Banana Cupcakes with a Nutella Surprise

When it comes to baking I always follow the recipe. To. The. T. I may sub out applesauce for oil or replace regular white flour with whole wheat flour, but that's as far as it goes. So, tonight was a big night for me.  I created my own recipe! I took inspiration from a couple of recipes and made my own.

We had a bunch of bananas that I needed to use up. Typically, I make banana bread, but I didn't have all the ingredients for my usual banana bread. So, I searched Recipe Girl's site and found Nutella Swirled Banana Bread. Um, ok!  But, I had five good sized bananas and no yogurt. Hmmm. Now what?  Then I remembered the Caramel Banana Cake from The Kitchn that I'd made a while back.  It was great and moist and wonderful. And I had all the ingredients for the cake, but not the caramel sauce.

Lightbulb! What about nutella with that super moist wonderful banana cake? Brilliant!

The result, Nutella Filled Banana Cupcakes!

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Nutella Filled Banana Cupcakes

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour (mine was actually a mix of whole wheat and regular)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups mashed bananas

1 tsp vanilla
¾ c nutella

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy then add the eggs and vanilla and beat until silky and lightened. Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt. Whisk the milk and mashed bananas in a separate measuring cup and add to the eggs and butter, alternating with the flour. Beat just until smooth.

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full, then drop ½ to 1 tsp nutella into the batter, add more cake batter until cupcake liners are full.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 40 cupcakes

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I asked RC if they needed frosting and he said no, they were awesome as is. And he loved the chocolate in the center. He had two for his bedtime snack with a great big glass of milk.

But, they would also be great with a little chocolate ganache drizzled on top.

They are super moist and dense. And maybe could've used a bit more flour. But all in all, they were a hit at our house! How often do you change up recipes when baking? What would you do to change this one?