Banana Nutella Mini Muffins

Anyone who has been reading my blog over the last few posts must be now nodding their heads and thinking, "this lady really has gone bonkers over Nutella". Oh well, not that I can defend myself against that! I've been reading so many recipes for Nutella cupcakes, most involving only 3 ingredients-Nutella, flour, and an egg. I was wondering how they will rise up without the mandatory baking powder or baking soda and while I do admit that it is a problem with these recipes (at least for me), it does not in any way detract from the taste of these mini-beauties. I have adapted this from here. 

For this, I just whipped up all the ingredients in the Nutella jar itself! Of course, it had just the right amount of Nutella remaining-so I thought why mix it up in another bowl when I can make sure every drop of Nutella is utilized this way-scraping it off would have left some precious chocolate back in the jar anyway. These were baked for my son to take to school this week-as I mentioned before, I usually bake a batch of cookies, cupcakes or freeze a dozen cutlets/nuggets on Sundays, to be used during the following week. So I am filing this away in my Toddler Treats Section, although now I know it byheart as I've baked these twice already :-).

Before I go into the recipe, I'm happy to say I've been presented with the Leibster Blog Award-that too by the only novelist in my family-Dan Smith. In German, "Leibster" means "sweet, kind, nice, beloved, endearing"...you get the drift! And the award is given to encourage new and upcoming blogs that have a following of less than 200. Thanks, Dan!

A word about Dan- he has already written many books, of which Dry Season, was shortlisted for the Author's Club Best First Novel and the Brit Writers Award. Here's to more books from him-you can read his blog here. I'm passing on this award to one of my best friends Emreen who blogs at Liven Things Up and also to the very talented Panjami Anand who writes the most thoughtful and lovely poetry over at Rumination Amidst Solitude. She has recently brought out an ebook of her poetry (which you can buy at her site).


These are the rules of the award:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you. 

2. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

3. Award it to your five favorite bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Doesn't this call for a celebration with a sweet treat? Here's the recipe now!

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup Nutella
2. 1egg
3. 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (maida)
4. 1/4 cup mashed banana (see tips below)

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a spoon or whisk until well combined.
• Preheat oven to 180 C.
• Grease the mini-muffin or cupcake pan cavities with butter or line them with cupcake liners.
• Pour the batter until the cavities are half full.
• Bake at 180 C for 10 to 15 minutes or until a knife/toothpick comes out clean.
• Take out of the oven and leave to cool.
• Remove from the pan and have them plain or with a spread of more Nutella on top!

TIPS:

• These can be refrigerated for up to a week.
• Over-ripe bananas are best for this as it will be more moist.
• You can omit the bananas and just stick to the first three ingredients.
• You could also include any of your favorite cupcake add-ons, like chocolate chips, fruit pieces, candied fruit, etc.

I'm linking this to the following events:

Bake With Your Heart at Khushi's A Girl's Diary

Bake Fest at Vardhini's Zesty Palette.