The muffins with Nutella heart are irresistible treats, perfect for breakfast or a sweet snack. The dough, inspired by the original American muffin recipe, like the classic blueberry muffins, is soft and fragrant, but the real surprise is the creamy Nutella heart hidden inside. Who could resist? The preparation of these Nutella cupcakes is simple and quite quick. To keep the Nutella heart soft, there’s a little trick: freeze the Nutella in small cubes, using ice cube trays or silicone molds. By inserting them into the batter just before baking, you’ll get a delicious creamy heart that won’t mix with the rest of the muffin, staying soft and delicious. An important detail to obtain soft and well-cooked muffins is to work the batter with a spoon, avoiding using electric whisks. This step is essential to avoid incorporating too much air, thus maintaining the typical consistency of American muffins. The muffins with Nutella heart can also be made with gluten-free rice flour, making this delicious homemade snack suitable for everyone.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 282.70 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 39.68 (g) of which sugars 20.51 (g)
- Proteins 4.53 (g)
- Fat 12.58 (g) of which saturated 8.89 (g)of which unsaturated 3.37 (g)
- Fibers 1.05 (g)
- Sodium 147.03 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 75 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 12 muffins with Nutella heart
To prepare the gluten-free Nutella muffins, I replaced all-purpose flour with the same amount of fine rice flour. If you are celiac, remember that the following ingredients must have the ‘gluten-free’ label: rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, vanillin, Nutella.
- 4 oz butter (soft)
- 5.3 oz sugar
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (or 3/4 cup milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 8.8 oz all-purpose flour (or fine rice flour gluten-free)
- 1.8 oz potato starch
- 1 packet vanillin
- 1 packet baking powder (0.56 oz)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- as needed Nutella® (about 4.6 oz)
Tools
- 1 Ice tray
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 Muffin pan for 12
- 12 Cupcake liners paper for muffins
- 1 Ice cream scoop
- Plastic wrap
How to prepare muffins with a Nutella heart that remains soft
To prepare the muffins with Nutella heart, start by preparing the Nutella cubes that will be frozen and inserted into the muffin batter. If you have it, you can use an ice tray lined with plastic wrap, or silicone molds for chocolates. Fill 12 cubes by pouring about a teaspoon of Nutella into each (1). Place the tray to set in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the batter: for classic American muffins, you need buttermilk, which isn’t easy to find in Italy. You can replace it with 3/4 cup of cold milk to which you’ve added about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice (2). Mix well and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut the butter into pieces and keep it at room temperature until it’s soft and has the consistency of a pomade (3).
Place it in a bowl and add the sugar. Work vigorously with a wooden spoon until you form a cream (4). Then add the first egg (5) and mix with the spoon to incorporate it. Only when it’s perfectly blended with the butter, add the second egg (6) and blend it perfectly.
Finally, pour in the buttermilk (or the mixture of milk and lemon juice) little by little (7), mixing well. Don’t worry if small lumps form at this stage (8), it’s normal, and they’ll disappear in the next stage. Once the soft ingredients are mixed, move on to the dry ones: pour into the bowl the all-purpose flour (or gluten-free rice flour), potato starch, baking powder, vanillin, and baking soda (9).
Mix carefully until you get a dense and homogeneous mixture (10). Line with paper liners a 12-muffin pan. Fill each liner about 2/3 full (11). Since the batter is dense, for convenience, I use an ice cream scoop, making sure not to fill it completely; remember, you should have a little batter left over. Otherwise, you can use two spoons. Retrieve the Nutella cubes from the freezer and insert one into the center of each muffin, without pushing it down too far (12).
Cover each cube with a teaspoon of the leftover batter (13). Bake the muffins with Nutella heart in a preheated oven at 350°F (static) for about 30 minutes. Take them out and let them cool (14).
Your Nutella muffins will be very soft and have a creamy heart to which it will be impossible to resist. They are perfect for breakfast or a delicious snack!
Storage
Nutella muffins stay soft for 4-5 days at room temperature, best if in a cake container or under a glass dome.
Tips and Variations
This is the basic dough for American muffins, which can be enriched as desired: chocolate chips, fruit pieces, a bit of jam, or some salted caramel.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I bake muffins directly in paper liners?
No, the muffin batter would cause them to lose shape as they rise. If you don’t have a muffin pan, it’s better to use disposable aluminum liners that are also used for crème caramel.
No, the muffin batter would cause them to lose shape as they rise. If you don’t have a muffin pan, it’s better to use disposable aluminum liners that are also used for crème caramel.
