. They are gluten-free. However, the recipe is equally as good with their gluten-y counterparts. Substitute them weight for weight.

The muffins can be eaten straight away as a hot dessert (served with ice cream, and any cream cheese mix left over). They can be allowed to cool (not in this family). And they freeze well too.