nutella swirl banana bread

Today I'd like to share a successful baking experiment:  Nutella Swirl Banana Bread!  It's sweet without being cloying, and it is super-easy to make.  The prep time is literally ten minutes.

I based this recipe off my mom's delicious banana bread recipe, which she adapted from a cookbook put out by the Montessori school where my brother and I went to preschool.  I love the thought of passing my own version of one of my family's favorites along to you!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

a pinch of salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon (or, if you don't feel like measuring it out, a few generous shakes)

1 tsp nutmeg (not in a measuring mood?  one good shake ought to be about right.)

2 Tbsp. butter

2 eggs

2 bananas

3 generous spoonfuls of Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In another bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and butter. (To be perfectly honest, sometimes I just mix them in with the dry ingredients right off the bat.  It doesn't seem to do any harm.)

4. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar, eggs and butter.

5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.

6. Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan.

7. Warm three generous spoonfuls of Nutella in a microwave or a saucepan-- don't boil it, you just want it to be warm enough to be easily stirred, about the consistency of hot fudge.

8. Drizzle the Nutella over the batter in the pan, then use a knife or a silicone spatula to marble it throughout the top layer of bread batter.

9. Bake for 50 minutes-- my oven is generally a little slow, so I had to leave my banana bread in for a little longer.  You'll know it's done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

10. After the bread cools (for as long as you can stand waiting), run a knife around the edge of the loaf pan to easily pop the banana bread out.  

11. Enjoy! 

I hope you enjoy this delicious treat!  It's so exciting when an experiment turns out well.

What's baking in your kitchen lately?

♥