Nutella Love

I have a new love - Nutella (pronounced NEW-TELL- UH). For those of you who may not know, Nutella is a spread made from a combination of crushed  roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa.  It is divine.

I had my first taste of Nutella a week ago after purchasing it from Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. My husband tried it a few months earlier at work and raved about it. I wasn't too pressed to try it since I am not a huge fan of peanut butter. I just assumed it would be the same for me.  Still not convinced, it took a day or two before I finally tried it on a piece of french bread. I can not tell you how delicious this stuff is. You MUST try it for yourself.

Photo Credit: YoungMarriedChic.com

Imagine my thrill, when I found this recipe from Kris, the Young Married Chic on Eat.Drink.Shop.Love blog for Nutella Banana Nut Bread! Since I am trying to watch what I eat, I plan to make the bread when our out of town guests arrive this weekend.  Hopefully, they'll eat most of the loaf.
Here is the recipe from the  Eat.Drink.Shop.Love blog. Be sure to visit her blog here for more fantastic recipes.

Banana Bread with Nutella Filling

adapted from Bethenny Frankel’s BooBoo Banana Bread

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon butter (regular or nondairy)
1 cup mashed over ripe bananas (2 or 3)
1 egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dollop of Nutella (to be added later)

How to Prepare

Preheat  the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Combine dry ingredients, mix, and add to wet ingredients.

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a loaf pan. Put it in the bottom  of the pan and spray it with cooking spray. Pour in half of the batter into the pan and spread a line of Nutella (as much as you want really) down the center of the batter. Pour remaining batter over the Nutella line and cover it loosely with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, then bake for another 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean (moist crumbs are fine). Cool completely, then slice and serve.

**Want pumpkin bread? Take out the 1 cup of mashed banana and add 1 cup of canned pumpkin and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

**No Nutella? Just add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips