Little Nutella-stuffed apricot friands (gluten free)
on Jun 28, 2014, Updated Aug 22, 2022
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Many years ago, I did a couple of weeks of voluntary work in southern Spain and stayed with a team leader in her home. Every morning, we popped down to the local bakery for fresh bread for breakfast (yum), and it wasn’t long before the group of us staying there discovered our host’s big jar of Nutella and began smearing it onto our bread in far too large quantities. Before long, the Nutella was all gone and we hastily and guiltily ran to the shops to replace it … and then gobbled up that jar as well. Until then I’m not sure I’d ever really thought to eat chocolate spread with bread. The few times I’d had it at home in England I’d just eaten it right off the spoon.
Another place where Nutella seems to be pretty popular is France, where I once spent a year teaching English to school children. Yes, in the land of champagne, foie gras and truffles, it’s also perfectly acceptable to eat humble hazelnut chocolate spread smeared thickly onto a piece of freshly baked bread or stuffed into a warm buttery croissant.
So if it’s okay for the mostly healthy Spanish and French to put chocolate spread on and in baked things, then surely it’s okay for me to do the same. Besides, I took another tip from the French for these little Nutella-stuffed apricot friands of mine.
I made them small!
Let me explain. Apparently, part of the reason that the French are able to eat fatty cheeses and rich pastries and pretty much what they like without getting unhealthy or overweight is pretty simple – they just eat less. Well, plus a few other little tricks. They’ll have a piece of chocolate or a tiny little macaron or a balanced meal but not piled up high on a plate.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about how the French eat really well without depriving themselves and yet stay ‘magically’ healthy (I for one certainly am!) then apparently this is a pretty good read: French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. Great book title, right?
Oh, and if you would like to read more about all the lovely things that you can eat without feeling guilty, it seems, ‘en France’, the lovely Erin from The Law Student’s Wife is over there right now posting about all sorts of delicacies that will make you want to drop what you’re doing and get yourself booked onto a flight to Paris tout de suite.
Meanwhile, back to these cute little friands. Obviously you’ve figured out by now that there is Nutella in this recipe I’m about to share with you today. And no, this is not a sponsored post for Mr. Nutella (although I think it should be, don’t you?) Other than this slightly naughty sweet stuffing, though, there is absolutely nothing bad in these mini muffins. Honestly, nothing bad at all. Nada. Rien.
‘So what is in them?’ I hear you wondering. Well, apart from a teaspoon of baking powder and a splodge of Nutella, just five ingredients, that’s what. Just almond meal, coconut oil, honey, eggs and dried apricots.
As they are so tiny, maybe it hardly matters that they are so healthy, but as they are, well … bonus! It just means that you can eat two or three at a time if you like, although in my humble opinion the size is just about right as the almond meal makes them seem a little richer than a regular muffin (I used a pan a little like this one but if you can find a mini friand pan, then even better!) A friand, in fact, is basically just a French version of a muffin made with almonds. My versions are not strictly speaking friands though as they contain whole eggs rather than just the whites and coconut oil instead of butter. I also missed out the sugar that is usually in friands, replacing it with a bit of honey, as I figure that they’re sweet enough from the apricots and the chocolate in the middle.
Just to tie up this post, I thought I’d share this little morsel of info that I found. There was a fairly recent ‘scandal’ at Colombia University, New York, in which students gobbled up $2,500 worth of Nutella in a week! Apparently this quickly dropped to $450 a week, but, erm, hello? Obviously this beats mine and my team mates’ gobbling up of our host’s choccy spread in Spain all those years ago in a pretty big way!
Anyway, enough of all this free promotion for Nutella. Obviously I highly recommend you having a go at these little mini friands. Just make sure you aren’t too light-handed with the nutella in the middle. It won’t matter if it oozes out of the cake a little – they’ll just be all the more delicious, I’d say.
Little Nutella-stuffed apricot friands (gluten free)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal, sometimes called almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, gluten free if necessary
- 2 eggs, lightly whisked
- 2 1/2 ounces dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
- 15 teaspoons chocolate spread, 1 for each little friand
- a little icing sugar for sprinkling at the end, optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 325F/170C and lightly grease a mini muffin pan
or mini friand pan with a little oil or butter. - Melt the coconut oil and the honey together in a small pan. Put the mixture aside to cool a little.
- Put the almond meal into a large bowl with the baking powder, then mix in the coconut oil/honey mixture and the eggs. Stir in the apricots.
