Nutella cupcakes for Nutella day!

Today, Monday February 6th, is Nutella Day.  In honor of such a wonderful day (what would the world be like without Nutella?), I'm sharing with you these awesome Nutella cupcakes.  I stumbled on this recipe a while ago, and have made it several times, each time with a resounding round of "oohs" and "ahhs."  And generally followed by a request for me to make them again....very soon.

The recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes, but I always get extras.  This time I made 1 and a half times the recipe, and ended up with 24 cupcakes.  I love to garnish them exactly like the recipe says to: with the ganache and a few pieces of chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Happy Nutella Day!

Nutella Cupcakes

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup sugar
8 oz Nutella
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk
(The recipe later on says to add vanilla, but there is no amount listed; I usually go with about 1/2 tsp)

Directions:

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

2. Whisk together the flour and salt and set aside.

3. 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. Beat in the Nutella until well-incorporated, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl while beating (it gets thick, don't be alarmed). Add the eggs and beat until smooth.

4.  Turn to low.  Beat in half the flour mixture just until it beings to disappear into the batter. Beat in the milk. Fold in the remainder of the flour mixture by hand until the batter is smooth (I used the hand mixer for the last part and they came out fine).

4. Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them no more than 1/2 full. Bake for 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

Ingredients:

3 oz high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips
1.5 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(I add just under 1/8 tsp of hazelnut extract, too)

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Directions:

1. Place the chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup 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.

2. When the cupcakes are completely cool, using a spoon, top each one with about two teaspoons of the ganache, and with the back of the spoon coax it as close to the edges as possible without letting it drip down the sides.  Sprinkle on a bit of the chopped hazelnuts.

3. Let the ganache set before storing in an airtight container at room temperature overnight--these cupcakes truly taste better the next day. If serving immediately, refrigerate them for about five minutes and the ganache will quickly set.