Strawberry Nutella Muffins

I'm to the point where I've gotten rid of most of the leftover ingredients in my house.  Some of the last are frozen strawberries (from strawberry cupcakes) and Nutella (from the Nutella Rice Krispie balls).  I do still have some graham crackers and Nilla wafers lingering in the cupboard and need to figure out what to do with those, but I haven't been inspired to figure that out yet.  I'm pretty sure it will have to do with s'mores and banana pudding but not at the same time.

I figured that strawberries and Nutella would go really well together and I'm not alone.  The internet is full of recipes that combine the two (I was particularly intrigued by Strawberry Nutella Pie but decided against it... although I can't remember why because it sounds so good)  My biggest problem was that most of the recipes use fresh strawberries. 

I decided that breakfast was the way to go - it had been a while since I brought breakfast food to work and I figured my coworkers might enjoy a dessert break.

By the way, am I the only person who thinks it's funny that muffins and cake are pretty much the same thing?  I realize muffins don't usually have frosting, but they do sometimes have glaze.  Let's just stop pretending.  Not because I don't think you should eat muffins for breakfast but because I don't think we should be ashamed to eat cake for breakfast.

These muffins are pretty good.  Not great, but pretty good.  The flavor combo of the strawberry and Nutella is spot on.  My biggest concern is that the strawberries disintegrated a bit inside the muffins and seem kind of wet.  To be honest, I've had this problem with all the strawberry muffins I've ever made whether it be with fresh or frozen berries.  Definitely make sure you drain the berries thoroughly.  I found these were better if I baked them a little longer and ate them the next day once they had a chance to set up.

Strawberry Nutella Muffins
adapted from Food and Wine and Two Peas and their Pod
Yields 20-22 muffins

Ingredients
1 lb Frozen Strawberries, defrosted, drained and quartered
1/2 cup Sugar
2 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/4 cup Buttermilk
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2/3 cup Nutella
Coarse sugar for sprinkling (I used Demerara)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line two 12 cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Fold in the strawberries by hand until just combined.

Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full with batter.  Spoon 1 tsp of Nutella into each cup.  Top with remaining muffin batter.  Sprinkle the top of each muffin with sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!
Julie