Double Chocolate Muffins - Handle the Heat
Filed Under: Chocolate | Muffin

Double Chocolate Muffins

  |  
October 23rd, 2018
4.88 from 24 votes
4.88 from 24 votes

Moist and tender Double Chocolate Muffins feature a brown sugar cocoa muffin studded with gooey chocolate chunks for the ultimate easy treat!

Yield: 12 to 15 muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: The perfect amount of cocoa and chocolate flavor that you could enjoy for dessert OR breakfast!
Texture: Tender, moist, and loaded with gooey chocolate chunks.
Ease: These take less than 30 minutes to make using ingredients you may already have on hand.
Pros: Quick, simple, and tasty chocolate recipe.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Of course.

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When I’m craving chocolate and want something warm & homemade stat, these Double Chocolate Muffins are my go-to recipe.

They take less than 30 minutes and if you like to bake you probably already have everything you need on hand.

Moist and tender Double Chocolate Muffins feature a brown sugar cocoa muffin studded with gooey chocolate chunks for the ultimate easy treat!

The brown sugar, sour cream, and butter in this recipe help to create beautifully flavorful, moist, and tender muffins that everyone will love.

(Any 30 Rock fans out there? I can never think of the ‘muffin top’ without thinking of Jenna Maroney’s song.)

Lots of tips for baking these best ever chocolate muffins below. Enjoy!

Moist and tender Double Chocolate Muffins feature a brown sugar cocoa muffin studded with gooey chocolate chunks for the ultimate easy treat!

How to Make Double Chocolate Muffins

How to make muffins from scratch:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat together your wet ingredients. Pour into the dry ingredients. Don’t overmix or you’ll have rubbery muffins. A few streaks of flour remaining is perfectly fine.
  3. Add any toppings.
  4. Divide among muffin tin, bake, and enjoy!

How to prevent muffins from sticking to the liners:

These are my favorite muffin liners that won’t stick. They’re usually sold at Target as well. If sticky liners are a common problem for you, check out this helpful blog post.

How many muffins does this recipe make?

The amount of muffins this recipe makes will depend on how big and deep the cavities are in your muffin tin and how high you fill them with batter. The higher you fill them, the taller and bigger your muffin tops will be. This if my favorite super affordable muffin tin.

How to bake TALL muffins:

I recently experimented with the science of muffins and how to achieve beautiful, TALL muffins that look like they belong on the shelf of a fancy bakery. Check out my 3 tips for baking tall muffins here!

Hint: Chilling your muffin batter overnight makes for the BEST ever muffins!!

comparison of muffin batter rested vs baked immediately

How to store muffins:

Muffins are best served the day they’re baked. I love to serve these muffins warm so the chocolate chunks are still ooey and gooey. If you have leftovers, store them for up to 1 day in an airtight container at room temperature. Refresh in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes or reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds.

For best results, freeze leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature or reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute.

More Muffin Recipes

4.88 from 24 votes

How to make
Double Chocolate Muffins

Yield: 12 to 15 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Moist and tender Double Chocolate Muffins feature a brown sugar cocoa muffin studded with gooey chocolate chunks for the ultimate easy treat!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (254 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (43 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a small bowl combine the melted butter, sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a thick batter forms. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Do not overmix.
  4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins to the rack to cool completely.
Course : Dessert
Cuisine : American
Keyword : chocolate muffins

Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.

Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    Barbara C — November 12, 2023 at 11:40 am

    Husband and friends loved these muffins. This one is a saver.

  2. #
    Hayley — September 23, 2023 at 9:26 am

    I’m new to baking and am trying to find recipes that are safe for me – so I was wondering if I could use this recipe but without the sour cream/yogurt and still make the recipe work? Or is there something I can replace it with if I absolutely can’t go without this element? I’m intolerant to those ingredients, so if it just means that by leaving it out the muffins get more dense or less perfect but still tasty and edible, that for example would be fine for just me.

    Also, I was wondering how important is the vanilla extract? Would it still be tasty without this considering the chocolate inside it? I’ve always wondered about this when seeing it mentioned in recipes!

    Thanks in advance!

