This weekend, I finally took the time to test one of my Christmas gifts by trying Bernard's famous atomic chocolate muffin recipe. Yes, I know I'm not super early, but um... my colleagues can testify to the fact that I'm at odds with the calendar this year... So I took advantage of a quiet weekend to test my super new Wilton muffin pan, spotted at Bernard's. I generally find that pastries you buy are much worse than homemade ones. For chocolate muffins, however, I had never managed to find a recipe with an airy and tender texture like you can find in stores (until now my top favorite recipe is Quick's even though I admit Starbucks does pretty well).
The trick to making chocolate muffins like Starbucks: the chicago metallic
So I ordered for Christmas THE secret weapon for making atomic muffins: the "chicago metallic" molds by Wilton model "large crown muffin pan". Unfortunately these molds are impossible to find in France and can only be shipped to the United Kingdom. So I took advantage of a friend's trip to England to have these little marvels delivered to me. The problem is that the rarity of these molds makes them a rather overpriced kitchen accessory... I will therefore owe my friend several (hundreds of) batches before paying my debt (that'll teach me to order gifts without doing my research!).
Making successful chocolate muffins
On paper, the molds don't seem revolutionary, just a pan with twelve very deep indentations. But already, what you don't see in the photo is that it's huge (and therefore extremely heavy)! No need to place it on a rack, the pan is sized to fit the oven and slides directly onto the rails. So it's super practical for putting in/taking out, it doesn't slide and you won't risk spilling one or two molds like you do with individual ones.
Only point to correct: a taste of not quite enough!
Next, the size is perfect for making nice big fluffy muffins! I tested Bernard's recipe as is and I think the result speaks for itself (although I'll make one and a half times the recipe next time, having run out of batter on the last indentations). You have to fill the molds right to the top to get that atomic mushroom effect:
You get the right shape, the puffy and airy side of industrial chocolate muffins (but natural and much better!). The texture is great, light thanks to the use of cocoa (instead of dark chocolate which gives much denser textures like my chocolate cake). This is clearly the best chocolate muffin recipe I've ever tested (except for the white chocolate muffin recipe which is one of my classics but which I never took the time to share with you).
Since I didn't have any milk chocolate on hand, I replaced the chips with white chocolate. The bitter cocoa/white chocolate mix is a real success but I found that the overall flavor was a bit lacking in sugar, so I'll increase the chocolate proportion next time to add a bit more sugar without breaking the bitter/sweet balance.
For the rest, these chocolate muffins are perfect, don't change anything!
