By Luis and I sat on the porch after dinner. The evening was quiet. The desert sky went from pink to purple to dark. We held hands — briefly, the way we always hold hands, not dramatically but factually, the fact of two people who have been holding hands for thirty years and who hold because the holding is the marriage, not the ceremony. The porch. The sky. The hands. The enough.
There are nights when the sky does all the work and all you have to do is sit inside it. After a porch evening like that one — the kind that asks nothing of you and gives everything back — I always want something warm waiting in the kitchen, something that says the day isn’t quite over yet but the hard part is long gone. These Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Muffins are exactly that: steady and rich and a little indulgent, the way thirty years of holding hands is a little indulgent, in the best sense. I’d baked a batch that afternoon without really planning to, and it turned out to be exactly the right thing.
Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Muffins
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
- 1/3 cup thick caramel sauce, plus more for drizzling
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
- Whisk dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, fine salt, and sugar until fully combined and no lumps remain.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined — a few streaks of flour are fine. Do not overmix. Fold in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Fill and swirl. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Drop roughly 1 teaspoon of caramel sauce onto the center of each muffin, then use a toothpick or skewer to swirl it lightly into the batter. Scatter the remaining chocolate chips over the tops.
- Bake. Bake for 18 to 21 minutes, until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted into the chocolate portion (not the caramel swirl) comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Finish and cool. Remove the muffins from the oven and immediately drizzle lightly with additional caramel sauce. Sprinkle each muffin with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Let rest in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 230mg