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — September 25, 2023 at 10:25 am

      Hi Hayley! Feel free to experiment with something like buttermilk or a lactose-free yogurt, but these muffins will be dry if you leave it out entirely. The sour cream/yogurt, along with the brown sugar and butter in this recipe help to create beautifully flavorful, moist, and tender muffins. Please note that we haven’t tried this recipe with anything other than sour cream or yogurt, so this would be entirely experimental for you. Vanilla extract helps to round out the flavor in most baked goods, but in something like this, even imitation vanilla should work just fine. The good, real extract is most important in vanilla-based desserts (think yellow/white cakes, vanilla ice cream, etc) and also in bakes like Chocolate Chip Cookies, where you need the depth of flavor vanilla brings to really round out the delicious butterscotch flavors. I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂

    • #
      Harley — October 2, 2023 at 5:33 am

      I used 1 cup of my sourdough starter instead of the yogurt and they turned out wonderful! I’ve tried both ways and actually prefer it that way!

  3. #
    Kerry — February 26, 2023 at 12:17 pm

    What type of cocoa powder should I use? I used normal chocolate cocoa powder for a brownie recipe and I didnt love them. Should I use Dutch process cocoa? Or a mixture of the cocoa powder and Dutch process? Thanks!

  4. #
    Bouchara — January 26, 2022 at 11:35 am

    Thanks for this amazing recipe!!! Whenever I want some chocolate comfort…lol!! I just go a bake a batch!
    Bouchara, from France

    • #
      Emily — January 27, 2022 at 10:03 am

      So glad you love this recipe! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know, we appreciate it! 🙂

  5. #
    Jessica — January 19, 2022 at 5:27 am

    I made this recipe and the muffins came out beautifully moist however I didn’t have any brown sugar so I use 1/2 a cup raw sugar instead and added tablespoon of maple syrup. The tops of the muffins didn’t have that crackle, they were smooth (and risen very nicely) but no cracked crust texture like in the photo on this recipe page. Is this due to swapping the sugar or more likely my oven temperature is off? I did 425 temp for 5 minutes and then 350 for 15 minutes…

    • #
      Emily — January 19, 2022 at 9:39 am

      Hi Jessica! Yes, substituting sugar in recipes can definitely alter the outcome. The additional liquid could also have affected the top as well as the change in temperature. I’d recommend making this recipe again as written so you can see how they should turn out, and then make adjustments from there 🙂 I’m glad the texture was still delicious!

  6. #
    Ruth — June 13, 2021 at 8:35 am

    They came out wonderful. The best muffins that I ever made thanks to you Tessa.

    • #
      Tessa — June 14, 2021 at 11:29 am

      I’m so happy to hear that, Ruth!

  7. #
    May — March 10, 2021 at 7:02 am

    This muffin is charlie-and-the chocolate factory personified. Loved it. Thanks so much ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ I can’t wait to re-create this recipe my own way all over again by experimenting with nuts and malteser chocolates . Yayyyy. Thanks a million once again. ❤️

  8. #
    Cindy :-) — December 15, 2020 at 10:24 am

    This is truly bakery quality! Phenomenal! For perfection weigh your flour. Don’t need a mixer. Easy and fast. This recipe made 15 muffins for me.

    • #
      Tessa — December 15, 2020 at 10:40 am

      So happy you loved this muffin recipe!

  9. #
    Andrea — October 25, 2020 at 3:51 am

    Two possibilities: either I’m a terrible baker (a real possibility) or this is a terrible recipe. Given that I wasn’t acting on my own ideas as an individual baker but was merely following the recipe, I think the latter possibility is a lot more likely.

    • #
      Stephanie — October 25, 2020 at 8:16 am

      Andrea, considering others have stated rave reviews I believe you did something wrong. Most likely accidentally. This recipe has been a go-to for my family for years, and others seem to agree based on their own reviews. Could you be a bit more specific in what you did not like about what you made, allowing for advise and / or tips for improvement?

  10. #
    Iesha Chan — September 7, 2020 at 11:49 am

    Delicious, moist, and rich. I will be making this again.

  11. #
    Kat — September 3, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    So tasty and easy to make. Swapped semi sweet chocolate chunks with dark chocolate and still tasted good.

  12. #
    Milena Bellini Sheppard — May 24, 2020 at 11:28 pm

    Very easy and very tasty! Thank you for the recipe

  13. #
    Gloria — April 16, 2020 at 6:42 am

    I made a mistake. It should be 5 stars recipe. My favourite muffin recipe

  14. #
    Gloria — April 16, 2020 at 6:35 am

    Great recipe. A must-try if you like chocolate. Follow the recipe to bake at a lower temperature than other muffin. The muffin puffed up beautifully and tasted like heaven

  15. #
    Liubov — March 30, 2020 at 3:21 am

    I’ve cooked half of the recipe! But with ready mix of rice flour, corn starch, baking powder and cocoa powder. Also I used 75 Gr of sugar of 100. And I had heavy cream and used it instead of milk. Now that’s my favorite muffins!!)) thanks for the recipe!

