The Secret Recipe Club: Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Muffins

I am so happy to be posting my first recipe from The Secret Recipe Club today.  I had signed up on the wait list ages ago and actually forgot about it, until I got an e-mail inviting me to join.  Each month I will be assigned a different food blog and have to make a recipe from the blog and review it here, on my own blog.  For my first SRC I was assigned Spinach Tiger.  I was hooked from the moment I read the byline:  "Food a woman will love and a man will marry her for...." There were so many recipes that looked good.  These muffins were the first recipe that I made from the blog.  But I have also made the Brussels Sprouts Gnocchi with Sage Butter (see upcoming post!). Some other recipes that I have bookmarked for the future include Raw Beet Salad with Shallot Honey Orange Vinaigrette, Shrimp with Mussels and Scallops in Cream Sauce, and Cast Iron Broccoli Basil Mozzarella Frittata.  I like that Spinach Tiger (her nickname) does not use, "artificial sweetners, food substitutes, aerosol sprays, high fructose corn syrup, or MSG in her cooking." Her photos are beautiful and showcase her recipes in which she takes a modern, healthy approach to old dishes.

Back to these muffins now.  The original recipe called for a cup of spelt flour.  I have never seen (though I haven't really looked very hard for it) spelt flour in the store.  I try to avoid buying ingredients like this, where I may not use it again.  So, I used only all-purpose flour in this recipe.  The only other change that I made to making these muffins was the cook time.  I baked the muffins for only 20 minutes, though the original recipe called for 25-30 minutes.  Just check the doneness with a toothpick. These muffins were super chocolatey and tasty with the dark chocolate bar bits AND the nutella.  Spinach Tiger originally garnished her muffins with hazelnuts but noted that next time she'd try bacon or prosciutto.  Since I had some bacon in the fridge, I decided to garnish a few of the muffins with it (next time I'd make the pieces a lot smaller. As seen in the pic below my pieces were a bit big and didn't stay on top very well).  It was super tasty, with the mixture of saltiness and sweet.  These muffins were a hit in our house and I will definitely make these again!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Muffins
recipe slightly adapted from Spinach Tiger

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 12

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas
½ cup sugar
½ cup plain yogurt
½ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
¼ cup Nutella or more
2-3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Mix together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in one bowl. Set aside.

Smash bananas with a fork. Add in sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla.

Add to flour mixture. Add in chopped chocolate.

Scoop into muffin pan. Makes 12 muffins.

Spoon in about ¾ teaspoon of Nutella into each muffin. You can use more, if you desire.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Garnish with chopped bacon if desired.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Nutella Drop Biscuits

We love nutella.  A weekly breakfast for the kids is usually nutella on a bagel.  When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it.  It sounded like something that could be served for breakfast and I'm always looking for new breakfast recipes.  These ended up being a perfect breakfast treat!  They are not too sweet, since it's a biscuit with hints of nutella swirls.  We all loved these and enjoyed them a lot.  It was a different and tasty way to use nutella!

Nutella Drop Biscuits
recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix in cold butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir with a spatula until just combined. With a knife, gently swirl the Nutella into the biscuit dough.

3. Drop round spoonfuls of dough, about three tablespoons, onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle biscuits with sea salt, if desired. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are slightly golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature and serve.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Nutella & Peanut Butter Crescent Roll

In our house we go through peanut butter like there's no tomorrow.  The kids eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as often as I'll let them.  Many mornings my breakfast is a piece of toast spread with peanut butter.  And my husband will sometimes eat a giant spoonful of the stuff right from the jar.  Now pair peanut butter with some Nutella and we have something amazing going on! I saw this recipe and knew that I had to make it to celebrate my son's first day of preschool.  I spent the past year home preschooling him, if there's such a thing.  Since he's going to Kindergarten next year we knew he needed to go to a local preschool this year to learn and adjust to the structure of a school day.  It's only for 2 1/2 hours each morning though so I get to spend some alone time with my little monkey before the big sister gets off the bus.  To celebrate the finish of his first day of preschool I made this for an after dinner treat.  His first day coincided with my daughter's first day of after school religious education so fortunately, this dessert was super easy to make!  I whipped this up while the kids were finishing their dinner.  And it was so delicious, warm right out of the oven! Unfortunately, my husband didn't realize that it's best served warm, so he was eating the leftovers cold...yuck!  I tried some leftovers the next day heated up in the toaster, but it just doesn't taste the same.....so if you end up eating it all the first day, I totally understand and support you!

