The day before yesterday, our friend Diane surprised us with a gift of twelve silicone muffin cups. Thanks so much, Diane!

Naturally I had to immediately try them out, and at Clif’s insistence, I made cocoa muffins, which are really a dessert but with less fat and sugar than a cupcake. To guild the lily, I added three-quarters of a cup of chocolate chip, placed half a pecan on each muffin, and sprinkled the tops with a bit of sugar.

The results? “Pretty darned good,” Clif said.

And best of all, there was hardly any sticking. I let the muffins cool and peeled away the silicone cups. Voilà!  Perfect little muffins with no bottoms left behind.

Cocoa Muffins with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of flour
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa
• 3/4 cup of chocolate chips
• 12 pecan halves (optional)
• Sugar for sprinkling on top of the muffins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine dry ingredients in medium-size bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg.
4. Beat the vegetable oil and milk into the egg.
5. Stir in the sugar.
6. Sift dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
7. Stir just until the ingredients are mixed. Do not overstir or muffins will be tough.
8. Fold in the chocolate chips.
9. Put the batter in either a greased muffin tin or ungreased silicone cups. (Makes twelve medium-size muffins.)
10. Place pecan half on top.
11. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.
12. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
13. If using a traditional muffin tin, let cool for five minutes before removing muffins. If using the silicone cups, let the muffins cool completely before removing from the cups.
14. Butter, of course, goes with any kind of muffin, but berry jam tastes pretty darned good with these muffins, too.