Rainbow Swirl Bread

This rainbow swirled bread will bring a touch of fun to every meal.

Ingredients

• 1cup milk plus 1 egg yolk (totaling 1 cup together)

• 3cups Gold Medal™ unbleached all-purpose flour

• 2 1/2tablespoons granulated sugar

• 2 1/4teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast

• 1 1/2tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• 2teaspoons salt

• Red, yellow, green and blue food coloring

Steps

1. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, whisk milk and egg yolk together and microwave 30 seconds. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together flour, sugar and yeast.

3. Add milk mixture, butter and salt and stir to combine. Using dough hook and stand mixer or by hand on a lightly floured surface, knead dough until it comes together and is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes with stand mixer or 10 minutes by hand.

4. Divide dough into 5 equal pieces; place each piece in a small bowl and cover with a tea towel.

5. Remove one piece from a bowl and place it on a plastic cutting board (or any surface you're willing to cover with food coloring). Add several drops of food coloring (I'd start with 10 drops and keep adding as you go). Using gloves to prevent your hands from getting dyed, begin to knead the food coloring into the dough, adding more food coloring until it is fully incorporated. This takes some time; just be patient and it will come together!

6. Shape dough into a ball and return to its bowl. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough, dying each a different color (red + blue makes purple), being sure to wash your hands/gloves and your work surface between each color.

7. Cover bowls with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

8. When dough is risen, punch down dough. Remove red dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into an 8-by-4-inch rectangle. Roll out yellow piece of dough into an 8-by-4-inch rectangle and place directly on top of red dough. Repeat with green, then blue, then purple doughs until you have a stack of 8-by-4-inch rectangles.

9. Roll up dough tightly from the short end into a loaf. Place loaf in a lightly greased 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

10. Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough and bake until browned on top and a thermometer inserted in the bottom center reads 190°F, about 30 minutes.

11. Remove loaf from pan and cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

Nutella Swirl Banana Bread

This amazing Nutella Swirl Banana Bread puts a chocolate hazelnut twist on the classic banana bread recipe. A beautifully marbled loaf to enjoy for breakfast, dessert or an afternoon treat!

The Internet can be a crazy place. I “met” a friend in a photography Facebook group. She and her husband were moving to Germany and asked for some advice.

Once she moved in, she had me over for coffee and she made this delicious Nutella Swirl Banana Bread. When I walked into her house, it smelled like absolute heaven.

It tasted like heaven, too. Of course, I asked her for the recipe and I’ve made it three times since then. (It was two weeks ago, I have no shame.)

Clay loves Nutella. (His favorite way to eat it is to dip Goldfish into it. Not the way that I would ever enjoy Nutella, but who am I to yuck his yum?)

He also loves banana bread, so he thinks that is a marriage made in heaven. I packed some slices in his lunchbox and he was a happy dude.

Ingredients

The ingredients for chocolate hazelnut banana bread include butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, bananas, milk, flour, baking soda, salt and nutella.

Bananas. Use super ripe, brown speckled bananas. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and more banana-y the bread. If I know I am making this bread, I purchase bananas a few days ahead of time and allow them to ripen on the kitchen counter.

Nutella. Italian Nutella is the good stuff. There are a few other chocolate-hazelnut spreads on the market, but I find Nutella to provide the best texture and consistency.

How To Make // The Steps

This easy banana bread with nutella is so simple to make, you’ll wonder why you never started swirling nutella into your bread in the first place. Simply:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a large bowl by hand), cream together butter and sugar.

3. Mix in wet ingredients. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix until combined, it will look curdled. Add vanilla. Mix until well combined.

• Add mashed bananas and milk.

• Add dry ingredients. Sieve flour, baking soda, and salt over the bowl.

• Gently mix until flour can no longer be seen in the batter.

• Microwave Nutella on HIGH for 15 – 20 seconds, or until it loosens. Add 1 cup of batter and mix to combine.

• Create a marble swirl. Spoon both batters alternately into the prepared pan. Use a chopstick or knife and gently swirl the chocolate into the banana batter.

• Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour. A toothpick will come out with some crumbs. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!

Tips For Nutella Banana Bread:

• Use very ripe, brown-speckled bananas. This is the key to sweet, moist banana bread. To speed up the ripening process, place the bananas in a paper bag with an apple or ripe banana. The bananas should ripen in 1-2 days. If you’re ready to make the banana bread now, pierce them all over with a fork and place in the preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes until brown. Cool completely before adding to the batter!

• Use room temperature butter and eggs. This ensures the ingredients blend together and bake evenly in the oven. If you’ve forgotten to remove the eggs from the fridge, place in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes while you gather the remaining ingredients.

• Microwave the Nutella. I know it sounds strange, but a quick blast in the microwave softens the nutella enough to easily mix into the batter. Keep it to 15-20 seconds. Any longer and the nutella may burn.

• Don’t add more Nutella. As tempting as it may be, too much nutella will make the batter too heavy. Stick with the recipe. You can always slather more onto each slice of bread!

Marbled Banana Bread Variations

I haven’t tried it myself, but I would bet that this would work with Biscoff Spread and would be delicious.

I’d do the same thing, give it about 15 seconds in the microwave and add some batter to it. Swirl it into the banana batter and bake it off.

Peanut butter would be great too. I’m partial to Nutella, but the peanut butter lovers in your life would be happy.

How To Store Banana Bread

Store the banana loaf in an airtight container for up to 3 days on the kitchen counter or 5 days in the fridge.

It makes a wonderful make-ahead recipe, too. Cool completely, then wrap the entire loaf in plastic wrap, then foil. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Thaw overnight on the kitchen counter. Slice, toast and enjoy for a sweet breakfast or afternoon treat!

It makes a wonderful make-ahead recipe, too. Cool completely, then wrap the entire loaf in plastic wrap, then foil. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Thaw overnight on the kitchen counter. Slice, toast and enjoy for a sweet breakfast or afternoon treat!

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/2 cup milk

• 2 cups flour

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup Nutella

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Cream together butter and sugar the bowl of a mixer or large mixing bowl if doing by hand.

3. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix until combined, it will look curdled. Add vanilla. Mix until well combined.

4. Add mashed bananas and milk.

5. Sieve flour, baking soda, and salt over the bowl. Gently mix until flour can no longer be seen in the batter.

6. Microwave Nutella for 15 to 20 seconds, or until it loosens. Add 1 cup of batter and mix to combine.

7. Spoon both batters alternately into the prepared pan. Use a chopstick or knife and gently swirl the chocolate into the banana batter.

8. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour. A toothpick will come out with some crumb. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

Replace Nutella with equal amount of Biscoff spread or Peanut Butter for a fun variation.

Strawberry and banana smoothie

• Prepare time - 5 Minutes

• Serves 2

• Cooking -Easy

Check out our quick and easy smoothie with fresh strawberries, bananas and tofu – ready in 5 minutes. Using silken tofu may sound strange for a sweet recipe but will give a creamy texture to the smoothie

Ingredients

• silken tofu 150g

• banana 1 ripe, sliced

• strawberries 150g, sliced, plus a few extra to garnish

• runny honey 1 tbsp

• almond milk a splash

• ice

Method

• STEP 1 Put all of the ingredients, except the ice, into a blender or food processor and whizz until smooth, adding a little extra almond milk if it’s too thick. Fill two glasses with plenty of ice, then pour in the smoothie. Garnish with extra strawberries.

Nutritional Information

• Kcals121

• Fat2.5g

• Saturates0.3g

• Carbs18.6g

• Sugars17g

• Fibre3.3g

• Protein4.4g