Q. I'm wondering if you have a recipe for a really good chocolate muffin. One that will satisfy sophisticated palates. I want to serve it at a fall luncheon.

A. This is either a recipe for a really good muffin or a recipe for a good-for-you tasting cupcake. I guess you could say they are a cupcake-muffin hybrid.

I'm calling them Tuxedo muffins because they feature black (from cocoa) and white (from white chocolate chunks).

After seeing a muffin recipe that made a white batter and called for semi-sweet chocolate chips, I was inspired to do the opposite and whip up a cocoa-studded chocolate batter with white chocolate chunks mixed in.

To keep the muffins light, instead of a stick of butter, we are using 1/4 cup of a less-fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon) and 1/4 cup light cream cheese. We are also adding 1/3 less sugar than the original recipe. We are using half whole-wheat flour instead of all white flour, and we are adding half the amount of chocolate called for in the white batter muffins.

The original recipe contained 300 calories, 17 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat and only .4 grams of fiber per muffin.

(DECADENT) TUXEDO MUFFINS