Hazelnut Praline Muffins

For Lulu my bestie, she requested a selection of muffins for her workmates to enjoy on her birthday in December. I was tasked with three types of muffins and Lulu came over and helped me baked them. I haven't made muffins for a very long time so it was fun to finally make some. They are also quicker to make, as you don't have to make icing and decorate them, which was a nice change. I thought I had taken pictures off all three flavours, but I seemed to have misplaced them.

The recipe by name is a little misleading, as you don't actually make praline. I always thought praline was a process of making sugar syrup and then adding nuts and after a quick look on Wiki I was right. However, I guess the name is loosely tied into the fact that some of the sugar is sprinkled on top of the muffins right before baking along with chopped hazelnuts, which does give a lovely crunch to the top of the muffin and we all love a good muffin top... on our cakes of course!

Hazelnut Praline Muffins
  recipe by The Hummingbird Bakery - Cake Days

Makes about 10-12

300g plain flour
145g caster sugar (split into 115g & 30g)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large free range eggs
85g unsalted butter, melted
150g chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella)
30g hazelnuts, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line muffin tin with paper cases.
In your mixer or a large bowl, sift together flour, 115g (4 oz) of caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

In a separate jug, pour in the milk, vanilla extract and eggs and whisk by hand with a balloon whisk.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid into the well and mix together on a slow speed until combined and then add in the melted butter and mix again until all incorporated.

Finally add 80g of the chocolate spread and mix thoroughly.

Spoon this batter into muffin cases so that they are about a quarter full. Then add a teaspoon of chocolate spread to each muffin case, then top up the remaining batter so that each muffin case is about 2/3 full.



Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts and remaining sugar over the top of the muffin batter. It will seem like a LOT of sugar, but as the recipe says, it does give it a nice crunchy top.



Bake for about 25-30 mins, or until muffins are well risen and bounce back when pressed lightly. Allow to cool slightly in tin before transferring to a wire rack.

Happy Baking x