Like a lot of my baking urges, this one came late at night and to the familiar tune of “Mmm, chocolate!” I have a bar of extra dark chocolate in my pantry, reserved specifically for such cravings. However, “Mmm, chocolate!” rarely goes away after a square, or even two, of extra dark chocolate; “Mmm, chocolate!” is too complex to be quieted by a dark chocolate bar. It usually requires something freshly baked. Pronto.

My sister’s cure for “Mmm, chocolate!” comes in the form of a 3-minute microwaveable chocolate cake in a mug. I don’t know what visionary dreamed up a chocolate cake you can make from scratch in only three minutes (in a mug! did I mention that?), but it seems too good to be true. And in my case, it is too good to be true… Because I don’t have a microwave! Who doesn’t have a microwave in this day and age? Me, and I have never been sorrier than during a particularly terrible bout of “Mmm, chocolate!”

I should have anticipated that I was going to have such an episode when, a couple of nights ago, I decided to bake something that required rising twice. I needed, you know, a little snack to tide me over. Before I knew it, a whole If You Give a Mouse a Cookie situation had unfolded and my kitchen was a mess of dirty measuring cups and lightly floured surfaces and I’d eaten not one but three chocolate muffins that I barely remembered deciding to bake. 

If you are good enough at recognizing the early warning symptoms of “Mmm, chocolate!” and can stand to wait for these little muffins to bake, they’re not at all a bad remedy. They’re full of things you’re bound to have in your pantry, which is incredibly important because you don’t have time to dash to the store for ingredients for god’s sake when you’re suffering terribly from “Mmm, chocolate!” 

As a side note, if you have a sweet tooth you may require icing. I ate mine from a bowl with a bit of cream poured on top.

Chocolate Craving Muffins (adapted from the New York Times)

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease or line 12 muffin cups. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Make three wells in dry mixture. Pour vanilla into one well, lemon juice into the second, and oil into the third. Sprinkle the cold water over top and mix until smooth.

3. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 full for regular-sized muffins (I only filled mine half full and got more mini muffins, the better to save for chocolate cravings yet to come). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.