Chocolate Curd Cheese (or Ricotta) Muffins

We have mastered the art of making curd cheese at home, haven’t we? Now the time has come to incorporate our cheese into delicious dishes, both savory and sweet. We’ll begin with sweet then we’ll move on to savory dishes as well. In my future posts.

One day I decided that wanted to use a freshly made batch of curd cheese in a combination with chocolate or cocoa powder, for no obvious reason, other than I just thought it would just taste great. I did a quick search on the Internet to see if anybody else thought the same thing, and came across this fantastic recipe for chocolate ricotta muffins! Exactly what my taste buds  “envisioned.” And I made these muffins. And they were absolutely delicious.  Chocolaty. With a good doze of tenderness coming from the curd cheese. I think you will love these muffins. Enjoy!

Chocolate Curd Cheese (or Ricotta Cheese) Muffins
Barely adapted from Joy of Baking
Original Source: Mollie Katzen, “Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe”

The original recipe called for ricotta cheese, but I used homemade curd cheese, which is basically the same thing, with two different names. I also used unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the suggested Dutch processed cocoa powder because the former was what I had at hand. I loved the taste nonetheless. Use whichever cocoa powder is available to you. If you (like me) do not own a 16-cup muffin pan, use two 12-cups pans instead.

Makes 16 regular-sized  muffins

1 cup curd cheese (or ricotta cheese)
2 large eggs
1 + 1/3 cup (320 ml) milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 + 1/4 cups granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (or use Dutch processed cocoa powder)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Position the rack in the middle of the oven. Line  16 muffins cups with paper liner or spray with a non-stick vegetable spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the curd cheese (or ricotta cheese) and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and cooled and melted butter, mixing well. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add the curd cheese (ricotta  mixture) to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined and then fold in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix the batter or the muffins will be tough when  baked.

Divide the batter amongst the 16 muffins cups using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.



 

10 Comments

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  1. These muffins are absolutely fabulous!!!
    I’ll try to prepare them on Sunday!
    Thanks for sharing !!

    P.s. Compliments for your beautiful blog /site!!

  2. Drooling over the muffins and the texture looks so spongy… Perfect cuties…

  3. This looks lovely Farida!

  4. Love these muffins. I like to make everything from scratch, but recently tried some chocolate ricotta at the Fancy Food Show.. delicious… however, with your recipe, I can control the chocolate % & fairtrade. Yum. I see these on the breakfast table Sunday! Thanks.

  5. Yumm!!! Thanks Farida for this recipe! I’ve been thinking what I can make out of ricotta cheese besides lasagna and zitti. Can’t wait to give this recipe a try.

  6. oh boy! these are spectacular..just awesome..Bookmarked.

  7. Woderful blog.I really enjoy it as it opens to me a new land,it’s culture and heritage.I also noticed interesting similarities with our Indian cuisine like pulao,dolma etc.I would suggest you to see a blog “bongmom cookbook”.Hope you like and also will come to know about us.
    Love.
    Suparna.

  8. I bet the ricotta makes these moist and tender.

  9. thanks for sharing your recipe! I am always looking for new recipes, to bake, eat and writte in my blog.

    Your recipe looks great, I love chocolate and Ricotta cheese,…exotic combination.

    I will try it soon, maybe I will add some cinamon also,…one of my favourite spices.:-)

    regards

    note: great pictures

  10. Thanks Farida, these muffins look great.

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