Nutella: A Monster’s Summer Romance

First of all let me start by apologizing for my laziness in writing this blog. It has been way too long and I blame it on remodeling our bathroom and the Spoleto Festival coming up (Mike is working crazy hours). Anyway, enough of my excuses, it is almost the summer, so there will be plenty to talk about. But let’s start with Nutella.

Nutella is the East Family drug. Typical pre-dinner snack scenario: Mike goes to the drawer, grabs a spoon, and sucks down the large spoonful of hazelnut chocolaty goodness in one fell swoop…Who wouldn’t fall in love with this upscale version of chocolate frosting? Nutella takes me away to the summer I spent in Italy where I would sit outside with my friends gazing at the “scenery” while stuffing our faces with biscuits smothered in the Italian goodness. It never lets you down and can make a simple piece of bread seem like tiramisu.

Recently we had a potluck at work and I was determined to come up with a concoction using whatever I had in the pantry. So, I had Nutella, vanilla wafers, and 3 very ripe bananas. Hmmm, ah yes, why not…banana cupcakes with Nutella frosting and crumbles of wafers on top, BRILLIANT! I don’t have any pictures and I didn’t write down any measurements, but here is a picture I found online. I like the idea of topping them with slices of banana too...it just depends on how much you like bananas.

The details:

1.      1. Buy a box of vanilla cake mix. (okay, so I had to buy one ingredient, give me a break)

2.     2.  Mash up the 3 ripe bananas, follow the instructions on the box for the cake mix, and add the banana mash   to the batter.

3.     3.  For the frosting, put a couple spoonfuls of Nutella into a bowl, add a little milk or heavy whipping cream, half a stick of butter, and some powdered sugar.

4.     4.  Mix well and add a little more of whichever ingredient you think is necessary to get the consistency you desire.

5.      5. Place cupcake liners in 2 cupcake pans (total of 24 cupcakes) and pour in the batter about ½ to ¾ full. Bake according to the directions on the box.

6.      6. Let cool and spread on the Nutella frosting mixture.

7.     7. Top with vanilla wafer crumbles (I just put a few in a Ziploc and smashed away with my fist) 

8.      8. Taste test about 2 cupcakes, you don’t want anyone to get sick and 1 cupcake isn't enough to give accurate results.

Oh yeah…summer romance here we come!