Nutella Banana Oat Muffins

I signed up to tutor kids in math again this spring.  I have done it for three years now, and every year, I hate it.  I wish it was after school; it is tough to get everything you need for tutoring ready while you're supposed to be preparing to teach your class!  Plus I did the math once, and I was getting like 43 cents per kid per hour.  I end up getting paid absolutely terribly (I think it came out to about $150 last year after 12 hours of tutoring, which is pathetic).  And yet I did it again!  I don't know how to say no, I guess, and I do love math.  This year I am 30% done with it already (only 6 more Thursdays and 1 more Tuesday and I'm done!).  It doesn't feel so terrible this time around, and maybe it's because Brooke signed up to do it too.  We try to make it bearable for ourselves by taking turns bringing coffees or snacks (and spending the last 15 minutes bringing our groups together to play math games!).

These Nutella banana oat muffins were my gift for week 2, and they helped wake us up.  I had inherited my mom's brown bananas and needed to do something with them, and I also found a container of Nutella in my pantry that I bought last year and never did anything with.  When I found this recipe on Pinterest, it was perfect!  The muffins themselves are a delicious banana oat flavor, and then you swirl in some Nutella on the top.  It's not too much, just enough to give each muffin a hazelnutty-chocolatey kiss.  The texture is great with the addition of the oats, and the flavor is great.  They almost made it worth getting up in the dark to make 47 cents x 6 kids ($2.82... barely enough for a coffee these days!)

Recipe:

Nutella banana oat muffins
from Chef in Training
makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas, mashed
about 1/4 cup Nutella

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a muffin pan with muffin cups or spray generously with cooking spray.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir until ingredients are well combined.

3) In a lare bowl, beat egg. Add milk, oil, vanilla and mashed bananas.  Stir to mix ingredients until well combined.

4) Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until ingredients are well incorporated.  Do not over-stir.

5) Divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin tins.  Add a teaspoon of Nutella to the top of each muffin and gently cut into batter with a knife or toothpick to create swirls.

6) Bake at 375 degrees for 17 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.