Nutella Lovers

Recently I came across a recipe using Nutella in banana bread and knew I needed to try it out.
"Banana Nutella Muffins w/ Reeses Peanut Butter Chips" Oh, my gosh! www.iheartnaptime.net, what a great combo to put together. You can find Jamielyn's original recipe here.

Because I was out of sour cream I needed to improvise with what I had.
I had some cream cheese so, I adapted my "go to" banana bread recipe with a few add-ins.
Here's what I came up with:

My version of "Banana Nutella Muffins"

6 T. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 med., ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. Reeses peanut butter baking chips
1 tsp. Nutella spread per muffin

With an electric mixer beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat just until combined. Mix in egg. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mix until combined. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla. Gently fold in peanut butter chips. Fill a lined muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool. While still warm top each muffin with a tsp. of Nutella. Let them cool a bit and try not to eat to many. Ha!

Seriously, folks, these are scrumptious! It you're a fan of the delicious hazelnut spread, they are a must try. Go on, what are you waiting for! ; )

Welcome baby!

As promised, photos from the baby shower I helped host.

In January, a couple friends and I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend. She's a reading specialist and when planning the decor of the party I wanted to include that in the theme.
I did so by including mini chalkboard labels for all the food, reading flashcards, and the tags for the shower favors.
I love how everything came together. It was lovely!

The invitations I shared in an earlier post. Info was printed on pink paper and attached to the other side.

Those hearts make me smile.

I loved making these cupcakes, they were perfectly sweet. Devil's food cake with chocolate and vanilla buttercream frosting.

For the flashcards, I typed what I wanted in my word processor, printed, and cut them out.

Romaine lettuce, sliced strawberries, Mandarin oranges, chopped walnuts, and poppy seed dressing. (I use Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing.)

My wonderful friend who opened her home for this special occasion put together all the drinks and flowers. This flower display in the old Mason jars was my favorite.

Shower favors: Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Everything about this shower was sweet. My friend felt spoiled and that's what matters the most.