My version of Kristen Chocolate Kefir muffins

The first time I tried this Kristen recipe for chocolate muffins @ Passion 4 Eating I made a mess... I did not have almonds meal so I crushed a bunch of almonds with a hammer, but that turned out not to be a big deal. Furthermore, I used milk kefir instead of coconut milk kefir. I thought it would not matter but after seeing the results, I realized that my kefir was also very acidic (like 48h sort of fermentation). Moreover, I do not use much baking powder so I have a brand that sucks! I had issues before using it. Lastly, I over-baked the muffins (though she recommends not to!) because I forgot that the batter had banana so I expected the toothpick not only to be clean, but also dry. They were a disaster, so chewy that even my boyfriend avoided them.

I was very disappointed because they look so good in her blog. Also, I really wanted to make kefir chocolate muffins and her recipe, in my understanding seemed perfect.

Given that the only real difference in the two recipes was realistically the acidity of kefir, that must have been the key for the failure. In my knowledge of kitchen chemistry, with such an acidic base I really did not need baking powder, which is just baking soda with acidic ingredients to make it react. So I decided to give these muffins another try, after substituting baking powder with baking soda. I also did not have enough almonds this time so I increased the amount of flour to compensate and I substitute olive oil with the vegetable oil I had in the kitchen. The batter was also not enough for my muffins pan so I doubled the dose. Final touch, I added white chocolate chips, just to spoil myself after the last failure...

The result was wonderful. The texture was soft and moist and no acidic flavor was detectable. I loved Kristen idea to use espresso powder in the batter, it really enhances the cocoa flavor. The presentation could have been a little better but given that it was almost midnight when I finished!

Here's my version of the recipe. Thanks Kristen for sharing your wonderful recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2 overripe bananas
• 2/3 cups of sugar
• 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract 
• 2 Tbsp of peanut oil
• 2 tsp of finely ground (espresso) coffee
• 2 cups of AP flour
  2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup of crushed almonds (I used a hammer)
• 2 tsp of baking soda
  1 1/2 cups of kefir
• white chocolate chips for topping (optional)

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven at 350F. 
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• Mash the bananas and add sugar and coffee. Whisk until well incorporated. Add all the wet ingredients except kefir. 
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• Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add some of the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients then add some kefir, it will start bubbling. Finish adding flur and kefir until well incorporated. Bake immediately for 20 minutes (or until it passes the toothpick test).
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