S'mores Muffins

Every fall, our church has an all-church trip to Sonoma county, where we spend the weekend at church camp singing songs, making crafts, hiking, and -- of course -- eating s'mores!  There is nothing better than a s'more hot from the campfire, so I'm really looking forward to our trip to Camp Caz this coming weekend!  To tide me over until then, I've been loving Susan Whetzel's new cookbook, which features tons of delicious s'mores-inspired recipes.  It was hard to decide what to make first - I was especially tempted by the section on breakfast s'mores, with decadent treats like chocolate graham pancakes, s'mores stuffed French toast, and the fabulous s'mores muffins that are pictured below.  I ended up going for the mini muffins because I never pass up an opportunity to pull out my mini-muffin maker -- of course, you can bake these in the oven as well, and I've included the directions for doing so below.

These muffins are a tasty weekend treat. I wasn't so sure whether s'mores ingredients would really end up tasting like muffins as opposed to cupcakes, but these muffins are actually pretty low in fat and so they do feel appropriate for breakfast (even with the marshmallow topping!).  As with all low-fat muffin recipes, they are best when they're warm and eaten right away - they tend to dry out a bit as they sit around and cool.  Next time, I'd also add more of a graham cracker element -- a Golden Graham (as pictured in the cookbook) or a dusting of graham cracker crumbs would make a nice garnish.  All in all, you can't go wrong starting off your day with s'mores!  (Well...as long as you don't do it every day...)

S'mores Muffins (adapted from The S'mores Cookbook)
Makes about 2 dozen

1/2 cup hot milk
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 egg
1 T vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 T graham flour or graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Marshmallow Fluff

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a mini muffin tin with oil.
2. In a large bowl, pour the hot milk over the espresso powder and chocolate chips.  Let sit for about 30 seconds and then whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the egg, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, graham flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 full.  Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 8-12 minutes.
6. When the muffins come out of the oven, let cool for a minute or two and then serve warm with Marshmallow Fluff on top.

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this cookbook from the publisher.  All opinions/recipe-testing are my own.