Nutella Banana Muffins

Now, who was it who introduced me to this intoxicating chocolate spread? Oh yes, it was Jess who waxed lyrical about how addicted she is to Nutella. That was last year and at the time, I was still a Nutella virgin. And then there was Cathleen who made Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins. And I couldn't take it anymore. Nutella has been around for ages and I had not tasted it yet. Blame that on my less than perky sense of adventure. I mean I've seen jars and jars of Nutella on the supermarket shelves and yet it never occurred to me to pick at least a small tub to sample.

Maybe I couldn't accept the idea of having chocolate on my bread. Or hazelnuts for that matter. So I went over to 99 Speedmart and purchased a small 200g bottle for RM7.95. At home that evening, I placed the precious Nutella on the counter and didn't touch it until some 3 weeks later. How's that for enthusiasm? If there was a little blue pill for people with a flagging sense of adventure, I will be at the top of the prescription list.

Before baking.

What motivated me to finally open the jar was the expiry date. In another two months, I would have to toss the jar out. And there goes my RM7.95. Accountants don't like to waste money and I am very cost conscious (read prudent, not kiam siap/kedekut/stingy). I unscrewed the top, pulled off the protective flap and took a tentative sniff. MMMMmmmmm!!!!! I breathed in a waft of chocolate and hazelnuts and what a heavenly smell it was. Then I took a teaspoon and scooped some of the oooey gooey stuff and had my first taste of Nutella. Whoah! This is what I have been missing all these years! A revelation indeed. No wonder Jess got addicted.

Out of the oven.

A few days after that, I bought a loaf of bread, something I have not eaten for a long time. It was Gardenia's Wheatberry or something like that. The bread was fresh and soft and I had a few slices with Nutella. My God, when you haven't had your favorite carb for a long time and you pair that with Nutella, you are in BIG trouble. And right now in my pantry I have 2 big tubs of Nutella and a small one that's almost empty. The small one is almost empty not because I pigged out on it, but because I used it to bake these fantastic muffins.

Look at that! Banana+Nutella = Pahwah!

For my first Nutella bake, I settled on Cathleen's Nutella Swirl Muffins but I did not follow her recipe. I sort of adapted the recipe from my Banana Chocolate Chips and Mixed Berries Muffins which was of course adapted from Joy of Baking. This time instead of buttermilk, I used plain yogurt. I was very satisfied with the result as the muffins turned out very moist and fluffy. 

One heavenly bite. Just one :(

If you have been following my posts, you must be wondering, isn't she supposed to be on a low carb diet? Aren't muffins on the banned food list? If you look at the muffin up there, I took only one bite. OK, it was a big bite and I made my partner eat up the rest before I gave in to my Nutella bloodlust. And the rest of the muffins? They were given away to kith and kin. So no temptations in the house :)

Nutella Banana Muffins
Recipe Source : Inspired by A Taste of Madness and adapted from here
Makes 12 regular sized muffins

Ingredients :
- 230 grams self raisng flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinammon
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil (or any neutral tasting vegetable oil)
- 135ml plain yogurt
- 3 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 generous teaspoons of Nutella

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160C
2. Line muffin pans with paper liners
3. In a mixing bowl add sugar, ground cinnamon, eggs, grapeseed oil, yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Stir to mix.
4. In another mixing bowl, sift flour and make a well in the centre.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and lightly fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Scoop batter into lined muffins pans and top each muffin with a generous teaspoon of Nutella.
7. Using a butter knife, swirl the nutella in the batter.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

I always check my muffins at the 20 minute mark and test by inserting a toothpick into the center of the muffin. For this bake, my muffins were done at 21 minutes. I was very pleased with this batch of muffins and they received very good reviews. I am sure you will love them too :)