Nutella Banana Bread

Nutella. I love the stuff. Smeared on a bagel, a piece of toast or even a scrumptious slice of banana bread. Whatever you put it on, it’s good. No, it’s great. This hazelnut spread adds instant deliciousness to just about anything, especially banana bread…

Ironically, this realization hit me like a big double decker bus in the middle of my workout (go figure): if I bake Nutella into my homemade banana bread, there’s no need to smear it on! Pure genius, I know.

This recipe originally comes from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I added the three heaping teaspoons tablespoons of Nutella. Trust me, it completely revolutionizes this classic.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (roughly 5 medium)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3 heaping tbsp. Nutella
• Pam

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of one 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with Pam; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside
2. In medium bowl, combine beaten eggs, mashed bananas, sugar, and butter. Add banana mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Add three heaping tablespoons (or more if you’re a megafan) of Nutella. Stir until swirled throughout. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan
3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary, cover loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning
4. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing

The swirly goodness that is the Nutella is difficult to make out in the pictures (it was tough in real life too), but believe me – it’s there. All my coworkers will attest to that. They gobbled every last slice and crumb up when I brought it into work last week 🙂 Happy baking!