I felt like making myfavourite browniesand melted the chocolate when I noticed that we didn’t have any ground almond in the cupboard. So I made these chocolate and hazelnut muffins instead which were yummy and filling –  gluten and dairy-free too!

You’ll need:

• 100g good quality dark chocolate
• 100g butter or dairy free spread
• 100g soft light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup hazelnut or almond milk
• 250g gluten free flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 100g hazelnuts

How to make the muffins:

1. Melt the chocolate over hot water in a bowl, making sure it doesn’t touch the water.
2. When it’s melted, turn off the heat add the spread and vanilla paste. Stir until you get a thick cream. Now add the sugar and stir until combined. Let it cool.
3. Turn the oven on and set it to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
4. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
5. When the chocolate mixture is cool, add the eggs then the milk, stir then pour into the flour mixture.
6. Stir until you get a smooth batter.
7. You can  roast the nuts in the oven for 5 minutes, if you like, then cool. Chop the nuts ( roasted or not) into small chunks. Fold these into the batter gently.
8. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases.
9. Put the tray in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until they’re cooked through ( test them with a skewer).
10. Let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Tips:

• If you want a more intense taste, add some roughly chopped chocolate bits to the batter.
• You can make this recipe using normal flour,  animal based butter/ milk too, if you don’t have any allergy issues, although the hazelnut/almond milk add more nutty flavour to the muffins.