Chocolate Muffins

Method

1. infuse4 min
   the bloom: hot coffee over the cocoa, melted chocolate in
   cocoa whisked with the hot coffee to a slurry, the melted dark chocolate stirred through — blooming wakes cocoa the way dry-toasting wakes spices, and the coffee deepens chocolate without announcing itself; this cooling slurry is the flavor core
2. whisk3 min
   eggs + sugars + oil + buttermilk + vanilla, slurry in
   the wet side built and the cooled slurry whisked through — dark, glossy, and thinner than the banana batter, which the flour side is sized for
3. fold2 min
   dry in ten strokes, chips at stroke eight
   flour + soda + powder + salt folded to barely-combined with most of the chips — the muffin-method commandment unchanged: lumps over rubber, every time
4. bake19 min
   425°F for 5, then 350°F, reserved chips on top, tester with melted streaks
   cups filled to the brim, reserved chips pressed onto the crowns, the dome trick running as ever — pulled while a tester shows moist crumbs and molten chip-streaks, which are two different things the baker must learn to tell apart; the second is the muffin working
5. rest8 min
   5 in the tin, eaten warm — the entire point
   briefly racked and served while the chips still flow — the viral muffin's whole reputation was the warm interior, and no photograph of one has ever been taken at room temperature