Although eating chocolate everyday for breakfast is a bit over the top, it does make for a great pick-me-up at the end of a week, or a rich addition to a breakfast or brunch spread. These double chocolate muffins have a hint of butterscotch and rich undertones of dark brown sugar. They're good any time of the day and a snap to whip up without any butter creaming or need for a mixer!
Our biggest beef with traditional storebought chocolate "muffins" is that there usually isn't anything very muffin-y about them. They're always the size of a small planet and heaven help you if you glance at the serving size per muffin, which is somewhere between 2 and 4. Now, we believe that if you sit down with a baked good in hand, it should be proportionate to a single serving, which these are. We also believe that a muffin should be just that — a muffin, not a small cake in a wrapper.
These muffins freeze ridiculously well and keep for up to a week (if they don't get devoured before then) in an airtight container. When they are paired with a tall glass of cold milk... well we might just need a minute alone.
If you're not big on butterscotch you could plump some dried cranberries and toss them in, or add extra chocolate chips or just omit them completely. Here's how to make a batch for yourself.

Double Chocolate Butterscotch Breakfast Muffins
12 muffins
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (Dutch or not)
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar (we love Imperial)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons red cider (or white) vinegar
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 425°F and line muffin cups with papers/parchment. Melt butter in a small microwaveable container and allow to sit and cool slightly while you combine the other ingredients.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to combine, breaking up any extra-large clumps of brown sugar as you go.
Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl (including melted butter), adding vinegar last. Stir quickly to combine and add to dry mixture. Stir mixture with a wooden spoon until the wet and dry ingredients come together.
Add in the chocolate and butterscotch chips and stir to distribute. Using a large cookie scoop, divide batter between the 12 muffin cups (they will be full!). Bake for 17-20 minutes until tops of muffins lose their shine and a toothpick comes out clean. (Slightly underdone is just fine; just make sure things aren't soupy. But overdone will be dry and chokey!)
Related: Goes Well With Coffee: Dark Chocolate and Orange Muffins
(Images: Sarah Rae Trover)
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Comments (30)
sounds rich and yummy....love the idea of starting the day with chocolate.... :)
Oh YUM. PERFECT for Easter brunch!
I seriously want to make these right now - they look perfect!
are parchment muffin papers the new thing? I see them everywhere!
God, these look amazing. Wish I had all the ingredients.
YES!! A mouthwatering recipe put together out of ingredients I actually have in my kitchen! I am so making these tonight.
I'm 90% sure I will baking these tonight...after the gym.
Parchment paper is my muffin tin lining method of choice... and they're easier to peel for your guests!
These look so good!
But is there a decent substitution for butterscotch chips? I find them tooth-achingly sweet and kind of fake tasting. I know I can just sub more chocolate chips or nuts or dried fruit but if there's something else that adds a great caramel-y or butterscotch-y bite I'd love to know. Or maybe someone has a wonderful brand of butterscotch chips to recommend?
Slow Lorus - One of the major candy companies makes caramel chips that melt up super great. They're from the same people who make the traditional caramel squares with the little clear wrappers (the name is currently escaping me) ... but they melt and reharden quite nicely.
Ghirardelli's butterscotch chips are really nice. I can eat them out of hand (but then I don't like chocolate so much, so ymmv). I'll have to give these muffins a try.
peanut butter chips would be a nice substitute as well I'd think.
just made these for afternoon tea with a friend - divine. i used dark muscovado sugar, and they had an almost treacle flavour from the molasses in the sugar. not sure they would qualify as a breakfast food for me, they are really sweet and very rich, almost cake-y, but definitely delicious and worth making.
Oof. I think I need to make these and SOON! Thanks for sharing!!!!!
@sarahrae -- is it Kraft that makes caramel bits? I've never seen them but will look for them.
@ Kakugori & MrsMollyK -- I'll give Ghirardelli's and pb chips a try too.
Thanks for these suggestions. They sound promising!
Oh my goodness, this looks DELICIOUS! Can't wait to try it! These look so moist. The parchment papers look beautiful too. I've only ever used baking cups.
Kind of an odd question (and an odd place to ask it) but since this is a muffin recipe--I've had trouble combining melted butter with the other liquid ingredients. The butter turns solid again and clumps up, since it get mixed with cooler items. Will letting the butter cool for a longer period of time help? Do I let the other liquid ingredients come to room temperature before combining?
Slow Lorus - Kraft is what I was thinking... the smaller packages of caramel chips are schoolbus yellow!
aaaaamy - You can either pour your milk sooner and let it warm up, but even easier would be to bring your eggs to room temp. Just run them under warm water until the chill is gone, minx your other liquids with them and then add your butter and you should be good to go!
Just made these this morning.
And wow.
They turned out amazing, even though I didn't have enough brown sugar or the butterscotch chips.
I just put in the chocolate chips, and they really were fantastic.
A must try!
what size should you cut the parchment paper? I have regular size muffin tins.
learnbydesign - they're roughly 4" squares. I purchase parchment paper in large sheets/quantities from the local restaurant supply, so I simply fold each sheet in thirds and then again in quarters and the end result is 12 perfect squares!
A juice glass pressed inside before putting the batter in helps keep them in place!
sarahrae - Thanks so much for the tips :)
I followed the recipe exactly and it made about 20 full-size muffins. Are my tins smaller than everyone else's?
Did you fill your cups almost to the top? If we only used our cookie scoop to dole out batter... it would have made more, it's usually almost 2 scoops per tin!
Just made a batch of these and they ARE delicious. Can't wait to try them with peanut butter chips, too.
Only thing is, I'd put these in the category of "small cake in a wrapper". Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of eating chocolate at breakfast, but these are definitely more of a dessert/cupcake than what I usually think of as a breakfast-type muffin.
Yes, I've made these as well, and had I not filled the first batch a bit too full I would have had 24 muffins from my standard size cupcake/muffin tin.
If you fill them fuller, they spread out all over the place. Not a problem, I guess, if you use the parchment paper liner thing that is taller than the cups in the pan.
I made these last night. They were so quick to throw together and turned out GREAT. The tops were awesomely crusty. I used about 2T less butter and added 4T flax meal - at that amount I didn't notice it in the flavor, and the bottoms of the muffin cups were still translucent so I think I could have used even a bit less. I also used light brown sugar and 2% milk since that is what we had.
I agree these are more of a dessert. They are SO GOOD!
I just made these. I wish I had read through the comments beforehand-- getting the parchment to stay in the muffin tins was a pain. Next time I'll try using the juice glass.
I just made these and they are very indulgent, I definitely would put them in the dessert category, they are delicious! I added toffee bits instead of the butterscotch, and added chopped almonds to half the batch. I also used a hefty spoon of molasses and regular white sugar in place of the dark brown sugar. I had enough batter after filling my 12 muffin cups to the brim, for 3 tiny (2.5") round cake pans, I didn't use parchment, I used regular muffin cup liners.
They were moist inside like a great brownie with a crusty top!
These are delicious and they can be a fun dessert. Definitely more cupcake than muffin my my book.
I use parchment because it allows for a larger cupcake/muffin in that if you cut the paper tall you can fill it with more batter than a traditional cup. It also creates a more even cake rather than the "muffin top" you are relegated to with the cups. Also, it makes a better looking cake over all.
Sounds really yummy!I love all the food made of chocolote.I definitely wanna try this.It's also a great dessert.