When hazelnut meets chocolate and pumpkin, delicious things happen.
These gluten-free and vegan pumpkin muffins are spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, and have a surprise inside: a melty chocolate hazelnut butter heart!
The chocolate hazelnut filling consists of just two ingredients: hazelnut butter and melted dark chocolate. The result is a smooth, nutty, and creamy homemade "Nutella".
If you don't have hazelnut butter on hand, feel free to substitute with your favorite nut butter. I'm thinking tahini, coconut butter, or almond butter would make great alternatives. And if you don't have any nut butter, the last option would be to use a square of dark chocolate as the filling, that should work as well!
For the muffins batter, we start with a mix of gluten-free flours: almond flour, oat flour, and rice flour. Then we have coconut sugar to sweeten, a lot of pumpkin purée that brings moisture and flavor, and spices.
Note about pumpkin purée: if using pumpkin purée from a can, use the recommended amount of almond milk. However, if using homemade pumpkin purée, divide the almond milk by about half as homemade purée tends to be moister. The batter should be thick but pourable, so feel free to adjust the amount of liquid.
To prepare the muffins, pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter into each muffin liner. Next, top with a teaspoon of chilled chocolate hazelnut filling, and finally cover with more pumpkin batter to hide the filling completely. Hey, we want to keep the surprise!
For decoration and extra Fall vibes, feel free to drizzle with vanilla glaze!
These pumpkin muffins are moist, tender, and perfectly sweet. The chocolate hazelnut heart (aka Nutella) takes them to another level!
Looking for more Fall desserts? Check out this Cream Cheese Banana Bread, Creamy Pumpkin & Chocolate Cheesecake, or these Chai Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Chocolate Hazelnut Stuffed Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
Chocolate Hazelnut Filling
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
- ¼ cup hazelnut butter or almond butter
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pumpkin Muffins
- 1 and ½ teaspoon ground flax seeds
- 1 and ½ tablespoon water
- ⅓ cup oat flour
- ⅓ cup almond flour
- ⅓ cup white rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 6 tablespoon almond milk or other plant-based milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
Instructions
Chocolate Hazelnut Filling
- Add the hazelnut butter and vanilla extract to a small mixing bowl. Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler.
- Once melted, pour over the hazelnut butter and stir until fully combined. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.
Pumpkin Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a 6-count muffin pan with muffin liners.
- Prepare the flax egg: combine the ground flax seeds and water in a small bowl. Let it sit about 5 minutes, while you prepare the batter.
- To a large mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, oat flour, white rice flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and coconut sugar.
- Add the pumpkin puree, almond milk, and oil, and mix using a wooden spoon until fully combined. You should get a thick batter.
- Fill each muffin liner with about 2 tablespoons of the batter. Remove your hazelnut filling from the refrigerator and scoop out balls of about 1 and ½ tsp. Place each ball in the center of the liners, on top of you first layer of batter.
- Cover the hazelnut filling with more batter, making sure the filling is fully covered on top and sides.
- Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until muffins have a golden brown top. Remove from the oven and let them cool at least 20 minutes before eating. The chocolate filling will be melty and slightly sticky like a nut butter.
- These muffins will keep for up to 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
Hi Thomas,
I love the idea of cooking these muffins! I have a couple of questions: can I use just hazelnut butter (without adding chocolate)? I’d like to reduce amount of sugar in the filling and the dough. And the second question: is it almond flour or almond milk? In instructions you say mile, and in ingredients list - flourthank you!
Hi Dina,
If using just runny hazelnut butter, I'm afraid it will mix with the batter (more like a swirl).
There is almond flour and almond milk (or another plant-based milk).
Did you create this recipe just for my husband? I made them and he loves these muffs. Mine needed to cook 38 mins, but texture was then perfect. Thanks Thomas!
Haha, thanks so much Sue! 🙂
These are amazing!
Thanks Kipper!
How much almond flour would you suggest using if I was only going to use almond flour? And not the other two.
I'm afraid it will not work well if using just almond flour.
These were great! I've made them a few times! I prefer things slightly less sweet so I use a rounded 1/4 cup of sugar and that's good for me 🙂 Once I used store-bought hazelnut chocolate filling and it was great! I've also made a batch without the chocolate but with chopped frozen cranberries instead - also delicious! Very versatile recipe!
Thank you for your feedback 🙂 Pumpkin and cranberries sounds delicious!