Nigella ain’t got nothin’ on this one, baby.

You know the scene.
Lucas North walks onto the Grid with a box in his hands.
He’s brought doughnuts. Except he ate the chocolate one.
And licks his thumb as proof.

[Some time later …]
Now that you have recovered, here is a recipe in honor of that brilliant piece of work.
You want chocolate, Lucas? Well, this has three sources of it. There is even a proper kiss included.
And while it is as tasty as a doughnut, it is not deep fried, so you can have as many as you want, Secret Agent Man.
Enjoy your plate of Chocolate Doughnut Muffins. And don’t forget your coffee.

Chocolate Doughnut Muffins

Makes 12 regular cupcake-sized muffins

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon chocolate extract
12 unwrapped Hershey dark chocolate Kisses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream sugar and shortening. Add beaten egg. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk and extract.
Place cupcake papers in a 12-cup pan. Drop a dollop of batter in the bottom of each. Place a Kiss in the middle of each dollop. Distribute the rest of the batter amongst the 12, making sure to cover the Kiss completely.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes, checking with a cake tester after 20 minutes for doneness. Try to test to the side of the Kiss.
Bake just until cake tester comes out clean.
Cool slightly, enough to handle.

Find two bowls large enough to dip a muffin. In one bowl, put 1/4 cup sugar; in the second, 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine.
Very rapidly dip the muffin in the melted butter. Let any excess drip off (still upside down) and then dip in the sugar.
Place on a plate. When finished with the 12, sprinkle some of the remaining sugar on top of the muffins (the first dip of sugar will likely have melded with the butter so this gives them a fresher look).

Serve with coffee, of course.

This recipe and photographs was submitted by Janine Pineo @j_pineo :

It was John Thornton who introduced me to Richard. After recovering from the kiss to end all kisses in the history of the universe, I watched his interview in the DVD extras for that role, and it was the man, not the role, who swept me into this unexpected journey.
That all started mid-March of 2012, which means this is my first anniversary in my admiration of Richard Armitage. What timing!
I have a marked fondness for Guy of Gisborne, with his incredible leather wardrobe and what I love to call his Smirkitage. Let’s just leave it at that. And I adore Lucas North, another misunderstood and under-utilized character. I have yet to watch either of these characters die because I am just not there yet.
I have not watched John Porter in action — PORTAH! — although I have been repeatedly and duly warned that I may not recover from the experience. Yay!
Then there is the adorable Harry, the stroppy Ricky, the sneering Philip Durrant and so forth. Nothing, however, is as sweet as the man himself reading bedtime stories.
As far as the dwarf prince goes, I can say without hesitation that the only man to play this role is Richard Armitage. His talent is unmatched and his ability to make even the slightest nuance sing is breathtaking to watch.
The recipe is a little something to go with all that coffee that Lucas kept drinking. He needed desperately to be fed once he got out of that Russian prison. And you might as well say it with chocolate.

Chocolate kisses,

ARmyofChefs