Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Muffins as soft as donuts, stuffed with Nutella, and topped with cinnamon-sugar—Oh My! What could be better? Quick to go together and quick to cook, these muffins are great for kids, coworkers, and the mailman at Christmastime. Unless you're very conservative with your Nutella—and where's the fun in that?—this recipe won't yield a full dozen muffins. But it's not called a tweakcipe (tweaked recipe) for nothing! Feel free to double, or triple, the recipe to fit your muffin needs. And who doesn't need muffins?

Yields: 8-9 muffins (as written)

*Note: If you live at altitude you don't have to alter this recipe at all. Just be sure to give your batter time to fully settle into your muffin tin so there aren't any air bubbles between your Nutella filling and regular muffin layers.

Ingredients:

Muffins:

• 1/3 cup (75 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1 egg (substitute 1 tbs (12 1/2 g) ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbs (44 1/2 mL) water to make this recipe vegan. Make sure you let this mixture sit for 20 minutes before mixing it into your recipe.)
• 1 tsp (5 g) vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120 mL) milk (cow, almond, coconut, any variety will do)
• 1 1/2 cups (190 g) flour (any variety, though white whole wheat will result in the fluffiest muffins)
• 1 1/2 tsp (6 1/2 g) baking powder
• 1/2 tsp (2 g) cinnamon, or to taste (I never actually measure my cinnamon, just dump a handful in because I love it that much)
• 1/4 tsp (1 g) ground nutmeg (optional, but highly recommended)
• 1/2 tsp (2 g) salt
• 8 tsp (33 1/2 g) Nutella (or you can use this nut-free alternative if there's an allergy)

Topping:

• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 2 tsp (8 1/2 g) cinnamon
• 3 tbs (45 g) unsalted butter (should have some left over)

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with liners (these zero waste, reusable liners are my go-to) and set aside.

2) Cream butter and sugar together on medium speed in an electric or stand mixer.

3) Mix in egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Gently stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

• It's really important to not overmix at this step. You want everything to be just combined. Which is annoying and hard to achieve, but it really does make a difference in your end product.

4) Spoon 1 tbs (12 1/2 g) of batter into muffin tin. Layer with 1 tsp (5 g) Nutella and then another heaping tbs of batter on top.

• It helps if you can get your Nutella smack in the middle of your batter so the batter fills in around it and really makes it a molten centre, as opposed to a thin layer. It's also important to not put too much batter under your Nutella or it won't be molten after cooking because it never got enough heat.
• It's okay to heap the batter to the top of the muffin tin, it won't overflow. Using this methodology, you'll be hard pressed to get twelve muffins out of this recipe. If you have empty muffin tins once all is said and done, don't fret. Just fill the empty tins up halfway with water for even baking.

• If you have a turkey baster, you'll want to get that out. It's a lot easier to "suck" the water out after cooking so you can just flip your tray over to get your muffins out to cool. If you don't have a turkey baster, or some other way to suck the water out, just use tongs to grab around the edges of your muffins to remove them for cooling. Just don't squeeze too hard!

5) Bake at 425°F (218°C) for 5 minutes. Keeping muffins in the oven, reduce temperature to 350°F (177°C) and bake an additional 13-17 minutes, or until batter is set.

6) Allow muffins to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing. Leave muffins on cooling rack for an additional 5 minutes.

• This is where your turkey baster comes in handy.

8) While the muffins cool, melt butter for the cinnamon-sugar topping in the microwave for 30 seconds, or until fully melted. In a separate bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon for topping.

9) One at a time, dip the top of each muffin into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Set upright on a cooling rack.

• If you have a sweet tooth and want to get maximal cinnamon-sugar coverage, swirl the muffins around in the topping to get a thick coating. Just don't try to add a second layer by dipping your muffin back into the melted butter. The topping you already have will fall off in the butter, sadness.

10) Enjoy!

• Store muffins in an airtight container for up to one week for optimal freshness. For long term storage, muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or zip-close bag for up to three months.

I love experimenting in the kitchen and I'm always trying out new recipes. If there's anything specific you'd like me to try, and then write about, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram and then keep an eye out for the (tweaked) recipe here.