Most people have a go to banana bread recipe. That’s probably because most people have had overripe bananas sitting on their counter that they don’t want to go to waste. Our house is no different. I always have bananas in the fruit bowl to eat before my morning runs, grab on my way to work or throw into a smoothie. Plus, I know if I don’t use them in time, I can just put them in the freezer for banana “ice cream” or make banana bread. In my mind, it’s a win, win situation.
A couple of months ago, when I mentioned that I was going to make banana bread, Colin asked if I could make Nutella banana bread. I wasn’t sure how my go to banana bread would hold up to Nutella, and I’m not one to say no to his baking requests, so I did some research. It turns out, the recipe world is way ahead of us on this brilliant creation, so I had a lot of recipes to choose from. This recipe stood out to me because the Nutella is mixed into half of the batter, rather than just marbled in at the end. After baking, the Nutella portion is chocolatey, moist and evenly dispersed throughout the bread, not sinking to the bottom of the pan like plain Nutella might do.
As delicious as the original recipe was, I couldn’t resist changing a few things this time around to make it a little healthier. I love having quick breads to eat for breakfast or a mid-morning snack, but I don’t always like eating something so sweet that it feels like I’m eating dessert. I halved the amount of sugar in the original recipe to bring out the natural sweetness of the bananas. The Nutella adds a lot of sweetness back to the batter as well, which contrasts nicely with the plain banana portion. I swapped out some of the flour for whole wheat flour, just to get a few whole grains in, and added cinnamon and nutmeg since those spices compliment bananas and chocolate so well.
In the end, I came out with a another great, go to banana bread recipe that I can feel a little bit better about eating for breakfast. With something this delicious and easy to make in my recipe book, we may have a lot of “extra” bananas in our fruit bowl from now on.
Nutella Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups very ripe bananas (3-4 bananas), mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3/4 cup Nutella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- Add sugar and butter to bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium high speed until creamed together, about 30 seconds.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg is added.
- Add mashed bananas, milk and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture and mix until flour is just incorporated. Be careful to not over mix.
- In a small microwave save bowl, add Nutella and heat for 15 seconds. Stir to evenly disperse heat. Nutella should be soft and easy to stir.
- Fold 1 cup banana bread batter into Nutella until evenly incorporated.
- Spoon plain banana bread batter alternately with Nutella batter into prepared pan, starting with the plain batter. Swirl batters together with a knife.
- Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for at least 15 minutes.
- When ready to remove the loaf from the pan, run a butter knife around the edges of the loaf. Flip loaf out of pan, peeling parchment paper away from bottom before placing upright on wire rack to continue cooling. Allow loaf to fully cool before wrapping in plastic wrap or placing in airtight container. Will keep at room temperature for 5 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Chef in Training
Serving Size: 1, 1" slice Calories: 310kcal Carbohydrate: 50g Fat: 10g Protein: 6g
Jessi
September 12, 2016 at 3:16 pm (7 years ago)Looks sooo good! I love banana bread!!