marbled banana nutella muffins.

I like using the word marbled. I feel like marbled things are fancier, like marbled cheesecake brownies & neapolitan marble cake.

Anyway, good thing Thursday is over. We have passed the major hump of the week! Yay us. And yesterday was such nice weather. I wore shorts. SHORTS, people, on the first day of February! There's something wrong with the world ..

But you know what always make things better?

Nutella.

And you know what pairs really well with Nutella?

Bananas.

And that is how these adorable muffins came to be!

Well first there was some prep work. I prepared the dry mixture in the weirdest manner. I made it on my desk, giving my orgo notes a light dusting of white powder. Immediately after, I was leaving for dinner with the bestie.

At the dining hall I borrowed things. The usual. I brought tupperware & got outta there before the nice swipe lady could get me. Like that sly fox from Dora the Explorer should have been doing instead of responding to Dora's "Swiper, no swiping!" Like, really? Dumb fox. Dumb bunnies.

Yesterday night I was supposed to be smelling banana and sweet chocolatey hazelnut goodness but instead got a burnt smell and smoke from the oven whose door doesn't close and a smashed egg on the floor.

Cool. So today was attempt two. We snuck into another building & located the kitchen. Step one DONE. Then we unloaded & started mashing the nanners.

Batter ready, I scooped it into silicon muffin cups and dropped in great heaps of Nutella. SALIVA. (aka salivating). As they baked in the oven, Andrea and I made friends with the building's inhabitants who were intrigued by these two rando girls. We also cited random facts. 9 out of the 10 heaviest humans ever recorded are from the United States. I'll let you form your own opinion of that.

Finally, the batter, which had previously been quivering in an attempt to expand past the edges of the muffin cup, had succeeded in growing into confident golden brown muffin tops that did not collapse upon being poked. I took them out with wet paper towels, which resulted in bright red fingers.

BEAUTIES. These muffins are gorgeous. And the saddest part is that I don't have my dad's fancy camera to capture how right everything in the world feels when you taste the dark, rich sweetness of the Nutella meld into the bread that is so full of bananas. Literally, there were three wondrously mushy black bananas that went into this.

If just the thought of a tender, moist, soft-with-a-crispy-top banana muffin fresh from the oven doesn't hook you, imagine the Nutella. The thick swirls of Nutella, bursting out of the muffin, making the most delicious and fancy looking marbled effect.

Thank me after. Oh and they're kind of healthy, too.

Marbled Nutella Banana Muffins

• 2 1/3 cups flour 
• 1 tspn baking soda 
• 1 tspn baking powder 
• 1/2 tspn salt 
• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas 
• 1/4 cup oil 
• 2 Tb sour cream 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/2 tspn vanilla 
• 2 large eggs 
• about 1/2 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan or line with liners.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together. 
3. Mix together the banana, oil, sour cream, and sugar till homogenous. 
4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix well. 
5. Add dry to wet. 
6. Scoop batter into muffin cups. Swirl Nutella as best as possible into the muffin cups. 
7. Bake until golden brown, 15-25 minutes. When poked lightly, the muffins should not collapse or give in. They should seem firm and baked. Do not overbake!! 
8. Remove and let cool. Devour, preferably with more Nutella, peanut butter, and/or milk.