Chocolate Streusel Muffins

Rich, chocolatey goodness.  A perfect start to any day!
For my daughter's birthday weekend, I needed to plan some breakfasts that she'd really enjoy.  We had to get an early start on one of those mornings, so I wanted to make muffins (since they can be done the night before).  For reasons completely unknown to me, my daughter does not like fruit.  Chocolate, however, is definitely something she can get on board with.  A picture leapt to mind - a big chocolate muffin, moist, tender, topped with crumbly delicious streusel.  Mmmm!  A little girl's dream breakfast come true.
The problem was, I didn't have a recipe for chocolate muffins.  Upon scouring the internet, what I found were mostly repurposed cupcakes.  And no streusel.  Time for some digging.
What I ended up with were adaptations of a muffin recipe from King Arthur Flour and a glorious streusel from Rick Bayless (posted on girlichef.com).
Chocolate perfection!

Chocolate Streusel Muffins

Muffin adapted from King Arthur Flour

Streusel adapted from Rick Bayless

Ingredients:

Streusel -

4.5 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp egg yolk (beat the yolk, then measure)

3 1/2 tbsp butter, softened and cut into 1" pieces

Muffins -

1 3/4 cups flour

2/3 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder, measured and then sifted

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp instant coffee

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Directions:

1.  For the Streusel: place the chocolate in the small bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until ground to coarse crumbs.  Add the flour and cinnamon and pulse to combine.  Add the yolk and butter.  Process until the mixture comes together and begins to form clumps.

2.  Pour the mixture into a small bowl.  Mix briefly with your fingers to form large clumps.  Cover and chill until ready to use.

3.  For the Muffins: line cupcake pans with 18 muffin papers.  Preheat the oven to 400°.

4.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (make sure to break up any sugar lumps).  Set aside.

5.  In a large measuring cup, stir the milk and coffee crystals together.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and vinegar.  Whisk until thoroughly blended.

6.  Whisk the melted butter into the milk mixture.

7.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry along with the chocolate chips.  Stir until the dry ingredients are just incorporated - do not overmix.

8.  Fill the muffin papers halfway up with batter.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the tops (about 1 rounded tbsp per muffin).

9.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (you may need to test more than once as sticking a chocolate chips with skew the results).

10.  Let the muffins cool for about two minutes.  Transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.  Serve!