Nutella Caramel Muffins

Good Morning Everyone!!! I got a great night sleep last night and I am in a great mood!!! There is a small story behind these muffins that I am about to share with you! On Tuesday night after work I just felt the need to bake something. I was bored at home and baking relaxes me (odd I know!) I had left over caramels from when I did my Caramel Apple Muffins so decided I wanted to use them up. I kept going back and forth about what I wanted to do with them and as I was going through my cabinets found a jar of Nutella!!! I instantly knew what I was going to make, Nutella Caramel Muffins. Well on Tuesday night,  I made the muffins, decorated them, and was just about to put them in the oven when I realized I made a MAJOR mistake.....I FORGOT TO ADD THE BAKING SODA TO THE DRY MIX!!! What a stupid mistake!!!!! Well to make a long story short the muffins didn't rise so they came out like little brownies almost, and weren't horrible, but weren't stellar either. So last night I decided to try the recipe again with some small changes....

Dry

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 cup oats

1/3 flax meal

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

Wet

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

1/2 cup cinnamon-hazelnut coffee

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup Nutella

First combine oats, milk, and yogurt in a small bowl. Mix ingredients and let them sit for five minutes while you put the rest of your ingredients together. The milk and yogurt are going to soften the oats and gives them a rich silky texture. 

While the oats are sitting, combine all of the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix!

Next combine the rest of the wet ingredients in with the oat mixture. 

Add Nutella and mix. Make sure you mix it well because the Nutella will stick together and you want to make sure you break it up as much as possible.

Nice and mixed!

Next, combine the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

This is what Nutella looks like. Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread that is very popular in Europe. Europeans tend to use it in desserts and also in the morning on toast. It is basically the European version of peanut butter!!! It is so delicious and very rich!

Make sure to mix the batter thoroughly!

Next add 1/4 cup batter to each muffin dish. Top with individual caramels!

Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes. The picture below is the after photo of the batch I made on Tuesday night (without baking soda!)

Still look delicious and tasted pretty decent. They were a bit dense!

I took the batch to work on Wednesday morning and the girls seemed to like them just fine.

Below is a picture of the after baking the batch on Wed night (with baking soda!) See how much they rose?? They even engulfed the caramels.

Close up!

Let me tell you when I was baking these muffins my kitchen smelled AMAZING. I wish I could have bottled the scent up as a candle or something. It was awesome.

I let the muffins sit for about five minutes to cool. See how the centers start to drop where the caramels are?? Almost look like little donuts.

I love the color of these muffins!!

Cross sections.

They were absolutely delicious. I ended up getting around 15 muffins for this recipe. I am debating to call these muffins or cupcakes. The texture is a mixture of both, fluffy like a cupcake yet a little dense like a muffin. Apparently, I have created a hybrid!! GO ME!

I packed them into a baking dish to take to work with me on Thursday!! I decided I really need to invest in a cupcake/cake carrier. If anyone has any suggestions of good ones to buy please let me know!!!

Sprinkled with a little powdered sugar to make them look pretty. I don't know why but these muffins reminded me of Christmas once I sugared them! Also, they gave me another idea..chocolate peppermint muffin....must run with that one!

Close up of the deliciousness

VICTORY IS MINE! So excited they came out better than Tuesday's batch. Goes to show you that EVERYONE makes mistakes now and then! Sad thing is this isn't the first time I made the same mistake! Have a lovely Thursday everyone!!!