Banana Nutella Mini-Breads

A week or two ago, one of K's friends from school came over. K had a lot of fun and I think it kind of helped with him adjusting to school. Since that boy came over, he has been talking a lot about another boy in his class and how they play together at school. So, on Wednesday we had a second school friend come over to play.

The school recently made a little booklet that has a photo of each kid in the class as well as what the kid likes and a message from the parents. I think this is an ingenious idea! Under this boy's name was the fact that he loves Tomica, basically Japanese Hot Wheels. Ages ago, one of my good friends here gave me a Tomica baking mold. Perfect!

We had some bananas that were getting a tad ripe, so I decided on mini banana breads. I started with Emeril's recipe, as I always do. As per usual, I used half butter and half shortening. To add another little change to the mix, I used about 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar and no macadamia nuts. The main reason for the sugar switch up was so that I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store.

While I figured I would leave the car-shaped banana breads plain and give those to the boys, I decided to spice up the adult ones with Nutella. I love Nutella. I looked online for Nutella cupcakes, but didn't really like what I was seeing. Most of the recipes had either Nutella piped in after baking or in the frosting. As I was making a bread recipe, I didn't think the piping would work and I didn't want to use frosting. Then I came across this recipe that suggesting freezing spoonfuls of Nutella and then putting it inside the batter. She also suggests swirling some on the top - I opted not to do this, but I definitely regret it.

Once my batter was ready and my Nutella frozen, I got to work. I started first with the car molds. I have used this little guy a few times now and I generally have issues with the cooked cake sticking to the bottom of the mold because of all the little grooves and designs. This time, I put a tiny bit of oil into each one and used my finger to spread it around. I figured that would help with the sticking. Then I filled these up and they were ready for baking - although a tad bit boring...

But not these!! These were not boring at all! I put a spoonful of the batter in each cup, then a drop of Nutella and gave the Nutella a little smoosh.

Then I covered them with another spoonful of the batter and they were ready for the oven. I was able to make the four cars, plus 10 regular-sized cupcakes. I baked them for about 20 minutes, although it might have been a tad bit longer than that. I just kept checking that for the tops to get a tad browned.

Once they were out of the oven and slightly cooled, I cut into one. It was exactly what I had wanted. It was delicious!! As above, I do regret not swirling a tad bit more Nutella on the top - I guess I will have to let some more bananas get a bit too ripe ;)

K had a lot of fun playing cars and trains with his friend and they had a good time eating their cars. The mom and I had a good time eating our little breads and just talking. What fun it is to make new friends!!