Hazelnut + Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Is it just me or is nutella the latest baking trend?  I see recipes daily using nutella in anything from cookies to cakes to brownies.  Even though it's been around for quite a while I guess everyone is starting to take notice.  There's even a commercial with a mom saying nutella provides a "healthy" breakfast for her kids when spread over whole wheat toast.  What the what??!  That's like saying your kids are eating healthy vegetables when you drown fresh broccoli in a pound of fake cheesey sauce.  But, I digress.

I guess the reason I brought up nutella is that it pairs chocolate and hazelnuts together, and if you have ever had this combination, you'll know they were made for each other.  It's kind of like peanut butter and jelly, or broccoli and cheese sauce.... JUST KIDDING!  Seeing as I had a bag of hazelnuts just waiting to be used, and I had been craving something sweet (when am I not??), I made some muffins.  I used both hazelnut meal and toasted chopped hazelnuts, and threw in some coarsely chopped dark chocolate for good measure.  These are more hazelnutty than chocolatey, but you can definitely add more chocolate if you want.  And, I made them gluten free and have listed the vegan substitution in the recipe below.  Let's get to muffin baking!

Hazelnut + Chocolate Chunk Muffins
The measurements below are by weight, so you will need a kitchen scale.  I've been baking a lot lately by weight because it's more accurate and easier to make baked goods gluten free/vegan so go purchase one if you haven't already!

2 oz millet flour
2 oz sorghum flour
3 oz hazelnut meal
1 oz tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tsp ground flax or chia seed
8 oz rice milk (or other milk)
4 oz neutral tasting oil such as safflower or grapeseed
2 eggs or 4 oz mashed bananas
4 oz date sugar
1/2 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks (use vegan friendly chocolate if making it vegan)
1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

 Whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and ground flax seed.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and oil until combined.  Whisk the date sugar into the wet ingredients until it is combined and smooth.  Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry until the batter just comes together.  Carefully fold in the hazelnuts and chocolate.  Fill the lined cups about 3/4 full, then bake for 25-35 minutes until the tops are firm and spring back when touched and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.  This recipe made 11 muffins in my muffin tin.  Enjoy!