Marbled Nutella Banana Bread

I have been a follower of Emily, aka Sugar Plum, since she made a comment on my blog about Oklahoma in 2008. Emily creates original recipes, and she is Food Network-famous. She is cute and funny, her blog is a fun read with gorgeous photos, and she is gifted in the kitchen - I just love her to pieces!

I had never tried Nutella and didn't quite "get" what all the fuss was about. When Emily posted a recipe for Marbled Nutella Banana Bread, I finally decided to buy a jar and try it out. I'm glad I did - it's delicious! Her recipe makes a perfectly moist, not-too-sweet bread, and the addition of Nutella to half of the batter adds just the right amount of chocolate to enhance the banana flavor and not overwhelm it. I could have eaten the entire loaf, but fortunately I was giving it away.

I've never had good luck "marbling" things, because I usually get too enthusiastic swirling a knife through the batters, so this time I decided I would be more cautious, in order to create the beautiful effect that Emily achieved. But noooooo, (sound of penalty buzzer) my loaf has big blobs of un-marbled batter. I should call it Blobs of Nutella Banana Bread or Lava Lamp Banana Bread.


Marbled Nutella Banana Bread
Original recipe and beautiful photos here
Makes 1 loaf

2-1/3 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 cups mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup salted butter, softened (Emily's recipe is 6 tablespoons unsalted butter)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Nutella

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Add a strip of parchment paper to the bottom and spray it to aid in removal.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside. Beat banana, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy and well combined - about 2 minutes with mixer. Beat in eggs until well combined - about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and in flour mixture until just mixed. Combine half of batter with Nutella.

Alternate spoonfuls of batter into loaf pan then swirl carefully with knife. Bake 1 hour or until well risen, deep golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into bread comes out with moist crumbs attached.

Pin It

Linking up with These Chick Cooked Link Party



AND

Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday