Preheat oven to 180 C. Spread the 3/4 cup of hazelnuts out on a tray and roast for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool while you get on with the muffins.
Line a muffin tin with liners/baking paper.
In a bowl sift together the coconut flour, cacao, bicarb soda and salt (it's not essential to sift it but it helps to ensure the batter will be smooth). Then, stir in the hazelnut meal and cinnamon. Set aside the dry ingredient mix.
In a food processor combine the eggs, pumpkin, coconut oil, rice malt syrup and vanilla. Pulse it all together until smooth.
Add the dry ingredient mix in to the food processor and pulse again until the batter is evenly combined.
Remove blade from processor or transfer to a mixing bowl so you can handle the batter. Roughly chop the roasted hazelnuts. Fold the chopped hazelnuts through the batter.
Divide the batter between the muffin holes. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until firm to touch (or test with a skewer, it should come out with a few moist crumbs).
Allow the muffins to cool, then they can be iced if desired (see notes below). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze for a longer life.
Notes
*You can substitute honey, maple syrup, coconut syrup or date syrup instead of the rice malt syrup.*If you would like to ice the muffins as pictured: combine 3 tablespoons coconut oil and 3 tablespoons coconut butter (or a nut butter) over a low heat on the stove until just melted. Remove from heat and quickly stir in 1-2 tablespoons of cacao powder (adjust depending on how intense you want the icing to taste). You can also sweeten as desired using a liquid sweetener like rice malt syrup or stevia. Allow this mixture to cool and thicken up then use to ice the muffins. Top with chia seeds too if you like.
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