Black and White Muffins
A while back, my friend Tash sent me a photo of a black and white muffin she found in Spain with a message that was something along the lines of, “LET’S MAKE THIS.” So when she got back, we set out to do just that. As it turns out, a good muffin is harder to pin down than one might think. It needs to be moist and tender, but also needs a crunchy top. And then when you add in the variable of not one, but two flavors, it gets a little trickier.
After a good amount of testing, we landed on the good old combo of chocolate chunk and vanilla, loaded with a nice dose of sour cream for a dense and moist crumb. We also ended up “dividing” the ingredients, to avoid an over mixed muffin, because even a little extra mixing makes for a tough muffin and no one wants that. Chocolate chips were axed in favor for their melty cousin chopped or disc chocolate (the chips have a coating to help them keep their shape). At first we tried piping the batters into the liners, but it got messy and felt fussy, so we opted for good old fashioned scoops.
The end result is one we are super happy with—super moist muffins with a great crumb and an ideal crunchy sugary top. We hope you love them! ❤️
INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
½ cup sugar, divided
½ cup light brown sugar, divided
1 cup sour cream, divided
4 tablespoons whole milk, divided
2 large eggs, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder, divided
½ teaspoon baking soda, divided
½ teaspoon fine kosher salt or sea salt, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or discs (no chips)
4 tablespoons turbinado or demerara sugar, divided
TOOLS
Mixing bowls
Cookie scoops
Muffin tin
Muffin (cupcake) liners
Wire rack
FIX
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grab a muffin tin and fill each cup with a liner or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
In two large bowls, evenly divide the oil, butter, sugar, brown sugar, sour cream, whole milk, eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine. In two smaller bowls, evenly divide the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour and whisk to combine. Whisk the cocoa powder and instant espresso powder into one of the two bowls. Gently fold the cocoa dry ingredients into one of the wet bowls, until it’s just combined then fold in the chopped chocolate (or chocolate discs). Fold the second bowl of dry ingredients into the other bowl of wet ingredients until just combined.
When scooping the batter into the muffin tins, you want to scoop the vanilla on one side of the cup and the chocolate on the other - if you have a scoop with a thumb lever that is the easiest tool to use, but if not you can use large spoons. Start with the vanilla and scoop a heaping ¼ cup into each cup focusing on one side then repeat with a scoop of the chocolate on the other side. Bang the pan a few times to settle the batter. Sprinkle the muffins with the turbinado (or demerara) sugar and bake until they’re set and a toothpick can be pushed through the vanilla side and come out clean, around 25-35 minutes. Start checking if they’re done after 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
They will keep for 2 to 3 days, but are best the day they are baked.