...or eat them. Nutella Buttons that is. Dorie Greenspan, who wrote the cookbook Baking Chez Moi, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Nutella Buttons, and are they amazing! Dorie told Tonia she uses mini-muffin pans to make the buttons. She fills the pans with white cake batter, a dollop of Nutella, topped with more cake batter and dipped in chocolate. After baking, you'll find this button is one you don't want to push! Instead, you'll want to eat it!
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (95 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
¾ cup (102 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Drop of pure almond extract (optional)
¾ stick (6 tablespoons; 3 ounces; 85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
About ¼ cup (74 grams) Nutella or jam, at room temperature
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. The buttons can be baked in mini muffin tins or in foil-and-paper mini muffin cups. If you’re using muffin tins, butter them or line with paper cups; if you’re using foil muffin cups, put them on a baking sheet.
Separate the eggs. Put the yolks in a small bowl and whisk them lightly, just to blend. Put the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl.
Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Add the yolks, vanilla extract and almond extract, if you’re using it, and beat energetically. Pour in the melted butter, stir to combine and then give the batter a vigorous beating.
If you’re working in a stand mixer, fit it with the whisk attachment; if not, use a hand mixer. Beat the whites until they hold firm peaks but are still glossy. Using a flexible spatula, stir about one quarter of the whites into the batter to loosen it, then gently fold in the remaining whites. (At this point, you can press a piece of plastic film against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it overnight, if you’d like.)
It’s hard to give exact measurements, because muffin tin sizes can vary, but the principle here is to put a small amount of batter, about 1 teaspoon, in the bottom of each mold or paper cup, add ½ teaspoon Nutella or jam, and then cover the Nutella with enough batter to fill the mold or paper cup just to the top. If you’re using mini muffin tins and have some unfilled molds, put a spoonful of water in each empty one (to help the buttons to bake evenly). If you have more batter than muffin tins, refrigerate the batter until you’re ready for it.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops of the buttons are golden brown and springy to the touch and a toothpick stuck into the center of a button comes out clean. Remove the buttons from the muffin tins as soon as they come out of the oven; the buttons baked in cups can stay in their liners. Cool the buttons to room temperature on racks. If you have more batter, make sure that the muffins tins are cool before filling them with the remaining batter and Nutella.
