Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

I found another way to eat Nutella for breakfast.

Saying of the Day:

When Breakfast gets boring, just add Nutella.

Seriously guys, it's true.

When, a couple of days ago, I felt as though my breakfasts were getting a bit boring, I used some of my delicious Date Sweetened Nutella to whip up a batch of Banana Muffins with a Nutella swirl.  Ummm, yum.

Boring breakfast no more!

And... just to make things even awesomer (because that's totally a word), these muffins are also:

• sweetened only with fruit
• vegan (when using vegan yogurt)
• whole wheat
• super easy 
• can be frozen for quick breakfasts

I think I know what you'll be baking tomorrow!

Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (greek, vegan, etc)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbsp date paste
• 1/4 cup Date Sweetened Nutella or regular Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix together.  In another bowl, mash bananas.  Add yogurt, milk, and date paste.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop batter into lined muffin tins until about 3/4 cup full.  Add a dollop of Nutella and swirl a bit.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Store in airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze to laste longer.  Recipe makes 10 muffins.

Muffin + Banana + Nutella = Best Day Ever!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins

Nutella Oat Balls

You know those commercials that advertise Nutella as a healthy breakfast?

They make me laugh.

How is it that slathering a chocolate spread filled with sugar and fat on top of whole wheat toast can be considered good for you?  It's like dressing your salad with chocolate sauce at dinner and calling it a healthy meal.

Ummm... how about no?

Buuuuut, these Nutella Oat Balls just may deserve a yes.  Made with the healthy Date Sweetened Nutella recipe I shared last week, quick oats, and silken tofu they're definitely much closer to a healthy breakfast choice than that advertised on TV.

Oh yeah, and they're pretty darn tasty too.

Nutella Oat Balls

• 120 g mori-nu silken tofu
• 1/4 cup Date Sweetened Nutella (you can use normal as well, but it will take away from the health benefits)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp special dark cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 cups quick oats (If you only have normal oats, just pulse them in a food processor or blender a bit to break them up before using)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients up to milk (this includes milk) in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Place quick oats in a large bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into oats and mix until entirely incorporated.  Mixture will be dry at first, but just continue mixing and it should all incorporate.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Form into small balls and store in fridge.  Makes 20-30 small balls.

Other than breakfast, these little guys are great as pre-workout fuel, a light dessert, or a yogurt topper when crumbled.

And given that they only take 5 minutes of your day to make, I'd say that you absolutely have no reason not to make these adorable little balls.  Soooo... get mixing!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Peanut Butter Pumpkins (leave off the peanut butter coating and chocolate for a recipe very similar to this one)

Entirely Date Sweetened Nutella

Alright, I admit it.  I love Nutella.

I used to come home from school and shovel the stuff into my mouth by the spoonful.  The two tablespoon serving size meant nothing to me.  Nothing.

I swear, I went through a whole jar in just two days once.  I was literally addicted to Nutella.  Needless to say, it was not healthy.

Luckily, I've stopped that habbit now.  After all, something with the ingredients sugar and oil listed first is not something I want entering my body often.

But that doesn't mean I don't still love Nutella.

The famous chocolate and hazelnut combination is definitely something I still adore.  And why go without something you adore?

I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't avoid your favorite foods just because you fear they're unhealthy.  I love remaking guilty pleasures into healthier foods that you can enjoy whenever you like.  My most recent creation is a completely clean, oil free, refined sugar free, Date Sweetened Nutella.

I'm not gonna lie, it's not just like Nutella, but it's so delicious that I promise you won't even mind.  In fact, you may even forget all about that heavenly spread while enjoying it.  Yes, it's that good.

Date Sweetened Nutella

• 2 cups raw hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or another type)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup date paste*

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet.  Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes or until skins begin to crack.  Remove skins from the hazelnuts and place nuts in food processor or high power blender.  Blend until the hazelnuts are broken down into a smooth butter.  This could take a bit of on and off blending. Once smooth, add remaining ingredients and process again until well incorporated and creamy.  Transfer nut butter to a jar and store in the fridge.  Makes about 2 cups.

* Date paste is simply dates that have been blended to form a thick, smooth puree.  To make it, pack a jar with as many pitted dates as possible, fill the jar with water, and then let it sit at least overnight.  The next day, blend the soaked dates in a food processor until they're smooth and creamy.  For a more detailed guide, visit this page.

