Double Chocolate Muffins

These double chocolate muffins are my family’s favorite. They also started something that has become incredibly meaningful to me – expanding my love of making food for friends to include baking for progressive candidates and campaign staff.

She was quietly sobbing after I tucked her in. I knew my absence the last several weekends was the reason why. I left that morning and only got back in time to tuck her in. “The weekend is gone, and we didn’t even spend it together.” That’s what my seven year old said before falling apart in my arms, her small body shaking from the power of her tears, her legs and arms tangled in mine as I tried to hold her tightly enough for her to feel my steady breaths. Those feelings have been building, and they came out last night. It’s almost Election Day, and we’re both on edge.

I’m a volunteer. I’m not running for office or dedicating myself to a single campaign. I don’t know how they do it, the candidates and staff with young children. I get so much time with my kids, but the time I’m away during our usual family time still weighs heavily on my heart. Time I spend canvassing or tabling or in meetings is time that I choose to spend doing this work, work that I choose because I believe it matters. It’s political and personal.

I’m lucky to have candidates that I believe in, ones who imagine the same future I do and make me think that, together, we can make it a reality. That’s why I spend time away from my family working to make sure they win. It’s a privilege to be able to. I have time, a body that allows me to walk hilly neighborhoods and city streets, friends who support me when it feels overwhelming. Every action moves the needle, and regardless of tomorrow night’s outcome, it was all worth it.

Election Eve seems like the best time to share this recipe for double chocolate muffins. I’ve been making them since I first canvassed for a candidate in 2017. I made them again in 2018 (we have elections every year), and I took some to the General Assembly at the start of session earlier this year. A quick look at my Instagram shows how I weave together my love of food and politics. This recipe, as the especially good ones do, has become part of my story.

The thing about food is that, while sometimes it’s just food, there are moments when it becomes so much more. I’ve said this before. Those moments are where food and political work intertwine for me. It’s taking cinnamon rolls to a candidate (who became our Congresswoman!) who my daughter admires. It’s crying while mixing up my favorite brownies and crying again when delivering them because political work feels personal, which means the disappointments do, too.

That photo at the top is from the first time I made these in 2017, just a phone snap before dropping them off to a campaign office for a candidate who is now my state delegate. I had no idea then how much this work would mean to me, but it’s part of my story now, too.