Today I bring you the perfect excuse to encourage the little ones at home to dress up as little cooks and, while you're at it, bake the best and simplest muffin recipe. You'll see how these chocolate and hazelnut muffins make them run to the kitchen to get their hands messy without you having to insist.
In addition to the satisfaction of making something together, their reward will be taking the first bite of the muffins when you take the Le Creuset non-stick muffin pan out of the oven and they've cooled a little. Yours will be seeing their joyful faces as soon as they taste the result. Picking up the kitchen, if that's alright, we can talk about that after tea.
You'll see it's an ideal recipe to make with many hands, although you can also treat yourself by preparing it when there's nobody around. These muffins are made without fuss and the result will delight chocolate lovers and those with a sweet tooth. The intensity of the cocoa and the creaminess of the chocolate-hazelnut spread make it very hard to resist eating just one of the 12 chocolate and hazelnut muffins. But they keep very well in an airtight container, so once made, you'll have them to enjoy all week.
Ingredients
- 350 g self-raising flour or cake flour*
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 50 g defatted unsweetened 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 decorating
*You can find self-raising or cake flour in the supermarket. It's a type of flour with leavening agent, but you can use plain flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder (like Royal).
**If you make fresh cheese at home, you'll have buttermilk to prepare this recipe. If not, you can use milk or a plant-based drink, such as oat drink.
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C and lightly grease the Le Creuset non-stick muffin pan.
- Sift the flour with the baking soda and cocoa into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir.
- Add the melted butter and the lightly beaten eggs. Stir a little to combine.
- Add the buttermilk, mix until incorporated and, finally, add the milk.
- Divide the batter among the 12 cavities, filling only 1/3 of each one.
- Put the hazelnut cream in a piping bag and cut the tip. Distribute it among the 12 cavities; put about a teaspoon in each, placed in the center of the batter.
- Divide the remaining muffin batter among the 12 cavities and sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top to decorate.
- Take the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 180 °C.
- After the time has passed, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes on a rack.
- Once the 5 minutes have passed, unmold the muffins. Try to resist the temptation and wait for them to cool on the rack before taking the first bite.
