It has been 4 years, 11 months, and 16 days since I’ve slept in.
Sad, but true. I have not seen the other side of 9 am since 2009, when Dillon was born. And Jake? Forget it. He had colic when he was a baby and screamed his head off for 6 weeks straight. So that’s sleep deprivation and tears x2. Over the years, I’ve tried to master their little bedtime schedules thinking that I could defeat their trickery, but I have failed. I have failed miserably. The morning crew is up at 5:30 and that’s it.
But 4 years, 11 months, and 16 days later… a miracle happened.
THEY BOTH SLEPT IN!!! We made it to 8:30, which I thought would never happen in my life. If you are a parent, or have experienced the agony of getting little ones to sleep past sunrise, you will revel in the glory of this accomplishment. This calls for a celebration; a SUPER celebration one with with balloons, confetti, and chocolate. Because everything is better with chocolate…
So, these muffins- I’ve always been into raspberry and chocolate together. A couple of years ago, my birthday cake was this incredible fudgy, dark chocolate masterpiece with raspberry-chambord ganache (life changing). But as much I like this combo, I’ve never had luck baking with raspberries. They are very delicate and fall apart easily. To remedy this, I’ve been using frozen raspberries. Although it doesn’t solve the problem completely, their shape holds up much better.
Fresh berries will work too; flash freeze for 15 minutes prior to baking.
Spelt flour and chocolate also go very well together. I find myself using more and more of it in my baking these days. It is very similar to whole wheat, but has less gluten and is easier to digest. I didn’t go 100% spelt because I wanted the texture to be light, somewhere in between a muffin and a cupcake. We like to make these cookies with any leftover spelt flour.
See? Look who I fooled! If only there was some zucchini in there…
4 years, 11 months, and 16 days later it finally happened. Good things come to those who wait? I think so.
Tips:
- For best flavor, it is worth seeking out a good quality cocoa powder for this recipe. You can taste the difference. Ghirardelli (found in most stores) will yield good results. Don’t skimp on this.
- Warm brewed coffee replaces water or milk to enhance the chocolate flavor. Decaf will work too.
- I buy my dark chocolate in bars and chop it myself. You can also substitute with chocolate chips.
chocolate chunk raspberry spelt muffins
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 12
Ingredients
Dry
- 3/4 c. whole spelt flour
- 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1/4 c. good quality cocoa powder, unsweetened*
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of fine grain sea salt
Wet
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c. vegetable or coconut oil
- 2/3 c. sugar (I use rapadura)
- 3/4 c. warm brewed coffee
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Filling
- 2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
Garnish
- 36 raspberries, frozen
- 2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
*Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
- In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.
- In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until well blended.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients; do not over mix.
- Fold in the dark chocolate, making sure to reserve the rest for garnish.
- Pour the batter into the the prepared muffin tin about 2/3’s full.
- Garnish with frozen raspberries (about 3 per muffin) and the remaining chopped chocolate by gently tucking everything into the batter.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes. They are ready when a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- Remove the muffins and let them sit in the pan for about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Comments
rebeccA says
Beautiful,thank you very much
jen says
How much spelt flour would be used if replacing plain flour to make it gluten free?
dina says
they look delicious!
laurasmess says
Yikes. The sleep deprivation is one of my biggest fears when thinking about having children. And not just in regards to myself – I can function on less sleep (admittedly less optimally!) but Aaron becomes a grumpy, uncommunicative, zombiefied version of himself! It’s terrible. Maybe that’ll change when he has a little person to wake up for, I guess we’ll see with time ;)
Anyway, back to your celebratory post! YAY, 8:30 is a serious sleep-in when you’ve been afflicted by 5:30 wake-up calls for that long! Hopefully it’s the sign of something new and more restful in your household (fingers crossed!). Love these gorgeously nourishing spelt, chocolate and raspberry muffins. Great idea to use the frozen berries… I’ve been doing the same thing as the fresh ones just end up as streaks of red in pink batter (so disappointing). Gorgeous photos too Em. Love this post xxxx
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Such pretty muffins, love those chocolate chunks and gorgeous raspberries!
celia says
Hooray for sleep-ins! That’s a long time coming, Em, so definitely worth a celebration, and your muffins are beautifully festive! And look, the raspberries still look like raspberries! :)
Laney (Ortensia Blu) says
Chocolate and raspberries together – what a beautiful recipe! Question-can you interchange spelt flour for whole wheat flour in all recipes? And congrats on everyone sleeping past 5:30 – you can remind them of the milestone when they’re teenagers and don’t get up until 11…
Pam Green says
Great tip to use frozen raspberries! I bet that helps them from becoming mush. Congrats on sleeping in!