Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: These muffins have so much more flavor than any store-bought muffins I’ve ever tasted.
Texture: The muffins are soft with bits of melty chocolate chips throughout – but the best part is definitely the crunchy toffee topping. It adds a whole new layer of texture to muffins!
Ease: Super easy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: So much fun and flavor packed into an easy homemade muffin.
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Don’t you just love the crazy fun name of these muffins? They’re almost as fun to say as they are to eat!
I was inspired by my best friend Ashley who posted a recipe for Toffee Coffee Chocolate Chip Blondies.
The name is what caught my attention at first, but the flavor concept sounded too delicious not to try!
I’m happy to report that these muffins are not only moist and tender, but loaded with cocoa and coffee flavors. Plus that crunchy toffee topping is just to die for. So much better than most boring, bland, and dry grocery store muffins.
I can’t even think about muffins without thinking about Jenna Maroney from 30 Rock and her Muffin Top song. Try not getting that stuck in your head all day long!
These easy, crazy-delicious muffins are sure to become your new favorites. I hope you love them!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins
How to Make MOIST Muffins and Prevent DRY Muffins:
- Do not over-measure the flour or cocoa powder: I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your ingredients, but if you don’t have one, use the spoon-and-level method. Learn more about the importance of measuring flour correctly here.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk also brings even more moisture to these muffins (as well as a ton of flavor!). More on buttermilk just below.
Do I Have to Use Real Buttermilk?
- Buttermilk brings a wonderful flavor to these Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins, as well as making them beautifully tender and moist.
- If you’re unable to find real buttermilk, you can use whole milk in its place (1:1 ratio) but note that your resulting muffins won’t be quite as flavorful or tender.
- I don’t recommend using 2% or skim milk, and I haven’t tried any milk alternatives here.
- Learn more about the science of buttermilk, and buttermilk substitutes, here.
Do I Have to Use Brown Sugar?
Brown sugar brings depth of flavor, moisture, and richness to these Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins. I used light brown sugar, but you can use dark brown instead (1:1 ratio). Whatever you do, don’t reduce the sugar in these Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins. Sugar does so much more than simply sweetening your baking. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
What Type of Cocoa Powder do I Need?
Use natural unsweetened cocoa powder in these Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins. Learn more about Natural vs. Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder here.
How to Prevent Muffins From Sticking to the Liners
These are my favorite muffin liners that won’t stick. If sticky liners are a common problem for you, check out my full post on How to Prevent Cupcake/Muffin Liners from Sticking.
How to Bake TALL Muffins
I recently experimented with the science of muffins and how to achieve beautiful, TALL muffins that look like they belong on the shelf of a fancy bakery. Check out my 3 tips for baking tall muffins here!
Hint: Chilling your muffin batter overnight makes for the BEST ever muffins!!
How to Store Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins
Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins are best served the day they’re baked. If you have leftovers, store them for up to 1 day in an airtight container at room temperature. Refresh in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes or reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds. To store longer, see freezing instructions just below.
How to Freeze Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins
Freeze leftover Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature or reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Double Chocolate Banana Muffins (perfectly chocolatey!)
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Espresso Martini Cookies
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Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 2 cups (254 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (133 grams) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (43 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tablespoon instant
espresso powder * - 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk**
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
For the toffee crunch topping:
- 1/4 cup (32 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup toffee bits (such as Heath brand or
homemade ) - 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
For the muffins:
- In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, sifted cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a small bowl combine the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
For the toffee crunch topping:
- In a small bowl combine the flour, sugar, and toffee bits. Cut the butter into the mixture using the back of a fork until it is coarse and crumbly. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of the mixture over each unbaked muffin.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins to the rack to cool completely.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2013 and recently updated with weight measurements and new photos by Ashley McLaughlin Photography.
When you say muffin tins… is that the same as a cupcake pan? I have the 12 count cupcake pan and I have 6 count large muffin tins. Not sure which you used. Thanks so much
Great question! Yes, a muffin tin is the same as a cupcake tin — you could also use your large muffin tin, but the bake time would need to be increased.
Looks really decadent! Do you think this can be baked in a 9×13 pan?
We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure what adjustments would be needed. Let us know if you give it a try!
These were a big hit. I made them for my husband’s Saturday men’s group. On Sunday I had five guys come up to me and tell me they were their favorite so far I make muffins every week for my husband‘s Bible study.
They look delish, Tracey! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed them 🙂
I love these muffins, however the topping melting all over the tins!!! Please advise !!!
I just love the sight of these muffins! I was hoping my group in cooking class would agree on making this instead, sadly they did not, but I am going to make sure to make it at home one day! I’m not a coffee or toffee drinker/eater which is why it’s surprising that I really want one of these muffins with everything on it! I can’t wait to make them!
These are a really, really delicious muffin. I whipped up a batch of homemade toffee just for them, as I’m a big fan of Tessa’s recipe, but I must not have broken it into small enough pieces for this, as the muffins did sink a bit in the middle. Also, I divided the muffin batter evenly into 12 muffin tins, and it overflowed and went everywhere- I’ll go with 15 or so next time. I’m accustomed to filling liners that full, as I make big muffins all the time, so I’m not sure why these spread out instead of doming- guessing it had something to do with the too big pieces of toffee pressing the tops down. Either way, with a few adjustments, I’m seeing these muffins again in my near future. 🙂
I absolutely love these muffins. I can’t say enough good things about them. The only bad thing is I can’t stop eating them. I’ve made them 3 times in a row and going for a fourth time. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe.
My whole family loved them and that’s a lot of people. They were gone the same day. Very moist, flavourful, and nice to look at lol. Will make again soon
Very delicious, soft and moist muffins !! My parents love the texture very much. This recipe is very good.
I’m too lazy to make the toffee bits so I replaced then by my leftover DIY butterscotch sauce from other cake recipe put it on top of the streusel. It turns out good (but will add more next time for more flavour) 😉