Scary Stories and Nutella filled Cinnamon Sugar Muffines

Everyone who knows me knows I don't like scary stuff.  I don't read scary books (I tell people I'm not allowed), I don't watch scary movies (in college, my date and I had to leave Gremlins because it was too scary...and no, we didn't have a second date), I don't even like the movie trailers on t.v. that are scary.  I believe that it is because I have such an active imagination, which is a sign of a high IQ (at least that is what I tell myself so I can feel better about it.)

Well, I was cruising Facebook over the weekend (when I was home alone and not washing the walls) and I came upon a shared post called Terrifying two sentence horror stories.  Now really, how scary can two sentences be?  Here is the link, see for yourself...
http://justsomething.co/20-terrifying-two-sentence-horror-stories-that-will-make-you-hold-your-breath/

Um, yea.  I was home alone and had to sleep with the lights on, with Hershey on Dave's pillow (and keep in mind right now it never really gets dark outside, just kind of dusky)...the one about the closet was especially scary since my side of the bed is right next to the closet.  At 2:37 am, I had to go get Tucker (a golden retriever) out of the living room and make him sleep on the floor between me and the closet so he would bark before something tried to get me.

So, yes, I am a big fat ol' baby.  And my gun is in the closet so how could I get to it if the monster was coming from the closet?  I had to have a treat to calm my nerves in the morning.  And nothing clams nerves better than chocolate.  It is a scientific fact that the antioxidants in chocolate are good for you, and dark chocolate helps relax your blood vessels so helps lower your blood pressure and reduce your chance of strokes...or something like that.  I read it on the internet so I know it is true.

So, here is a great recipe for you to make yourself, after you read those scary two-sentence horror stories.  You might want to mix them up and have them in the oven when you read them, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Nutella Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction Blog

MUFFINS

· 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons or 75g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

· 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

· 1 large egg

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

· 1/2 cup (120ml) milk (cow, almond, soy)

· 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour

· 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 8 teaspoons Nutella

CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING

· 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

· 2 teaspoons cinnamon

· 3 Tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed. Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Gently stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Do not overmix - stir until *just* combined.

Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon of batter into muffin cavity. Layer with 1 teaspoon Nutella in the center and spoon another heaping Tablespoon of batter on top. If the muffin tins are completely full, that is ok. They will not overflow. Repeat layering batter and Nutella into each muffin tin. I got exactly 8 muffins.

Bake at 425F for 5 minutes. Keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce temperature to 350F and bake for an additional 13-17 minutes until batter is set. Allow muffins to cool for about 5 minutes.

While the muffins are cooling, make the cinnamon-sugar topping. Melt the butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Stir and stick back in microwave if not fully melted. In a separate small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the top of each muffin into the melted butter and dip into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Swirl them around in the cinnamon-sugar a bit to make sure you get a thick coating. Set upright on cooling rack.

Muffins stay fresh in an airtight container up to 1 week. Muffins freeze well, up to 3 months.

1 year ago:   Quinoa Salad
2 years ago: Mudslide Brownies and Ruckus in the Muckus

May 28, 2014   Daylight 20 hrs. 10 min. 53 sec.   Temp. H 66/ L 45°F