Friday, January 30, 2015

Rich and thick spiced hot chocolate with churro doughnut muffins

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


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.


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

14 comments:

  1. I have made doughnut muffins, but the pictures weren't so great, so I didn't put it on my blog.
    Also, this chocolate sounds amazing!

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  2. Mmm I love how you added spices to the hot chocolate June! It sounds and look scrumptious, and those muffinuts look so cute :D Chocolate fondues always hit the spot ^ ^ I find that coconut oil do indeed give an almost fried flavour - certainly not a bad thing considering how good for you that oil is :)
    Thanks for the recipe, and have a lovely weekend! xx

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    1. Glad you like it! It is almost like fondue, since the hot cocoa is so thick. You can certainly eat it like that. :)

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  3. I LOVE churros and donuts and cinnamon! This sound and look delicious and with chocolate too - I'm in heaven!

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    1. Thanks! It really is a match made in heaven :)

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  4. I'm not sure anything baked can really ever compare to anything fried...but it can be delicious in it's own right!!

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    1. Oh yeah, I totally agree, but they are still great! :) Vegan fried churros may be coming soon...

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  5. What a great combination! Oh my gosh, the hot chocolate looks unreal! I need to try it ASAP with the muffins! (I also might try it with the puff pastry "cheater churros" I made before.) Time to pin!

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    1. Puff pastry churros sound good too! I hope you do try the hot chocolate--tell me when you do! :)

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  6. That hot chocolate looks delicious! Incredibly thick and creamy, just how I like my hot chocolate! I bet that breakfast was fantastic! Thanks for sharing yet another awesome recipe at the Sunday's Recipe Wrap-up!

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