Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins

 

Jorge likes bananas as much as I like sugary kid cereal, glittery eyeshadow, Sex & The City reruns and shoe sales — all combined. No seriously, that is how much he loves bananas.

When we first met, he was having a party at his apartment and he ate a banana while drinking a beer. I have no idea if he remembers this, but it firmly stuck in my mind as one of the weirdest combinations I had ever seen.

However a few weeks later, he topped the Banana & Beer special when he had his spaghetti with a side of banana. And yes, a side of banana is the correct term. He actually put the banana on the side of his plate — almost right on top of his spaghetti. And ate bites of it in-between bites of spaghetti. It was horrifying and made my eating habits seem perfectly normal.

So it should come as no surprise, that bananas are a constant thing in our house. Usually they are always eaten before they become overripe, but since Jorge travels a lot for work, sometimes the bananas go bad (or is it go better, since you can make yummy things with them?).

Jorge got home on Friday from a work trip to South Carolina and I had a bunch of bananas that were way more brown than yellow. And that could only mean one thing, Banana Dream Cake or Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins. Since Nutella is always a winner, the muffins won this round.

These muffins are one of my absolute favorite ways to use up overripe bananas. Obviously they are tasty (hello, banana + Nutella = match made in heaven), but they also can be whipped up in under 30 minutes from start to finish. Total win-win in my book.

Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined. Set aside.

In large bowl, whisk together banana, sugar, brown sugar. Beat in egg, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture, until there are no lumps. Fold in pecans.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Top each muffin with about 1 teaspoon of Nutella and use a toothpick to swirl it into the batter.

Bake muffins for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve warm or store in an airtight container until ready to serve.