Nutella & Peanut Butter Crescent Roll
recipe from Reluctant Entertainer

Ingredients:
2 packages crescent rolls
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 T. butter, melted
1/8 cup mixture of cinnamon and sugar

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 375. Spray a cookie sheet.

2.Open and unroll the 2 packages of crescent rolls, making a circular rectangle, end-points pointing toward the outside of the pan. Place 1-2 triangles in the center.

3.Spread the Nutella down the center of the rectangle.

4.Spoon the peanut butter on top.

5.Bringing 2 points across from eachother together, twist and bring to the center. Do this with all pieces.

6.Drizzle melted butter on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

7.Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the dough is fully cooked and slightly golden on top.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Banana Chocolate French Toast

My daughter started 1st grade in the beginning of September.  I made her Snickerdoodle Brownies as a special snack for after school.  But I also wanted to make her a special dinner to celebrate.  The kids love breakfast for dinner so I decided to make this recipe that I had torn out of Cooking Light a few months ago.  Of course they loved it!  Bananas and chocolate....for dinner?!!  I did opt not to add the powdered sugar to these. The recipe is from Cooking Light so it can't be that bad for you, right?!  I served these with some breakfast sausage and fruit.  Of course the kids ate everything on their plates!

Banana Chocolate French Toast
recipe from Cooking Light, May 2012

Ingredients:
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 (1 1/2-ounce) slices whole-grain bread
4 1/2 tablespoons hazelnut-chocolate spread (such as Nutella)
1 cup thinly sliced banana (about 8 ounces)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a shallow dish.

2. Spread each of 3 bread slices with 1 1/2 tablespoons hazelnut-chocolate spread; arrange 1/3 cup banana slices over each bread slice. Top sandwiches with remaining 3 bread slices.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working with 1 sandwich at a time, place into milk mixture, turning gently to coat both sides. Carefully place coated sandwiches into pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles. Sprinkle evenly with powdered sugar.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Banana Nutella Bread

I've made several different variations of banana bread and muffins.  But when I found this recipe that used Nutella, I had to try it!  We love Nutella in our house.  The kids like it spread on a bagel for breakfast.  As much as I could eat the stuff straight from the jar I'm always on the lookout for different ways to cook and bake with it.  This bread was easy to make but needs an hour to bake.  It was moist but the Nutella was gooey (so make sure to have plenty of napkins on hand!).  This was a nice breakfast treat for us!

Banana Nutella Bread
from Mostly Food and Crafts

Ingredient:
3 small ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until well blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Spoon 1/2 batter into a loaf pan coated with baking spray. Drop in 1/4 cup Nutella in dollops. Swirl a bit then top again with remaining batter. Add the rest of the Nutella in dollops on top. Swirl again.

Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Marbled Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies

Today, March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!  My family loves peanut butter!  I am way behind in my posts....I've cooked too much and I have more recipes than time to post them!  In honor of this day, I am sharing this recipe that I made for us for dessert on Valentine's Day. I had just bought some nutella and these caught my eye.  They seemed easy enough and our family loves the chocolate and peanut butter combination.  So I knew these would be a hit!

They looked really nice with the swirl!  Unfortunately, the peanut butter really overpowers in this recipe and we couldn't really taste the nutella very much.  However, they were nice and moist and of course we didn't mind the peanut butter flavor!  And really, who doesn't love homemade brownies?!!! 

Marbled Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies
from Cookie Madness

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Swirl Mixture:
1 1/2 oz dark or dark chocolate with hazelnuts, chopped
1/2 teaspoon butter
1/4 cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch square metal pan with non-stick foil.

In a mixing bowl, using medium speed and high speed of an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until soft. Beat in vanilla and peanut butter, then add eggs and beat just until mixed in. Scrape sides of bowl and beat in baking powder and salt, making sure they are evenly distributed; Add flour and stir until it is mixed in. Spread peanut butter batter in pan.

Make swirl mixture. Melt chocolate and butter in a small microwave-safe bowl at 50% power. Alternatively, you may use a double boiler or bowl set over a pot of barely simmer water. Remove melted chocolate from heat and stir in Nutella. Drop spoonfuls of Nutella mixture over peanut butter brownie batter and drag a knife through to make a marbled pattern.

Bake on center rack for 30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the side of the pan and center seems set. Cool pan on a wire rack. When brownies hit room temperature, chill them for an hour or so. Lift from pan and cut into squares.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!