Fill up a muffin with chocolatey goodness

October 10, 2007 5:35 AM

Can I bake a muffin with chocolate pudding inside?

I'm sorry, I feel like this is a dumb question but I would like to know and I couldn't google anything.
I want to bake muffins with a chocolate pudding-type filling (like an éclair). I don't want to split the muffins in two and put the filling in after baking. Is this possible? I know sticking jam in the middle of the muffin and baking it works; I would like to do this with chocolate somehow and have it be gooey. If it makes a difference, I will be using this recipe (not a self-link). Thanks in advance, you gourmands!

posted by shokod to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

If you want to use chocolate, why not buy a bunch of big Hershey's kisses, unwrap them and set them in the middle of a half-filled muffin pan. Top the pan with more muffin goo and bake. As you bake the chocolate will melt inside the cooking muffin.

Disclaimer: I have no idea if this will work.
posted by Brittanie at 5:53 AM on October 10, 2007

Best answer: You can inject pudding or other filling into the muffin with a pastry bag or pastry injector.

You might think about lava cakes if you're going for a gooey center. Lava Muffins.

Or, after a google search something like Boston Cream cupcakes.

posted by LoriFLA at 5:56 AM on October 10, 2007

Best answer: Well, I know you have your recipe, but here's a recipe that gives you exactly what you want, a muffin filled with chocolatey gooeyness.

Although designed to be served hot as a dessert, I've made them, let them cool and they become chocolate-filled chocolate muffins when cool. I also used a normal muffin tray, not the 'Molten & more' tray Lakeland is selling.
posted by essexjan at 5:57 AM on October 10, 2007

Use those chocolates that have gooey centers (Hershey makes some called Treasure Chests or Hidden Treasures or something along those lines). Put them on top of the batter and they'll wind up in the middle after cooking.
posted by anaelith at 6:05 AM on October 10, 2007

mmmmmm lava muffins.

I would think (with practically no cooking experience) that the best way to accomplish this would be with a large cooking needle / injector thing AFTER the muffin has been cooked, or at least very close to the end of the cooking process.
posted by crewshell at 6:09 AM on October 10, 2007

What Brittanie said to do would specifically NOT work. however, it's yummy. (my aunt had a special cake she made for birthdays, where she basically floated a layer of Hershey's Chocolate bar in the middle of a cake, and it melted and hardened, so we had something like a crispy chocolate center.)
posted by notsnot at 6:20 AM on October 10, 2007

I am thinking that this may work for you. I have seen it many times before and I am pretty sure you can make much more than "pancake puffs" with it.
By the way, your idea has made me hungry. I happened to have a blueberry muffin sitting next to me and I took a bite while reading this and was instantly dissapointed that there was no gooey center. *sigh*
posted by ForeverDcember at 6:27 AM on October 10, 2007

There was a commercially available cupcake mix called Pudding Pockets that did something similar. I can't find any information online about the directions though!
posted by mkb at 6:50 AM on October 10, 2007

A pastry bag poked through the bottom of a cooked muffin should work fine if it's like cupcakes (see here). I also have an electric cookie gun that has a tip for doing the same thing, I believe Wilton makes it. This method will involve making a hole in your muffin, so if you bake them right in the pans and then drop them into liners after you fill them from the bottom I think it would be a bit neater.
posted by waterlily at 6:51 AM on October 10, 2007

There was a recipe for just this in October's Martha Stewart Living mag (not the special Halloween one, but the October issue). It was some sort of cupcake with a gooey chocolately center. I looked online, but can't find it.
posted by sulaine at 7:16 AM on October 10, 2007

Best answer: Pastry bags are the way to go. I've done cupcakes filled with chocolate mousse, and it's a snap. I wouldn't recommend just sticking it in the bottom, because in my experience, the filling just oozes out and doesn't really fill.

What works for me is to bake the cupcakes, prepare the filling, and then cut cones out of the tops of the cupcakes, about a quarter-inch from the sides. Trim the bottom part of the cone so you're left with a cap and the cupcake has a hollow. Fill 'em up, replace the caps, and frost them to hide the incisions.

Also, once you've got the tip for a pastry bag, you can cut the corner out of a ziplock bag and use that.
posted by averyoldworld at 10:54 AM on October 10, 2007

I read a "make your own Twinkies" recipe that suggested putting an ice cube in the middle of the batter in each cup. Then, when it melts in the oven, it will leave a hollow in the cake that you can later fill with pudding (pastry bag). I do not know if this would work. It seems weird.
posted by unknowncommand at 12:43 PM on October 10, 2007

IIRC the Martha Stewart recipe called for a Lindor's truffle in the center of the batter before baking, as is intended to be served warm, before it solidifies (though Lindor's never get very hard unless you refrigerate them).
posted by bad grammar at 6:18 PM on October 10, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks for all the help guys - unfortunately, given my limitations at buying a pastry bag or cookie gun (!), I just copped out and baked them with jam in the middle.
The muffins weren't going to big large enough to cut a cone in and fill up.
The molten lava cupcakes looked amazing and I will definitely make those later, but I was limited to thus recipe since I needed something gluten free.
Thanks for the culinary help as always, MeFi!
posted by shokod at 6:20 PM on October 10, 2007