muffins

Brown Butter, Chocolate Chip & Hazelnut Muffins

May 19

Something sweet in the form of chocolate chip and hazelnut muffins. These are based on a cookie I have of the same flavour combination and in muffin form they are big, bakery-style, crackly-topped muffins loaded with chocolate and hazelnuts.

Serves 12
40 minutes plus cooling time

Method

1. Place the butter in a medium saucepan, and place over medium heat. Cook until the butter has melted, and then continue to cook, swirling the pan often and stirring with a whisk, until the butter foams and turns golden brown and nutty - this should take 3-4 minutes.
2. Weigh out 70g of the brown butter into a medium bowl and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes so that it does not scramble your eggs. If you want to speed this process up you can place the mixing bowl into a bowl of ice or place in the fridge, stirring often. I usually do this while I chop my chocolate and prepare the rest of the ingredients and the pan.
3. Preheat oven to 220°C. Generously grease a jumbo 6-count muffin pan with butter or nonstick spray (nonstick spray recommended) or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
4. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
5. Whisk the browned butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined. Use a whisk to rid any large lumps of flour, if needed. Avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
6. Divide batter between each muffin cup, filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle with a little demerara sugar and bake at 200 C for 5 minutes, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 175°C and continue to bake for 25-26 minutes until the tops are lightly golden brown and centres are set. Stick a toothpick in the center of a muffin to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done
7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before serving.

3 cups plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp fine salt

7 tbsp butter

3½ tbsp neutral oil

½ cup superfine sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

⅓ cup sour cream, at room temperature*

1 cup milk, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

9 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped

3½ oz hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

375g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp fine salt

100g butter

50ml neutral oil

100g caster sugar

100g light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

80g sour cream, at room temperature*

240ml milk, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

100g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

You'll Need

Jumbo 6-count muffin pan

+ non stick spray of paper liners