- Put about a teaspoon of mixture into the bottom of each hole in the muffin tin, then spoon a small teaspoon of chocolate spread in the centre. Then spoon in more almond mixture so that it covers the chocolate and the muffin holes are almost full of mixture.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until the muffins are a light golden colour on the top. Try not to overbake!
- Leave the friands to cool then, if you like, sprinkle them with icing sugar.
or 
with a little oil or butter.Notes
Nutrition
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My question is how to NOT eat a jar of nutella in one sitting. I’m still pretty unclear on how that works. 😛
Love these little friands!
Hmmm … it’s a tricky one. I certainly haven’t figured out the magic formula. 🙂
These friands look amazing! I’m probably one the world’s biggest Nutella fans- I eat it on anything! I’m sure when I go to Italy in a few weeks, I’ll definitely eat too much Nutella ice cream! Can’t wait to try these, Helen! 🙂
Thanks, Jessica! Oooh … nutella ice cream! They do great nutella crepes over there, too, so don’t miss those. 🙂
Great! Will definitely look for nutella crepes- they sound heavenly! 🙂
You can find them pretty much everywhere from what I remember … there are plenty of street stalls that do fantastic ones!
I have never tried friands before but they sound wonderful and I love the combination of Nutella and Dried apricots. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Thanks so much, Christin. I hope your Sunday’s going well, too. 🙂
I’ve read that book! It was pretty good. Except the part where the author promoted veuve clicquot throughout the book because she is the CEO or something. Not that I don’t like veuve, but I can’t afford to drink that on a weekly basis!
I LOVE nutella. My favourite thing about european hotels is those little packages of nutella they have instead of peanut butter. These friands are simple, cute, and filled with chocolate! Yum! And I just learned what a friand was. Cool!
Haha … there was another book I nearly linked to called The French Paradox but I thought I’d better not because there weren’t many reviews and one of them was awful.
I’ve just ‘rediscovered’ Nutella in a way and have started putting it in my morning oatmeal. Probably not the best habit to get into! Glad you like these little friands and that you learnt something today, Allison! 🙂
I never ate too much Nutella while growing up (which is a pity since nutella is liiiifeeee), but I try my best to make up for the lost years now 😉 These lovely friands look adorable, and I love how they’re healthy too! Such a perfect snack!
Hope you’re having a great weekend! xx
Thanks so much, Consuelo, and I hope you’re having a good weekend, too! Great idea to make up for lost Nutella time now! 😉
Wow. the little muffins are too cute for words.. love the flavours.. i have never used coconut oil before… Will definitely try this 😀
So glad you like them, Arpita. Thank you! I’ve only just started using coconut oil, actually. It’s a little expensive, but it does go a long way.
Yum, I love all the flavors here, especially the apricot and Nutella 🙂 So unique and delicious!
Thank you, Medha! I enjoyed making these (well, they have chocolate in the middle, after all!) 🙂
Hi Helen!
Your friands looks lovely and so pretty sitting on that octagon white dish. You know, I”ve never had Nutella before, but my dad eats it by the jar! (Sounds very unlike the French women).
The key for me will be popping only one of these bad boys (ok, maybe 2) with a cup of tea not the whole batch! Love the oozing center in the middle, a bit of a surprise I think!
Ha! Yes, maybe I should have called these Apricot Nutella Surprise! Laura, I reckon you can happily and guiltlessly have 2 or even 3 of these in one go. The only sugar in them is in the Nutella, after all. Hope you’re having a great weekend! 🙂
I’ve never heard of or tried friands but they look delish! Nutella in this oomphs the yummy factor.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Melanie, and you have a great weekend, too. I’d heard of friands but only ever tried the traditional ones with lots of sugar in. I thought I’d try a healthier version out and it worked! 🙂
That is a great title – definitely caught my attention! 🙂 You’re right, the French never seem to deprive themselves, but they do it in moderate ways. That is something my mom has always taught us; dessert isn’t bad – too much dessert is. These little muffins are so cute and healthy enough that I can have that second one! 😉 The apricot is a unique addition that I really, really like, and stuffing it with nutella? Love it. Pinning these! Happy weekend Helen!
Happy weekend to you too, lovely little Mary Frances! Once again, I am wishing that I knew your mom because she sounds like a very wise lady. Definitely have that second muffin – or, go on, even three would be fine! 😉