Nutella Toffee Banana Bread

There's nothing like the smell of banana bread baking to make me happy. I started craving it after going to Starbucks the other day and trying a piece of their bread. Ick. I was not a fan, it was a bit bland for my liking, and kind of stale (it was late afternoon though). So, home I went to bake my own. I found a recipe over on the recipe girl website that incorporates a swirl of Nutella, and I had some heath "bits o brickle" toffee chips lingering in my cupboard, so I threw those in too. I baked the bread in my mini loaf pan (inherited from my grandma), the bread came out perfect, except that I had never used the pan before and overfilled the loafs so they started creeping over the top of the pans, but no harm done, just a little uneven on top! Strong banana flavor, rich chocolate hazelnut swirl, and buttery crunchy toffee sprinkled throughout. Waaay better than Starbucks, and cheaper too!

Nutella Toffee Banana Bread

www.RecipeGirl.com

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana

1/3 cup low fat yogurt (choose your flavor, I tried maple, it was good! But plain would be delish too)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup Nutella (chocolate-hazelnut spread)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan or 12 mini loaf pans with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add banana, yogurt, toffee chips and vanilla; beat until blended.

Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix). Spoon Nutella into a medium dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well.

Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan (or pans if you have mini ones). Swirl batters together with a knife. If using mini loaf pans, bake for 30-35 minutes, if using a regular size pan, bake 60 to 70 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the oven about three fourths of the way through cooking time to check the top of the bread for browning. If it’s browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil for the remainder of the baking (I had to do this). Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I wrapped the extras in parchment paper and tied with twine to give as presents.

Rich chocolaty swirl...

Hope you all have a beautiful Valentines Week!

Linking up at Tasty Tuesdays, and Rook #17

Starbucks Style Maple Nut Scones

Happy day after Christmas! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and were able to relax and enjoy friends, family, and delicious food! I was up in Canada with my sister, brother in-law and nephew. It was COLD! My first white Christmas in a long time. What better way to start a chilly morning than with a hearty scone? I particularly enjoy Starbucks scones, my two favorites are their cinnamon chip scones and the maple nut scones. I recently acquired the "Top Secret Recipe's" cookbook, it is chock full of delicious restaurant knockoffs, including several recreations of Starbucks' baked goods. This recipe for their Maple Nut Scones is spot on! The addition of maple flavoring gives the scones and frosting rich flavor and the pecans and oats add a hearty crunch. Now all I need to do is figure out how to make a killer homemade latte....

Maple Nut Scones

Recipe from Top Secret Recipes

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold butter

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 large egg

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup half-and-half

2 teaspoons imitation maple flavoring

Maple Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

4 teaspoons half-and-half

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Use a pastry knife or a fork to cut the cold butter into the dry mixture (I use a cheese grater and grate the butter in, much easier in my opinion!).

Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Use an electric mixer to combine the egg, brown sugar, half-and-half, and maple flavoring in a medium bowl.

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and blend with electric mixer until firm, then use your hands to mix the dough until you can form it into a ball.

Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1 1/4 inches thick. Shape the dough into a rectangle, and then cut the dough into 12 small triangles.

Arrange the triangles on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or just until the scones begin to turn light brown on the edges.

As the scones cool, combine the icing ingredients in a bowl.

When scones have cooled, spread with icing.

So tasty...

Where's my latte?