NUTELLA CUPCAKES

                                                     

Who doesn’t like Nutella?  When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it.  Justin absolutely loves them, which means they aren’t overly sweet.  The Nutella gives them enough of a unique flavor that I really like them too, and usually I prefer my sweets really sweet! They are moist and somewhat dense, almost chewy, and the ganache on top really is a perfect finishing touch.   The only thing about the recipe that is somewhat annoying is that it only makes 12 and trying to use a mixer on 2 TB of butter as well as other small ingredients is a little tedious – plus you only get 12 cupcakes!  If you are going to give some away, you will wish you had doubled the recipe – just as I will next time! 

½ c. self-rising flour

¼ t. salt

2 TB unsalted butter at room temp

½ t. vanilla extract

¼ t. almond extract

¼ c. sugar

8 oz. Nutella

2 lg. eggs

2 TB whole milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk the flour and salt together and set aside.  With an electric mixer in a medium bowl, beat the butter until creamy.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well-blended.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy and pale in color.  Beat in the Nutella until well incorporated, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl while beating.  Add the eggs and beat until smooth.  On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture just until it begins to disappear into the batter.  Beat in the milk.  Fold in the remainder of the flour mixture by hand until the batter is smooth. 

Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them no more than ½ full.  Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs – if in doubt, pull them from the oven a bit early – do not over bake.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

GANACHE:

3 oz. high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips

1-1/2 TB unsalted butter

2 t. karo

1/8 t. vanilla

½ c. toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Place the chocolate, butter and karo in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stopping to stir after each interval, until the mixture is shiny and smooth.  Stir in the vanilla.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, using a spoon, top each one with about 2 t. of ganache, and with the back of the spoon coax it as close to the edges as possible.  Sprinkle on a bit of the hazelnuts.  Let the ganache set before storing in an airtight container.  If you are in a hurry for the ganache to set you may refrigerate them for about 5 minutes.

HOW TO ROAST HAZELNUTS:

Spread raw nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and insert the sheet into an oven preheated to 180 degrees.  Leave the nuts in for about 15 minutes, stirring them every 5 minutes or so.  They are done when they are fragrant and their skin is cracked and glistening.  Because the husk is pretty dark, it can be hard to tell if it’s starting to turn black and burn, so if you’re unsure, it’s best to err on the side of under-roasted.

Pour the nuts into a clean kitchen towel and let cool.  Then close the towel up into a bundle, and give it an energetic massage so the hazelnuts will rub against one another, and the skin will come off in little flakes.  Not all of it will, but that’s okay too.

Any nuts you don’t use immediately can be stored in a jar with a lid.  As long as the nuts were fresh to begin with you can usually store them a couple of months.