Bananatella Cream Bites

These mini-muffins are amazing!

 I had inspiration the other day when I was making banana bread. I love nutella and bananas together, especially when they are hot. Yum. I started thinking of a way to combine this with banana bread, and while I'm sure you could use this filling in the middle of banana bread (which I plan on trying!), I wanted it in something bite-sized. Like mini-muffins.

I just wasn't sure what to mix it with to get the right texture. Ricotta? Nutella and ricotta together is amazing, and I love desserts with this, but it's not the texture I wanted. Eggs? I wasn't sure if that would bake exactly how I wanted it to. Cream cheese? Hmmmm ...

Projected prep time: 10 minutes; Projected bake time: Approximately 18 minutes.
*Note: I actually can't remember the exact bake time because I was baking different things in the oven at the same time and forgot to write it down. I know I checked at 15 minutes and felt like they needed longer, so I turned them around and reset the timer. I was also doing this for the other items. I may have taken them out three minutes later, maybe five, maybe more. I wish I could tell you. Next time I make them, I'll keep a better record and come back and edit this.
This is the same list of ingredients for my banana bread, minus the Salba seed. My banana bread is dairy-free, soy-free but these aren't because of the nutella, but feel free to make your own chocolate hazelnut spread and try these!
Muffins:
1/4 c. expeller-pressed extra-virgin coconut oil (see this recipe on why)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 c. organic sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. white rice flour
3/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 tsp. gluten-free, aluminum-free baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda (see this recipe on how I measure baking soda)
4 bananas (very ripe), beaten creamy
3 heaping tsp. milled flax seed (optional, but why not?)
Filling:
1/3 c. nutella
1/3 c. cream cheese

Add salt to oil and gradually add sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour together with soda, baking powder and milled flax seed. Mash bananas and add alternately with dry ingredients until all is well-mixed.

Mix nutella and cream cheese together.

Very well ...

And then take a little spoonful of it to taste it. Oh my yum.

Have ready a mini-muffin tin (or you could do big muffins, might need to adjust filling amount) lined with baking cups and put a dollop of batter into each cup.

Add a little nutella/cream cheese filling

And another dollop of batter

Bake at 350 degrees the appropriate amount of time (see note above). They are done when they bounce back after lightly pressing on them. To be sure, insert a toothpick into the muffin on the side where the filling isn't and see if it comes out clean.

Move to wire rack to cool

Serve them while they are still warm.

Enjoy every bite!

Banana Bread

Banana bread with melted butter

This is the very first recipe I converted to be gluten-free. It was actually before we were gluten-free -- my father-in-law was diagnosed with celiac disease before my husband and the subsequent testing that led to our daughters and myself going gluten-free, so I originally made this for him.

My entire life, my favorite banana bread recipe has been the one out of Cooking Down East; it's the one my mom has always used and I followed, then adapted a little to be dairy-free for a daughter's former preschool classmate (and kept it that way b/c we liked it so much!). It's the one I've adapted even more to be gluten-free, and everyone loves it. I hope you do, too!

Projected prep time: 10 minutes; Projected bake time: 1 hour, maybe more
1/4 c. expeller-pressed extra virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. sea salt
1 c. organic sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. white rice flour
3/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 tsp. gluten-free, aluminum-free baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda (see note)
4 bananas (very ripe), beaten creamy with fork and/or masher
3 heaping tsp. milled flax seed (optional, but why not do it?)
3 tsp. Salba seed (optional, but why not try it? It gives a great little crunch and texture!)
No nuts in this recipe, but you can add a cup of chopped nuts of your preference if you desire.

A note on the baking soda: I always level it out on the spoon and then take a little pinch out like I show here. I also put it in my hand first and make sure there are no clumps.

Coconut oil is a great butter replacement in this recipe. It is so healthy, and you can't really taste the coconut flavor with this particular recipe. My husband doesn't care for a coconut taste in a lot of things, but he loves this bread. If you've never baked or cooked with it, it's an oil that will be solid at certain temperatures and then change to liquid as it heats up. You can see it's solid as I start this recipe:

Add salt to the oil, and add sugar gradually while beating. The coconut oil will probably have little lumps remain that you can't cream out and may even be visible in the batter. It's okay. It will melt into the rest of the batter when it bakes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour together with soda, baking powder and milled flax seed.

Mash bananas and add alternately with dry ingredients to the egg/oil mixture. After it's all mixed together, add your Salba seeds gradually while continuing to mix.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for an hour or longer. Check at an hour and you may need to continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or so. It's done when knife in center comes out clean. I like to spread some butter on top of the loaf right out of the oven.

Enjoy!

I made a mini-loaf in this photo because I was making these bananatella cream bites with the batter, as well (minus the Salba in those)!