Vanilla cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

This month's Parents magazine gave suggestions for "healthier cupcakes". (I think that's an oxymoron.) One of the suggestions was to swirl Nutella into the cupcakes before baking, in lieu of frosting them. I love Nutella, I love cupcakes. This sounded like a great idea. I tried the Parent's magazine version, but the Nutella sank to the bottom of the cupcakes and burned. Not so good. For the next batch, I waited until they cooled and spread a teaspoon of the hazelnut butter on top of each one. Perfection!

For Valentines day, here is my recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes along with instructions for making them a little bit "healthier".

Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

Ingredients
1-1/3 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter - room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs - room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
About 1/4 cup of Nutella hazelnut spread

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt–set aside. Mix together the milk and the vanilla–set aside. In a stand mixer, or bowl using hand beater, beat the butter for three minutes. (Yes...three minutes. This is very important as it makes the cupcakes nice and fluffy.) Add the sugar and beat until creamy. Add one egg and half of the milk mixture. Beat for one minute. Add the other egg and the rest of the milk. Beat for another minute. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until the flour is completely incorporated.

Drop the batter into a paper-lined cupcake pan. (This should make 12 cupcakes.) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. Once cooled, place your jar of Nutella (or 1/4 cup spooned into a bowl) in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to soften it a bit. Spread about a teaspoon of Nutella onto the top of each cupcake. Enjoy!