Bake these!

Late last week, I came across a recipe that only required four items, all of which were already in my possession. A recipe even my pathetically hungover self could complete on Saturday morning while waiting for coffee to brew. Yup, the multi- tasking never stops.

I call them Nutella mini lava cupcakes.

These are still gooey a few days later. Gooey and delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Nutella spread
1 large egg
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (I'd consider these optional, so only 3 ingredients!)

Directions:

1. Pre- heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Put the Nutella and egg in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended.

3. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.

4. Bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, 11 to 12 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely. Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Handy ideas for the types (like me) who can't leave well enough alone:

I'd either toast or omit the hazelnuts next time. Never been a huge fan of nuts in baked goods but it is important to follow a recipe the first time. Most of the time.

Next time, no hazelnuts, but I'll swirl in a bit of cream cheese to the tops (with a toothpick) prior to baking.

I doubled the recipe as my mini cupcake/ muffin tin is a 24 count, the recipe still worked perfectly. If you double the recipe (and you should, because these seem to grow legs as soon as they cool), you'll use almost the entire 13 oz. Nutella jar. So, buy the bigger jar. It's time- saving. And economical.

I left these in the oven for about 14 minutes as life interfered. They were unset at 11 minutes but should have come out at about 12 minutes 30 seconds. Guess I'll have to make another batch.