Pumpkin Nutella Bread

Counting calories has definitely changed things around the house. It was definitely strange to come home to bake this recipe, only to find out that I had almost 3/4 of a container of Nutella in the pantry. In the past, I used to seriously sneak spoonfuls of this stuff before bed, which isn’t really a bad thing, but the guilt of admitting to MyFitnessPal that I went over in calories because of Nutella kept me from grabbing for a spoon.

My love for Nutella started in high school French class. We had some sort of group project, where each group brought some sort of snack that the French enjoy. One of the stand-outs was definitely Nutella, which I had never tried (or even heard of) before. I remember going to work that afternoon, (at a grocery store) and searching our database to see if we sold Nutella. Sure enough, the store did. Whew! From then on, I was hooked!

However, now that I’m counting calories, I feel like I’m neglecting some of my old favorite snacks. :- I try to plan ahead with my meals and snacks. Sometimes, my calorie count is so close, that there’s no room for an impromptu snack. There are times where I think…”Heck, why not? Not like I’m going to gain ALL of this weight back from this snack”, but most of the time, I have to remind myself that while a certain snack is delicious, I don’t want to end up where I was 50 lbs. ago. If you’ve ever dieted, I’m sure you can relate.

Back to the recipe…when I saw this pumpkin bread with a Nutella swirl, I thought it would definitely be a fun twist to the classic pumpkin bread that I always enjoy in the fall season. 🙂 I ended up making this in mini loaves, as the recipe stated, and brought them to coworkers. I did try a slice (or two), and the Nutella definitely gave this bread a little extra indulgence. It was a fantastic combination, actually, and the swirls on the loaves look so pretty. If you love classic pumpkin bread, you should definitely give this a try.

Pumpkin Nutella Bread
Source: mildly adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 8 tbsp. Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 4 mini loaf pans by spraying with baking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk the dry ingredients well.
3. In another larger bowl, add the sugar, applesauce, water, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix/whisk the wet ingredients well, until the mixture is smooth.
4. Add in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing until the ingredients are just combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly into the mini loaf pans. Then, in each pan, drop 2 tbsp. of nutella, and swirl the nutella into the batter using a butter knife.
6. To avoid leaks in the oven, place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and then place the sheet with the pans in the oven. Bake the loaves for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool the loaf pans on a wire racks for about 15 minutes, and then remove the loaves from the pans. Allow the loaves to cool completely before eating.