Oatmeal Amaretti Muffins with Nutella Filling

It's World Nutella Day!

Let's celebrate by baking some muffins.  Starting with my basic oatmeal muffin recipe, add some crumbled Amaretti cookies, a generous blob of Nutella filling, and you have some muffins truly worthy of the occasion.

The crumbled Amaretti add a hint of Amaretto flavour and a bit of crunchy texture to these muffins.  The Nutella filling makes a delicious chocolaty surprise, hidden in the center.

To make these sweet little treats yourself, you will need:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 12 Amaretti cookies, crumbled
• 1/4 cup Nutella

Combine oats and buttermilk in a big bowl and let stand for about an hour at room temperature to soften the oats.

Preheat oven to 400F and line 12 medium muffin tins with paper liners.

Mix together sugar, oil, and egg in a small bowl using a fork, and then add to buttermilk & oat mixture. Stir to combine.

In a separate bowl sift to combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients an stir gently until just combine.  For tender muffins, it is important not to overwork the batter. Fold in the crumbled Amaretti, and divide batter between 12 muffin cups.  Bake in the center of the oven for 18-20 minutes.

With most filled cupcakes or muffins, it is best to add the filling after they have been baked.  Any kind of a creamy filling (Nutella, pastry cream, or lemon curd for example) will likely be absorb into the batter during baking.  If it doesn't just disappear into the batter, the filling will probably be overcooked during the baking, adversely affecting the texture.

So, once cool, use an apple corer to remove a small cylinder from the center of each muffin.  If you don't have an apple corer, a small knife will to the job.  Save the top of the bit of the muffin you have removed in order to create a lid for the Nutella filling. Pipe the Nutella into the hole using a small plastic baggie with the corner snipped.  Don't fill all the way to the top of the opening, be sure an leave room for your lid.  Cover the Nutella filling with the reserved piece of muffin top, and voila!  Oatmeal Amaretti muffins with a surprise Nutella filling.

You can buy Amaretti cookies locally at The Italian Market.