NUTELLA STUFFED ALMOND MUFFINS

I've told you all before that I like to stick Nutella in my face.

Frequently.

So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon [i.e. full on researched] a Nutella cafe called Nutelleria. They sell Nutella. Lots of it, generally baked, stirred and whipped into a vast array of lip-smacking treats.

GREAT!

Well yes, if you live in Germany or Italy :|

So until the day that the UK gets its...er, priorities sorted, I'll just have to make do with these Nutella enveloping muffins.

Not a bad second choice really.

INGREDIENTS

The keen eyed among you might recognise these ingredients and quantities from this fat friday a few weeks ago. The reasoning being that I made two different types of muffin from the same basic batch. Living on the wild side here.

The even keener eyed of you might also notice that the ground almonds in the original post are missing from this one....the reasoning behind that?

I forgot.

Professional as always. So despite a lack of pictorial evidence, just remember to add a little 100g packet of ground almonds to your flour in the first step and you're well away.

Let's go!

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C // 350 F // GM 4 and line a muffin tray with some pretty cases.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and sugar in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl melt the butter gently in a microwave and put to one side.

Whisk together the eggs, and when well beaten add to the melted butter. Add the almond essence and continue to whisk until incorporated.

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix fairly lightly - until the flour is just incorporated.

Spoon this mixture into the muffin cases until half full, then add to each a dollop of Nutella - you can be as generous or stingy as you want with this. I'd say the more the better.

Now use the remaining muffin mix to top up the cases until full.

Chop up the chocolate and sprinkle a little on top of each muffin along with the sliced almonds.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until slightly golden and well risen.

Allow to cool completely before eating [scalding chocolate spread isn't fun kids].

It took a lot of will power to photograph this properly without a) drooling all over it and my camera or b) scoffing it before I had a chance to.

I'm pretty proud of myself.

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