While everything's OK in moderation, I tend to have some willpower problems when it comes to Nutella.  That basically means that the whole moderation concept sorta flies out the window when I have a jar in front of me.  For that reason, I prefer to make my own healthier Nutella.  It's the perfect solution!  Yummy taste, and I get to eat as much as I feel like.

A world where Nutella is actually a healthy snack?  Now that's a world I want to live in!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Banana Hazelnut Butter

Who likes nutella?

I like nutella.  A lot.

Unfortunately, it's not exactly good for me.  At all.  Especially because I'm not a nutella on toast kind of girl.  Nope, I like my nutella pure... and on a spoon.

Because of it's far from healthful qualities I try to limit my nutella cumsumption to very rarely.  Sometimes, though, I crave a little bit of chocolate hazelnut action.  In comes homemade nut butter.

I've had my eye on this recipe for a while, and decided to finally make it a little while ago.  I was rather disappointed with the result though, because it did not taste like nutella.  Nor did it taste better in my opinion.  It wasn't that it was bad, it was just that it wasn't what I was looking for.

But, I did not give up.  Soon afterwards, I whipped up another batch of chocolate hazelnut butter, this time adding a twist of my own.  Banana.  I loved the sweetness it added, and although the resulting spread still didn't taste just like nutella, I loved how it did taste, and would not hesistate to make it again.

Chocolate Banana Hazelnut Butter

• 1 1/3 cup hazelnuts, roasted with skins removed (see notes on roasting here)
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 large banana
• 1/3 cup milk (I used almond)
• pinch salt
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar (or more, taste to check)

Place hazelnuts in food processor (A vitamix should work too) and blend until they turn into a smooth butter.  This may take some time, and look like it will never happen, but just keep blending and you'll get there eventually.  Once smooth, add in add in banana and milk and process again until smooth.  Add in remainging ingredients and mix one more time until desired consistency is reached.  Transfer butter to a jar and store in fridge.  Your chocolate hazelnut butter may seem thin and drippy at first (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but it will firm up once it's been in the fridge for a while.

If you've ever looked at the nutirition label on a jat of nutella, you probably know that there isn't much good to be found.  In just 2 tbsp or 37 grams, of the famed chocoalte hazelnut spread there are 200 calories, 11 grams fat, 32 grams carbs, and 21 grams sugar.  Yuck.

Not in this recipe though.  Here's the nutrition label for this one:

A very similar serving size, and yet there's less sugar, less fat, fewer carbs, fewer calories and more protein.  Oh yeah, and it also tastes reeeeaaaalllllly good.  How's that for a great deal?

(By that way, those nutrition facts are for 7 servings)

Revisited Recipe of the Day: 

Nutella Pudding

Nutella Pudding, with a secret ingredient

pud·ding
 [pood-ing]

noun

1.

a thick, soft dessert, typically containing flour or some otherthickener, milk, eggs, a flavoring, and sweetener: tapiocapudding.

2.

a similar dish unsweetened and served with or as a maindish: corn pudding.

3.

British . the dessert course of a meal.

This dessert is all the good stuff from the definition above.  Except it has no flour or eggs, and no added sugar other than Nutella.

Trust me, it's good!

In all honesty, this was sort of a failed recipe.  I was attempting to make cookie dough dip, but the texture just wasn't right.  It sure did taste yummy though, so i dubbed it a pudding and decided to post it right away.  And as promised, Here you go:

Nutella Pudding
(makes one relatively big serving)

3/4 cup chickpeas
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Nutella
Start with 1 tablespoon milk and then add more as needed
About 1/3 of a banana
2 or 3 tablespoons oats

Here's what you do:

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until you get it as smooth as you want.  Then just pour it out into your desired dish.  Above the pudding is pictured with whipped cream and chocolate chips, but you can add whatever you want.  However, i really recommend the whipped cream because it tasted really good mixed with the banana and chocolate.

And in case you're wondering this recipe is very loosely inspired by this one

Here's another idea that i'm currently trying out:  Stick your pudding into the freezer and turn it into an ice cream-ish dessert.  I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds promising, huh? :)