Rich and thick spiced hot chocolate with churro doughnut muffins

I really have no idea why it’s taken me so long to try doughnut muffins. The concept interested me—was it really possible to mimic the flavor of a soft and sweet and, well, deep-fried cake doughnut...with a muffin? So when it came time for me to salvage yet another failed expedition into the kitchen, I seized the opportunity to try them for myself.

The whole disaster was not that terrible, I’ll admit. I had flipped to a certain page in Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey and decided that hey! maybe I’ll make hot chocolate and churros for breakfast tomorrow (don’t question it). But I didn’t have any oil on hand for frying, so I decided to use Sprinkle Bakes’ baked churros. Which are much healthier anyway.

But how did you go from churros to muffins...?

However, after two fuckups using two different egg substitutes, I found my baked churro plan was not really working and I decided to toss out the whole idea—for now, at least. I hope to make actual real churros sometime in the near future. But my patience is limited and so I turned to another, churro-esque recipe that might be worthy of the Spanish-style hot chocolate I had already made from that damn cookbook.

Muffins, of course!

As a substitute for churros, they don’t really fit the bill—but they’re absolutely amazing in their own right, so it hardly matters. My mind was blown, in fact, when I first tried them. I shit you not, they taste almost precisely like those classic cake doughnuts, fresh out of the fryer and covered in cinnamon sugar. The texture really is dead-on. I tip my metaphorical hat to whoever came up with the whole idea.

Now, as an accompaniment to the hot chocolate? Even better. Jill O’Connor, the author of Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, clearly knows what she’s doing. The hot cocoa is super thick and creamy and very, very chocolaty, thanks to the plentiful real chocolate melted right into the mix. I added a bit of spice just for shits and giggles. 

More giggle than shit, hopefully.

So there you have it. Two recipes that are meant to be together. And they’re both incredible. Make them, dip those muffins in that hot chocolate, and chow down on that shit like you mean it. And forget about those god damn churros. Nobody likes real actual churros anyway.

Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. Here are the recipes.

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Rich and thick spiced hot chocolate

Adapted from Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey

Ingredients

732 grams • nondairy milk • 3 cups

7 grams • cornstarch • 1 tablespoon

10 grams • cocoa powder • 2 tablespoons

72 grams • granulated sugar • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons

Pinch salt

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

170 grams • nondairy semisweet chocolate, chopped • 6 ounces

Cinnamon and cayenne pepper, to taste

Instructions

Pour 610 grams • 2 ½ cups nondairy milk into a large saucepan. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt. Pour remaining liquid into the small bowl and whisk to combine.

Heat milk over medium heat until it just begins to boil; add cocoa mixture and whisk together. Cook until it boils and begins to thick. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and chopped chocolate. Spice to taste.

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Churro doughnut muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Muffin batter

13 grams • ground flaxseed • 2 tablespoons

90 grams • warm water • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons

57 grams • coconut oil, softened • ¼ cup

50 grams • canola oil • ¼ cup

100 grams • granulated sugar • ½ cup

71 grams • brown sugar • 1/3 cup

320 grams • all-purpose flour • 2 2/3 cups

6 grams • baking powder • 1 ½ teaspoons

1 gram • baking soda • ¼ teaspoon

4 grams • salt • ¾ teaspoon

2 grams • cinnamon • 1 teaspoon

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

224 grams • nondairy milk • 1 cup

Churro coating

42 grams • coconut oil, melted • 3 tablespoons

50 grams • granulated sugar • ¼ cup

6 grams • cinnamon • 2 teaspoons

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a tray of mini muffin tins.

Whisk together ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl; set aside. Place coconut oil, canola oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer; cream until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Add flaxseed mixture and combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Combine vanilla and milk in a measuring cup. With mixer on low speed, spoon in about 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by ½ of the milk mixture; beat until just combined. Repeat, then add the remaining 1/3 of the flour. Be sure not to over-mix.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling them all the way up to the top (but not a bit over, if you want to avoid those overflowing muffin tops). Bake for about 9 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. You might have to bake another batch to get in all the batter.

In a small bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cinnamon for topping. Dip each muffin in the melted coconut oil, then in the cinnamon sugar. Eat the muffins warm with hot chocolate.

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SO MUCH CINNAMON SUGAR.

I honestly don’t think I’ve made a hot chocolate recipe equal to this one before. Certainly not on the blog. So consider this my definitive vegan hot chocolate recipe. Even with just regular almond milk (that’s what I used), you get this really nice and thick beverage that even a cream-obsessed Parisian connoisseur of chocolat would love.

But since this recipe incorporates some lovely spices (cinnamon and cayenne), here are some other spiced-up treats to try.

Maple gingerbread layer cake with cheesecake filling and spiced crumb. Not the prettiest of my cakes, but still awesome.

Pumpkin pie hot chocolate. For when you want to drink your pie.

Chocolate layer cake with chili and coconut. A favorite of mine.

Ginger pear pancakes with chocolate syrup. Pears and chocolate are magical together.