Chocolate Blueberry Pistachio Muffins

As you probably know by now, I am world renowned for my muffin baking skillz. Over the past couple of years I have been expertly honing my skills and becoming more and more adventurous in my flavour combinations. I have taken to keeping muffins in my freezer so I have something to snack on and it was time to restock. Also, I had promised to make Lady Cop some muffins, either for her birthday or a incredibly awesome date we have planned. On top of that, we're having a bring a plate lunch at uni to celebrate the end of office construction.

I had asked Lady Cop about her muffin preference, to which she said 'chocolate', and after I refused to make straight up chocolate muffins, she conceded that blueberry would also be acceptable. I'm not the biggest fan of blueberry muffins, and the combination of blueberry and chocolate just wasn't doing it for me. I mulled over it for a couple days, and on a trip to the Queen Vic Market the answer came to me: pistachios! I ran the idea past a couple women at my campus, who both thought it sounded divine, that I was crazy for poo pooing chocolate and blueberries, and that a yogurt based batter would really even out the flavours. And so a new flavour concoction was born!

Yesterday I set to work making what turned out to be some especially lovely muffins! And since I know you're all just itching to know my secrets, I'm gonna share the recipe with you!!! Please note, I tend to eyeball things and I can't promise you will have the same result as me. Also, I am aware I am listing things half in metric and half in US measurements.

Chocolate Blueberry Pistachio Muffins

Ingredients
250g flour
150g brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
75g pistachios, chopped
1 egg, beaten
50g butter, melted
250g yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

250g blueberries (I used frozen)

100g dark chocolate, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 C, I pop the butter in while the oven is warming up to melt it.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pistachios.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, butter, yogurt, and milk.

Then pour the yogurt mixture over the dry ingredients, and add the blueberries and chocolate at the same time. Stir together only mixing until just combined.

The batter turns this horrible grayish purple colour, but it's OK! They won't stay that colour once they're baked.

Spoon into muffin cases (I'm not sure how many muffins you'll end up with, if you make smaller ones, you could probably get 2 dozen) filing each case about 2/3 full. I like to line the casings with melted butter and a dusting of flour to prevent the muffins from sticking. I think those paper liners are stupid and encourage you not to use them.

Bake at 200 C for 20-30 minutes or until firm and springy to the touch. I found they needed about 30 minutes, but that could just be my oven. Also, I'm not used to cooking with yogurt and the first batch I made, which I baked for 25 minutes, are on the soggy side. You don't want to burn the muffins, but a golden top is fine.

See? Look at that colour transformation! They don't stay green either.

When finished baking, cool in the cases or on a wire rack (or, as I do, on a plate).

Ta Da! I found these muffins to have a lovely subtlety of flavour to them. I should note that I used less chocolate and pistachio than in the list of ingredients I've listed. I listed higher amounts because I was just guessing at how much I'd need when I made these muffins, and I think the subtlety will still be there with just a bit more chocolate and pistachio to spread around.

Feel free to give this recipe a go, and make whatever changes to it you'd like. I am a huge fan of experimenting in the kitchen, so go nuts!!!