Basic Chocolate Muffins

I seldom use the imperial system in baking. Though using cups may look simpler but often it is not that accurate and more cleaning work to do. 

After buying the Huawei P9, my first instinct is to try and snap a few food photos. So without waiting for too long, I got up from a nap and browsed through some quick muffin recipes. Coincidentally, I have all the basic ingredients in the kitchen.

Basic Chocolate Muffins

Original recipe taken from online (can't remember where I took) 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups self raising flour (normal flour + 3 teaspoons of baking powder)

1 tablespoon caster sugar (I omitted entirely) 

1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened regular baking cocoa powder)

3/4 cup brown sugar (I used the organic less sweet brown sugar and I think the muffins do taste kind of sweet and therefore I think it can be reduced further next time)

1/2 teaspoon of salt (optional; people always say chocolate must go with a little salt) 

1 cup milk (1-2 tablespoons of milk powder plus water) 

1 egg (beaten lightly)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2/3 cup smarties (I changed to approximately 50g of chocolate chips) 

macadamia nuts (optional; topping)

chocolate chips (optional; topping)

STEPS

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl. 
2. Mix in sugar and salt. Combine well. 
3. In another bowl, mix in the milk, oil, Vanilla extract and egg mixture.
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients bowl. Mix well. Do not over mix to prevent stiffness in muffins by using a spatula. 
5. Fill paper cups 1/2 full. You should be able to fill up 12 cups just nice. 
6. Sprinkle macadamia nuts and chocolate chips on top.
7. Bake at preheated oven with fan forced at 170 degree Celsius for approximately 20 - 25 minutes (until skewer comes out clean). 

I took a few more photos. I baked these muffins because I wanted to try out my new Huawei P9 camera on capturing food. I'm impressed. The outcome is really good. I like how natural and realistic the colours turn out to be. Not to say Sony Xperia ZL is bad but it simply doesn't capture colours as natural as the Huawei does. Thumb's up.