Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

I introduced nutella to bubs some time this year. I know. Who hasn't grown up with nutella sandwiches for breakfast?? Poor deprived man-child child. Anyway, we're in Richmond, VA for a quick tour. It's so damn hot right now even I'm sweating, and I don't sweat.

We're off to more BBQ wee! Excited!!

Factoid: Erythropoietin - Your Exercise Motivation Hormone
How much effort does it take to get you off your fat bum and exercise? Don't you just have those days where you want to just veg? I'm guilty. But I might just throw that onto how much erythropoietin (Epo) I have. Epo is a hormone present in small quantities that stimulate red blood cell production so you can supply those limp muscles with more oxygen while you power jog through the park.

Healthy people treated with EPO reported to feel improved mood, physical conditional as well as increased ventilation (yay oxygen). That helps you change how fatigued you feel and enhance exercise capacity. Other nerds from Switzerland this year injected extremely high doses of Epo into mice and even made genetically modified mice to produce Epo in their brains!  Both groups of mice showed more motivation to exercise than the control group.

Maybe they'll find a pill or injection for humans in the future? In the mean time, get off your lazy arse and hit the tread mill :)

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes
Makes a baker's dozen

No need for icing!

Ingredients
1.5 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (or just use all sugar)
2 egg
1/2 cup yogurt (or use another 4tbsp butter)
1 tsp vanilla
Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F
In a large bowl, cream your butter and sugar together. Once the butter is nicely incorporated, add in the maple syrup, egg, yogurt and vanilla.

In another bowl, sift all your dry ingredients together. Add dry to the wet mix and fold until just incorporated.

Divide it into muffin cups and fill up to 1/2 way. Drop 2-3 tsp of nutella on top of the batter in the muffin cups. Swirl it around with a toothpick.

Bake it for 18-20mins