Hazelnut Muffins, with Teff Flour

These muffins are from Kim Boyce’s much-heralded Good to the Grain, and they are lovely.  I’d never used teff flour before, but I’ll definitely continue to use it!  It has sort of a delicate grassy flavor that is faintly sweet.  It’s wonderful in these muffins!

The only thing I’d like to change about these muffins is the body-to-topping ratio.  There was too much topping for the 12 muffins I got (you can see how much of it fell off – and the recipe was only supposed to yield 10 muffins!) and at the same time, there wasn’t enough of it for each bite of muffin.  I think next time I’ll fold half of the topping into the batter and see how that works out.




Hazelnut Muffins
from Good to the Grain

1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup raw hazelnuts, skins on, chopped into rough halves
1/2 tsp kosher salt

For topping:
1/2 cup raw hazelnuts, skins on, finely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

For muffins:
Dry mix:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup teff flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt

Wet mix:
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease muffin tins with butter or cooking spray.

Place the butter, hazelnuts, and salt in a small heavy-bottomed pan and cook over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally and watching for the edges of the nuts to turn golden brown.  Remove the pan from the flame before the nuts get too brown, as they will continue to cook in the hot butter.  Pour them into a bowl to cool down.

In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  In a medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. (This is where I'd fold in about half of the topping, after combining the other ingredients.)

Pour the hazelnuts and their butter over the dry ingredients, and then pour the buttermilk mixture over the top of that.  Using a spatula, mix together the wet and dry ingredients.

Scoop the batter into 10-12 muffin cups.  The batter should be mounded above the edges of the cups.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter, gently pressing it into the batter so it adheres.

Bake for 22-26 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.  Let cool on a rack in the pan until they’re cool enough to handle. Remove each muffin from its cup and set it on its side in the cup to cool (this will keep them from getting soggy).