Monday, February 1, 2010

Strawberry and Chocolate Champagne Muffins

Hello Love Muffin.

I've been so excited for the February Cupkins collaboration between Joanne @ Ready, Set, Craft! and I. Of course we chose Valentines Day as the theme for our cupcake and muffin recipes this month.

I tried to think romantic... breakfast in bed, something sweet to start of the day for your sweetie. The idea of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne kept coming to mind and I wondered if it would work in a muffin.


Turns out it works wonderfully!

I've never baked with champagne before but it made the muffins really light and slightly sweet/tart in a unique way. I absolutely love how these came out! Even after I got the recipe down I made a few more batches for "testing" just to be sure.


Here's How To Make Them:
  • 1.5 cups of flour
  • 3/4 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup of milk (nonfat is fine)
  • 1/3 cup of applesauce
  • 1/2 cup plus one good glug (probably about 2 tablespoons) of champagne
  • 1/2 to 3/4 of diced strawberries
  • Slightly less than 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Next add the egg, oil, milk, applesauce and stir until combined.


Now it's time to add the berries. Sprinkle a little pinch of flour over them before you stir them into the batter (so the berries don't all fall to the bottom of the muffins as they bake).



and the chocolate chips (don't forget the chips!).


Mmmm- doesn't this look yummy already with all those berries and chocolate chips in there.


Last but not least add the champagne and stir just until the ingredients combine.

To make the hearts on top of each muffin you'll need to color some of the batter pink. Scoop a few spoonfuls of just the batter (not any of the berries or chips) into a small bowl. Use a drop or two of food coloring to turn it pink. Keep this aside, you'll need this halfway through baking.


Spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 of the way full and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes- at this point the muffins will be halfway done.

Pull them out of the oven and use a skewer do add the pink batter in the shape of a heart.



Don't keep the muffins out of the oven too long. Making the heart for each muffin really doesn't take long to make, just don't leave them on the counter while you answer the phone or anything!

Once you have all the hearts made put the muffins back into the oven and cook for another 11-12 minutes. (Or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.)

The baking times are based on using a large muffin pan which makes 6 oversized muffins. You can also make 12 regular sized ones with the same amount of ingredients but the baking times will vary.



Sweet, cute, romantic even... and just plain Yummy! And don't let the champagne fool you the kids would love these if you wanted to make them as breakfast for the entire family.


Be sure to head over to Joanne's blog and learn how she made these chocolate strawberry Valentine cupcakes.

Don't they look great, that strawberry frosting looks A-maz-ing! And I love the chocolate hearts and "love" sign on top.

Enjoy!!!

10 comments:

  1. Yay for strawberries and chocolate! Yum! These look wonderful, as always, Meg. And what great photos and "set dressing" -- I'm going to have to step up my game and get fancy like you next month! :)

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  2. Okay those look AMAZING and I'm TOTALLY making these for hubby for V-day!!! Thanks!

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  3. They look seriously fantastic. Possibly even too good to eat! I'm going to bookmark this for the next time I have some champagne or sparking wine.

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  4. Those sound wonderful! I'm intrigued by the idea of adding champagne, and I love the little trick you did to make the hearts on top!

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  5. If any of you make them I'd love to see some pictures or know what you think about the champagne. It was the first time I've baked with sparkling wine and I love the subtle taste and texture it gave the muffin.

    Thanks for the comments! Love hearing form you all.

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  6. These are adorable! I would have never thought of adding hearts that way, but they came out so cute! I'm hungry just looking at them!

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  7. This is awesome!! Thanks for sharing :):)

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  8. Hi Vally, Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

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