Chocolate Orange Muffins (with Cherries)

Obviously, I could have planned my pregnancy better than this. Having still two months to go in this African heat sounds almost like being a masochist. The truth is that I did plan for the baby to be born in May, and probably for this reason got pregrant later than I wanted to. And I'm suffering this heat more than I want to. I hate it. If only the temperature would go down to some normal 30°C, but no... humid, suffocating 38-40°C for the entire week have been insisting and will continue till God knows when.
I don't know whether it's worse during the day or at night. I think I've had in all several hours of sleep during the whole week. Just hoping that won't influence the little guy when he comes out... That would be a serious punishment, because my daughters were really great at night, never spent a night listening to them crying.
My punishment at the moment, other than heat, is the oven that's not working again. You care about the oven when it's so hot? you might say. You're right. But no matter how absurd it may sound I never stop baking even when temperatures seem impossible. It's almost a relief when I get out of hot kitchen and go to another room where it seems fresh, at least for a moment. And then, hot or not, you have to eat. I'm not the kind of person who can live on salads and ice cream. I need a slice of fresh bread, as well as a cookie, a muffin or a slice of cake with my coffee. And I've spoiled myself to the point that the store bought stuff is all "forget about it".
These muffins, that I made a couple weeks ago, were such a success with my younger daughter to the point that I had to make them twice in two days. Obviosly, she's not the only one who liked them ^__^.
Originally, there were no cherries in the recipe, but they were my daughter's idea, and being a cherry lover as I am, I couldn't resist adding them in.
So soft and chocolaty that they're impossible to resist. Someone had a little tummyache after eating three in a row... no, it wasn't me ^__^

Chocolate Orange Muffins (with cherries)
(slightly adapted from Croissant e biscotti,by Luca Montersino)

(for approx.15 muffins)
* 225 g flour
* 35 g unsweetened cocoa
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 90 g non refined brown sugar
* 100 g chocolate drops
* 1 large egg
* 2 egg yolks
* 285 g full fat milk
* 70 g melted butter
* 1 teaspoon orange liquor (Grand Marnier, Cointreau, ili sl.)
* about 15 cherries (if adding them)

Sift the flour, the cocoa and the baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and whisk the dry ingredients together.
In another bowl whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolks and the milk. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Add the melted and cooled butter, then the liquor and in the end the chocolate drops.
If you want to add the cherries, pit them first. I left the stems and removed the stones from the bottom of each cherry leaving them as whole as possible.
Fill the paper muffin cups up to 2/3, add a cherry on top (it will sink on it's own while baking) and bake the muffins in an oven preheated to 200°C for about 15 minutes (check with a toothpick).
Remove the muffins from the muffin tin and let them cool on a cooling rack.

Muffin al ciocolato e arancia (con ciliege)
(leggermente adattato da "Croissant e biscotti" di Luca Montersino)


(per circa 15 muffin)
* 225 g farina
* 35 g cacao amaro
* 1 bustina di lievito per dolci
* 90 g zucchero di canna integrale
* 100 g di gocce di cioccolato fondente
* 1 uovo
* 2 tuorli
* 285 g latte intero
* 70 g burro fuso
* 1 cucchiaino di liquore all' arancia (Grand Marnier, Cointreau, o simile)
* circa 15 ciliegie (se decidete di aggiungerle)


Setacciate la farina, il cacao e il lievito in una ciotola. Aggiungete lo zucchero e mescolate.
In un'altra ciotola mettete l'uovo intero, i tuorli e il latte. Mescolate con una frusta a mano e poi versate il tutto nella ciotola con la farina e zucchero. Mescolate con un cucchiaio di legno senza lavorare troppo.
Unite il burro fuso, il liquore e infine le gocce di cioccolato. 
Riempite i pirottini per i muffin con la massa preparata fino a 2/3 della loro altezza. Mettete una ciliegia snocciolata sopra ogni muffin (affonderà da sola nella cottura). Ho snocciolato le ciliegie togliendo il nocciolo da sotto in modo di lasciare la ciliegia quasi intera e con il picciolo attaccato.  
Infornate i muffin a 200°C per circa 15 minuti. 
Lasciateli raffreddare prima di mangiarli.

Čokoladni muffini s narančom (i trešnjama)


(za oko 15-ak muffina)
* 225 g brašna
* 35 g gorkog kakaa
* 1 vrećica praška za pecivo
* 90 g integralnog smeđeg šećera
* 100 g čokoladnih kapljica
* 1 cijelo jaje
* 2 žumanjka
* 285 g punomasnog mlijeka
* 70 g otopljenog maslaca
* 1 žličica likera od naranče (Grand Marnier, Cointreau, ili sl.)
* 15-ak trešanja


Prosijte u veću zdjelu brašno, kakao i prašak za pecivo. Dodajte šećer i promiješajte.
U drugoj zdjeli izmiješajte ručnom pjenjačom jaje, žumanjke i mlijeko. Dodajte u zdjelu sa suhim sastojcima pa izmiješajte drvenom kuhačom - ne miješajte previše, tek toliko da se svi sastojci spoje.
Umiješajte otopljeni, prohlađeni maslac u smjesu, liker, a zatim i čokoladne kapljice.
Napunite kalupe za muffine obložene papirnim košaricama do 2/3 visine.
Ako želite dodati trešnje, zarežite ih s donje strane u križ i izvadite košticu bez da trešnje izgubi previše oblik (ostavite i peteljku). Stavite trešnju na vrh muffina i sasvim malo utisnite (ja sam ih utisnula malo više pa su u pečenju potpuno nestale).
Stavite ih peći u pećnicu zagrijanu na 200°C oko 15-ak minuta (provjerite čačkalicom zabodenom u sredinu, ali ne u trešnju - mora izaći suha).
 p.s. Ako vam se ne žuri, stavite muffine prije pečenja 10 minuta u hladnjak, dobit će ljepši oblik (karakterističnu kupolu na vrhu) pri pečenju.