Who says you can’t eat chocolate for breakfast? These brownie-like muffins are the perfect morning pick me up without being too decadent!

Makes 24 mini muffins

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease 24 cups of mini muffin pans or line with mini muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Discard any large lumps of almond meal remaining in your sifter.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla until the mixture is uniform. Fold the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until the batter comes together. Gently fold in ⅓ cup of the almonds and the chocolate wafers into the batter.
4. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Top with the reserved ⅓ cup Marcona almonds, pressing the almonds gently into the top of the batter so they don’t pop out while baking.
5. Bake the muffins for 12 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then gently remove the muffins and let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

Note: Marcona almonds are indeed more expensive than regular almonds. They have a salty decadence to them that is very distinctive. If you’d rather make your own, just toast raw almonds in a bit of olive oil over medium heat and sprinkle generously with flaky salt.