Coffee Muffins

Here is a recipe for delicious coffee muffins with an Italian touch, using commonly available ingredients. If you don’t have some ingredients, let me know and I can suggest substitutions.

Ingredients

• 250 g of 00 flour
• 150 g of sugar
• 100 g of softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 120 ml of milk
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or the seeds of a vanilla bean)
• 2 tablespoons of very concentrated espresso coffee (or 1 tablespoon of instant coffee)

For the topping (optional):

• Brown sugar to taste
• Chocolate coffee beans or a dusting of unsweetened cocoa

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric whisk, beat the softened butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to mix.

3. Incorporate the vanilla extract and cooled espresso into the mixture.

4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar and egg mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix until you have a smooth batter, but do not overwork it to avoid tough muffins.

6. Fill the paper liners up to 2/3 of their capacity.

7. (Optional) Sprinkle each muffin with a little brown sugar and decorate with chocolate coffee beans.

8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

9. Let the muffins cool in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Trivia

Although it is not a typically Italian recipe, coffee is a very present element in the culinary culture of Italy, where it is mainly consumed as espresso. Using coffee in desserts is therefore a way to infuse a classic Italian ingredient into international recipes, enriching them with a deep and distinctive flavor.