Pocono Pabulum for Mind & Body: Nutella Filled Cupcakes

Nutella Filled Cupcake

My (baby) daughter just turned six this past weekend and we celebrated with a fantastic pajama dance party at her dance school. And since I wanted to be considerate of the dance floors and not have a bunch of frosting covered kids running around, I thought this "outside in" idea would work perfectly. I tried out the recipe a couple of weeks ahead of time to make sure it worked, so there are two sets of photos below. The recipe I made for my family only used organic whole wheat pastry flour, but to make them a bit more kid friendly for the party I used half organic white flour the second time. Of course some kids complained there was "no frosting", but once they took a bite and found the inside, there were very few empty plates left. This is one of my more labor intensive baking recipes because you have to use a couple of steps to fill the muffin papers, but the result is totally worth it. And the cupcake recipe itself is a no fail, go to recipe for "healthy" vanilla cupcakes, with or without filling. By substituting a little bit of the fat with applesauce and yogurt, as well as the use of organic canola oil, it is not as bad as most cake recipes and 100% better than anything you could buy in a store. They taste amazing, and this health conscious mom had no trouble eating one as part of breakfast the next day because they are that good.

Nutella Filled Cupcakes

3 C. organic whole wheat pastry flour
(could also use half organic white flour for a lighter cupcake) *

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

wet and dry ingredients

1/2 C. organic unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 C. organic brown sugar

1/2 C. organic applesauce

1/2 C. organic canola oil

1/4 C. plain 2% Greek yogurt

3 organic eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Nutella (26.5 oz. jar works well)

rainbow sprinkles, optional

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. With a large electric mixer, blend together the butter and brown sugar, then add the applesauce, canola oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and then beat on medium speed for about two minutes. Spoon about a tablespoon and a half of the batter into the bottom of 24 paper lined muffin tins, add desired amount of Nutella to the middle and then cover with another tablespoon or two of the batter. Top with rainbow sprinkles and bake at 350F for 20 - 25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!