Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins with Nutella Cream

These muffins are so ridiculous. Honestly, I was kind of surprised by how good they are. I mean, I thought they would be delicious, don't get me wrong. They incorporate pumpkin, Nutella, and cream cheese (all the good things in life), so how could they not be? But these are some sort of next level satisfying goodness. They were probably sent here by the gods. Or aliens. I swear, these muffins must exist in their own parallel universe for if they were to exist in ours the fabric of the universe would likely be torn to pieces (do to too much goodness existing at once). You will certainly travel to a different time and space while eating this. Too much? I don’t even know.

I’d never made/had a doughnut muffin before, so maybe that is why I was so surprised by these. They are little denser than a regular muffin would be, quite like the consistency of a cake doughnut or an ‘old-fashioned’ doughnut. The pumpkin keeps the mixture nice and moist with an extra little surprise of creamy Nutella in the center.

I mainly followed this recipe, but changed it up slightly and added a delicious Nutella cream layer.

PUMPKIN DOUGHNUT MUFFINS WITH NUTELLA CREAM, makes 12+

For the Batter:
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups (organic, unbleached) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup buttermilk
15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs

For the Nutella Cream:
1/2 cup Nutella
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

For the Sugar Topping:
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place liners (aluminum liners work best) in a muffin tray.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. Slowly add the pumpkin puree and the buttermilk until combined thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine together the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves.With mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture (in three or four portions).
3. Let the batter sit an combine the Nutella and cream cheese in a small bowl. If not combining easily, microwave up to 30 seconds to soften.
4. Spoon a bit batter into each muffin cup (fill about 1/3 of the way). Then add a spoonful (about a tablespoon) of the Nutella cream to each cup. Flatten this layer a bit, if you'd like. Finish with another layer of batter. I had a bit a batter left over and made 9 mini muffins (without the Nutella cream), this probably would have made 3 more normal sized muffins.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
6. Meanwhile, combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and melt butter.
7. Let muffins cool 10 minutes, then working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan and brush the top with a thin layer of butter. Place upside down in the bowl of cinnamon sugar mixture and twirl to coat. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Enjoy! Keep in an airtight container to keep moist and fresh. If eating these the next day (or later, if they last that long), I recommend sticking in the microwave for just 10 secs to war up that Nutella layer again.

This recipe in a little involved and time consuming, but so worth it. Now I'm just sad because I already ate them all.