  16. #
    Esse — February 10, 2020 at 11:48 pm

    Hii Tessa, can i use 56 percent dark chocolate for this recipe? Not finding semi sweet chocolate chips

  17. #
    Audrey Terry — December 7, 2019 at 7:31 am

    Is it light or dark brown sugar in the cup cakes

  18. #
    Radjaa — December 2, 2019 at 9:16 pm

    This is the perfect muffin recipe!! The muffins are so fluffy and taste like little pieces of heaven!!

  19. #
    G.Vedavally — November 13, 2019 at 9:04 pm

    It’s just wonderful…today I made this for my kids on Children’s day that we celebrate here in India…

  20. #
    Eugene — October 16, 2019 at 3:34 pm

    Could you substitute buttermilk for yougart and would the swap be equal????

  21. #
    Mary Mathews — September 6, 2019 at 12:18 pm

    Taste so good..

  22. #
    Mary Mathews — September 3, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    Do you have a video on this recipe? The double Chocolate Muffins.. thanks

  23. #
    Sophia Beg — July 16, 2019 at 2:12 pm

    I’ve made this about 10 times… neighbours and family love it every time and can’t believe they’re homemade. These are the best double chocolate muffins everyone whose tried them has ever had!! Thanks Tessa!

  24. #
    Stephanie — June 25, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    I made these this morning according to the recipe. They were great warm from the oven. Gooey chocolate, spongey, excellent flavor and texture. I let them cool on a wire rack and then placed them in a container with a few slices of white bread to keep them moist but not give or take any flavor (used wheat bread once, and ONLY ONCE lol). An after work pick me up consisting of iced coffee and one of these muffins was had later on in the day and they were *dare I say?* even better hours later. The daughter came home from camp, ate one and said they were surprisingly even better after resting for the day with bread. Anyways, great recipe. So hard to find a chocolate muffin recipe that’s got flavor and texture to rival the store-bought. You’ve succeeded!!

    • #
      Tessa — June 26, 2019 at 2:20 pm

      I’m so pleased you liked the recipe! Thanks for sharing your bread slice tip 🙂

  25. #
    Salma — June 24, 2019 at 1:27 am

    Looks like a great recipe. I have been trying to make muffins recently and I would not really find the densed crubmly ones. It is always more of cakey texture!
    I want to add metled dark chocolate and coffee for stronger flavor, so I think that would substitute the half cup of sugar?
    I am a beginner and I want to know if these changes I am suggesting would make it good or affect it badly?

  26. #
    Hannah — June 14, 2019 at 11:15 pm

    Turned put great, taste just like from a bakery! Thank you for the recipe!

  27. #
    Marietta — May 19, 2019 at 3:31 pm

    A wonderful recipe…….everyone loved these muffins!

  28. #
    Credy — May 19, 2019 at 7:38 am

    I really enjoyed this recepie…. it is one of the best !!!!!

  29. #
    Muffin Maker — May 17, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    This recipe was great for our schools bake sale! Thanks!!!! <3

  30. #
    Abby — May 3, 2019 at 7:28 am

    These look amazing! Any idea on the nutritional information though?

  31. #
    Maya — May 3, 2019 at 2:46 am

    Yummalacious……..is all i can say…..fantastic recipe…….thank you

  32. #
    Divya — April 28, 2019 at 7:52 am

    Awesome recipe. The muffins turned out great.

  33. #
    1 cup yogurt will be be how much in grams?? And milk also — April 10, 2019 at 12:03 am

    Love your page

  34. #
    Natasya — January 10, 2019 at 6:25 am

    Why the texture of the muffin looks like a bread?should it be moist?

    • #
      Reem — October 25, 2019 at 12:33 pm

      I don’t know why but everyone I make muffins they turn out breast with the muffin top looking ‘smooth’ I can bake but idk why muffins always turn out bad for me

  35. #
    Courtney — November 9, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    Hello, Just clarifying: the ingredients call for granulated sugar, but it’s not listed under step 2 of the written directions. Just making sure it should be in there! Thanks!

  36. #
    Sabrina — October 26, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    great recipe for a cheat day splurge, double chocolate oh my, thank you

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