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Nutella Swirl Banana Bread

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I found this recipe on one of the parenting sites I'm constantly perusing. It sounded like a pretty good mix - banana & chocolate. What can go wrong? NOTHING! My mom made it first and it turned out so perfectly. In fact, if you don't care for nutella, the banana bread recipe would stand by itself and be perfectly delicious.
Here is what you'll need:

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups very ripe, mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup plain lowfat yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup nutella (or more to taste)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray.


Mix together the sugar and butter in a bowl until they have the consistency of wet sand. 

Add the bananas, eggs, yogurt (or whichever you use) and vanilla and beat until well blended. There is no need to get all the lumps of banana out.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt and gently stir with a spatula just until combined. If you are adding nuts or other optional ingredients, throw them in just before the batter is completely blended.
(You'll notice that I used a mixer...OOPS! You definitely want to stir together with a spatula or your bread will be a bit tougher.)


Pour about half of your batter in your prepared loaf pan. Top with spoonfuls of Nutella. It's a little hard to spread out evenly, so you could microwave it for just a couple of seconds to get it a little soft and it would make it easier to spread over the batter. It doesn't matter too much, though, because as the bread cooks the Nutella will spread a little.


Pour the remaining batter on top and bake in the very middle of your oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. Cool in pan on a wire rack (or like we always do in my family, eat it as soon as humanly possibly).


Enjoy!!