Banana-Nutella muffins... but healthy
Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 6:21PM 
Happy Saturday! I'm on my own this week, Mark is in Australia filming a series of Verizon commercials. Lately we've been going through our freezer and pantry, trying to use up a lot of stuff that's been in there a while. Between what we had on hand and some cupcake inspiration from my pal over at Snooky Doodle Cakes, I came up with these tasty little muffins.
Snooky's yummy cupcakes are banana-chocolate chip, which sounded delightful to me. But since I don't like things too sweet in the morning, and I'm trying to be extra-super-duper healthy while I'm knocked up, I thought I'd do a muffin version instead.
With just a touch of vegetable oil (I used organic grapeseed from Trader Joe's), low-fat buttermilk and, of course, bananas, they're really moist, and the whole-wheat flour, oats and nuts give them heartiness and fiber. The Nutella? Well, man (and pregnant woman!) can't live by healthiness alone...
Enjoy! And I hope you're all having a wonderful, not-too-hectic holiday season!
Nutella-Swirled Banana-Oat Muffins
Makes 12
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk (shake well before pouring), at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature
4 Tbsp. Nutella
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
2. Pulse oats and nuts briefly in food processor to chop finely. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together bananas, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla and egg. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just combined (do not overmix). Divide batter among muffin cups. Place a teaspoon of Nutella on each and use a toothpick to gently swirl Nutella through batter.
3. Bake muffins for 16 to 18 minutes, or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Let muffins cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to rack to cool completely.
Reader Comments (16)
oh wow these are super not only healthy nut yummy too. I m a sucker for nutella that s why I don t buy it much. I made some banana and nutella muffins a while ago which I haven t posted yet and they were yummy too.Thanks for linking to me :)))
They sound wonderful! You gave me a chuckle when you called yourself "knocked up". Back in my day it had a different connotation. he he.
Oooh, Australia?? Lovely location!!
HOLY YUM MUFFINS!!
Mmmm when I was in Greece, they had crepe stands on every street corner. The most popular flavor was nutella with bananas!! :D The muffins look fantastic.
Mmm, banana and Nutella!
those look delicious! i absolutely adore anything and everything nutella! i'm sure your march 2009 baby will just love having a mama that can cook so well!
Gonna have to make these next time I have some ripe nanas! Yum!
Mmmmm...I bet these are delicious! Wonder if my brother would like them...he likes nutella but I think he'd probably balk at the idea of muffins! :-)
Those look and sound REALLY good!
Save me one...
These look yummy!
healthy nutella? surely you jest! they look and sound fabulous. :)
These sound interesting (in a good way!)
I'm on my own this week too :(
Nutella and banana! Double Yum!
Love Nutella on anything, healthy or not. Nice recipe.
Looks like a great recipe to use up some of my frozen banans. Thanks!
OMG THOSE WERE AWESOME AND SO GOOD
THEY WERE A GREAT HIT AT MY PARTY AND I HAD TO PASS ON THE RECEPIE
TY SO MUCH