In tribute to Mr. Ferrero, King of Nutella

You may have heard that Michele Ferrero, father of Nutella, passed away on Valentine's Day. Fitting since, via Nutella, he really was a valentine to us all. ♥


Apparently, Mr. Ferrero's father began combining hazelnuts and chocolate during World War II when cocoa was in short supply and hazelnuts were plentiful. His son, Michele, was credited for making the mixture more spreadable and coining the name Nutella in 1964. (Same year Mr. E was born...it was a good year.)


In tribute, I thought I'd revisit one of my favorite Nutella concoctions here on the blog, Nutella-Filled Banana Muffins. Maybe they're one of my favorites because the dose of Nutella is in its pure form...not mixed, not baked...the perfect dose of chocolate-hazelnut goodness. It makes these the best banana muffins ever.


Nutella at breakfast makes any morning a good morning.
(You can quote me on that.)


Here's the low-down:  the mashed bananas keep the muffins soft and moist, the salted butter and kosher salt give a double-shot of salty to the sweet, the nutmeg & cloves add just a bit of spice and interest, and the Nutella?  Well, it pushes the delicious factor over the top.


Want to make them?  Yes, yes you do.  Here's how...

Nutella-filled Banana Muffins

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup Nutella

instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Line 12 regular size muffin tins with liners and lightly spray with cooking spray (this will keep the muffins from pulling away with the liners).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.


{Don't you love freshly grated nutmeg?  If you never tried it, do.  you don't even need a fancy-schmancy microplane....the small holes on your grater will do.}

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.  Beat in the egg, mashed banana, and milk.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

With a silicone spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet.  Divide the batter into the 12 muffins tins.  Bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.


Place on a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, remove from the tin to cool completely.


Meanwhile, spoon the Nutella into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. (I used a Wilton 4B.) Once the muffins are cooled, poke the tip into the center of each muffin.  Fill until you see the muffin expand a bit and, while squeezing, pull the tip up and out of the muffin.

DEVOUR.

*this recipe first appeared on the blog in 2012 and has become a family favorite. 

Thank you, Mr. Ferrero! ♥ 

---

Chocolate Banana Muffins with Cookie Dough Streusel Topping

You know those recipes printed inside food product boxes? When I was single, fresh-out-of-college gal, and learning-to-cook, newly-married-gal, those recipes were my go-to recipes. I think I ripped every product box open and read every recipe on the inside. Sometimes there would be more than one recipe! Gold mine!!!


These days, I feel like I have so many recipes I want to try, a gazillion (approximately) cookbooks, my mom's old recipes, creating recipes of my own...and let's be honest here, a whole lot of Kind Bars for breakfast and taco nights for dinner...that I just don't look at those brand packaging recipes any more. (THAT was one long sentence. Sorry.)


As I was tossing yet another empty butter box, a recipe inside caught my eye. Whew...saved it right before it hit the trash can. Chocolate Banana Streusel Muffins.

Here's the original recipe...I found it on the Land O' Lakes website.


This morning, no school, which means: extra time to make muffins for breakfast. Yay!

I made a couple of small changes to the recipe. The original recipe gets all of the chocolate from the streusel itself. I wanted the muffins to be chocolate, too. Also, as I was making the streusel, it occurred to me...this is no ORDINARY streusel, this is COOKIE DOUGH streusel.  It's a wonder any ended up on the muffins at all.


Don't worry as you're scooping the batter into the muffin cups. It doesn't look like enough, but the streusel will fill up the rest.

I liked these best at room temperature, so even if you don't have a leisurely morning in which to make them, whip them up the night before. You'll feel like a rock star serving these to the kids at 6am.

Chocolate Banana Muffins with Cookie Dough Streusel Topping

{adapted from Land O' Lakes}

for the streusel
1/2 unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
pinch kosher salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

for the muffins
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
3 TBSP Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffins tins with paper liners.

Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and pinch salt. Cube the butter and add to the bowl. Stir, then use your fingers to distribute throughout, until the butter is broken up and combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, pressing the mixture together into small clumps. (Not all of the mixture will clump together.) Set aside.


Make the batter: In a small bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the mashed bananas, egg, and vanilla. Add in the flour/cocoa mixture and beat on low just until combined.


Scoop batter into the prepared muffins tins. Top with the streusel.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
(I thought these were BEST at room temperature, but who am I to stop you from eating one warm?)


Cookie dough streusel? Let's make this happen.

*I do have a partnership with Land O' Lakes, but this was not a sponsored post...just a happy coincidence.*

Triple Play Back-to-School Mini Muffins

School starts for kiddo next week.  HIGH SCHOOL, but I will cry on your shoulder(s) about that in a different post.

This year?  His carpool is meeting at 6:50am.  SIX...I don't care that it's 10 minutes until 7:00am...it's still in the sixes.

Anyway, my mind naturally went to breakfast.  (Does your mind work that way, too?)  What will I make for breakfast that will allow *me* to sleep as late as possible, but also get him out of the door on time?

The answer...these Peanut-Butter Oatmeal Mini Muffins.  I'm calling them "Triple Play" muffins because they'll be just the ticket for breakfast, tucked into a lunchbox, or for an after-school snack.

They start with cooked oatmeal.  To that, you add all kinds of good stuff like peanut butter, brown sugar, and melted butter.

(Mental note: this is how all oatmeal should be served all the time.)
(Mental note #2: someone needs to dust off those plastic cherries.)

And, by my rough calculations, they come to approximately 62 calories a piece...so, feel free to eat several at one sitting.

I'm sharing the recipe over at Imperial Sugar.
I hope you love these little guys as much as we do!