Today I’m bringing you the perfect excuse to encourage the little ones at home to dress up as mini chefs and, at the same time, bake the best and simplest muffin recipe. You’ll see how these chocolate and hazelnut muffins will have them running to the kitchen to get their hands in the dough—no persuasion needed.
Besides the joy of doing something together, their reward will be taking the first bite of the muffins once you’ve taken the Le Creuset non-stick muffin tin out of the oven and they've cooled a bit. Your reward will be seeing the delight on their faces when they taste the results. As for cleaning up, we’ll discuss that after tea, if that’s alright.
You’ll find it’s an ideal recipe to prepare with many hands, but you can also treat yourself when no one else is around. These muffins are fuss-free to make and are sure to delight chocoholics and sweet tooths alike. The intensity of the cocoa and the creaminess of the chocolate hazelnut spread make it hard to stop at just one of the 12 muffins. But they store beautifully in an airtight container, so you can enjoy them all week long.
Ingredients
- 350 g self-raising flour or sponge flour*
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 50 g unsweetened, low-fat cocoa powder
- 100 g brown sugar
- 125 g melted butter
- 2 free-range eggs (lightly beaten)
- 250 ml buttermilk**
- 60 ml milk
- 1/2 cup good-quality chocolate hazelnut spread
- 50 g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped, for decoration
*You can find self-raising or sponge flour in most supermarkets. It’s a flour with a raising agent, but you can also use plain flour with 1 tsp of baking powder (e.g. Royal).
**If you make fresh cheese at home, you’ll have buttermilk for this recipe. If not, you can use milk or a plant-based drink such as oat milk.
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C and lightly grease the Le Creuset non-stick muffin tin.
- Sift the flour with the baking soda and cocoa into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir.
- Add the melted butter and lightly beaten eggs. Stir to combine.
- Add the buttermilk, mix until integrated, then add the milk.
- Divide the mixture between the 12 cavities, filling each only 1/3 full.
- Place the hazelnut spread into a piping bag, snip the tip and pipe about a teaspoon into the centre of each cavity.
- Spoon the remaining muffin batter on top and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 180 °C.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.
- After 5 minutes, remove the muffins from the tin. Try to resist the temptation and let them cool completely on the rack before taking the first bite.
