Banana Hazelnut Muffins

I love muffins with gooey centres, especially ones with contrasting complementary flavours, so I came up with this recipe the other day using my standard banana muffin recipe. I especially love it as it uses yoghurt in the mix, which imparts a yummy tang and leaves the muffin beautifully fluffy; I don't like muffins that are too sweet or too dense. And the yummy nutty sweet centre is just what the muffin needs to give it extra richness. I mixed the hazelnut spread with a little water and icing sugar to create the consistency I wanted, as I believed the hazelnut spread was too dense on its own and I didn't want to risk it sinking to the bottom. It all worked out ideally and now I have a new favourite muffin. Btw these keep really well, they will stay yummy and moist for days.

Ingredients for Muffin:

• 1 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 & 3/4 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 heaped tablespoons vanilla sugar
• chopped hazelnuts for topping
  

Ingredients for Filling:

• 4 tablespoons hazelnut spread
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 3 teaspoons water (depends on the viscosity of your hazelnut spread, I used Nutella and it was like concrete, so perhaps you will need less)

Method:

In a large bowl; combine the yoghurt, oil and banana.

Gradually add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Spoon half the mixture into 12 greased or lined muffin pans.

Combine the filling ingredients and place a small teaspoon-sized dollop in the centre of each muffin then top with the rest of the muffin mixture.

Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 Celsius.

Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing.

These are yum when eaten warm or cold.