Chocolate Almond Muffins, Sweetened with Monk Fruit

Method

1. Melt 68g of unsweetened dark chocolate chips in a bowl set over a pot of hot water, add 23g of finely ground kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and stir until smooth and glossy, pour it out thin on baking paper, chill until firm, then chop it into small chips.
2. Crack 1 chicken egg into a bowl and whisk it with 45g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1g of salt and 15g of honey.
3. Melt 70g of unsalted butter over hot water, stir it into the egg mixture, then add 70g of unsweetened oat milk and whisk until even.
4. Sift in 90g of cake flour, 30g of cocoa powder, 20g of almond flour and 3g of baking powder, and stir gently with a balloon whisk in one direction until the batter just thickens.
5. Fold in 70g of the chocolate chips, then transfer everything to a piping bag.
6. Line the tin with cupcake papers, pipe the batter two thirds of the way up to leave room for the rise, and scatter the remaining 21g of chocolate chips over the tops.
7. Heat the oven at 170 degrees C for 10 minutes, then bake the muffins for 25 minutes at 160 degrees C.
8. Take the muffins out when they are done and cool them on a rack.

Tips

• kOBE Monk Fruit Blend is a powder, so whisking it with the egg right at the start dissolves it completely.
• Stir the batter in one direction only and stop when it just thickens, because more stirring makes the muffins chewy.
• Piping the batter two thirds of the way up the mold gives a good rise with nothing spilling over.
• Holding back some of the chocolate chips to scatter on top just before baking makes the muffins look better.
• Cake flour can be swapped for pastry flour or a medium protein flour.