Red Hot Chocolate Mini Muffins

After I made the Red Hot Imperial Shortbread, I had extra Red Hot Imperial sugar left over and I knew that it was just too good to go to waste. I didn’t have that much of it, so I had to be creative in what to use it with. I knew that the Red Hot Imperial sugar would pair well with chocolate, but chocolate in what form? I thought about a doughnut muffin that I had made before where you baked up muffins and then dipped them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar. They are one of my favorites so I decided to make a variation of that recipe.

I looked for a simple chocolate mini muffin recipe and found this one. The original recipe called for chocolate chips, but I left them out since I wanted the simplest of muffins. The doughnut muffins that were the inspiration for these had you dip the entire muffin in butter, but I knew that I didn’t have enough Red Hot Imperial sugar. I just dipped the tops in the sugar and that was just the right amount of Red Hot Imperial flavor and the chocolate flavor. If you like Red Hot Imperials, these will be a great treat for you.

Red Hot Chocolate Mini Muffins

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons Red Hot Imperial Candies

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/8 teaspoon espresso powder

3/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon vinegar

¼ cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 24 mini muffin cups.

In a food processor, combine the sugar and Red Hot Imperial candies. Process until powdery (the Red Hot Imperials may not be completely pulverized; that’s ok.) Put the Red Hot Imperial sugar in a bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, salt.  Set aside. In a large measuring cup, whisk together ¼ cup melted butter, the egg, milk, vanilla and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend. Do not over mix; the mixture may be slightly lumpy. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each muffin cup ¾ full. Bake for 10-12 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove them to a rack. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops of the muffins in the ¼ cup melted butter and then immediately dip in the Red Hot Imperial sugar. 

Recipe adapted from Mochi Thoughts