Mini Nutella Swirl Gingerbread Loaves with Nutella Buttercream

Recipe #2 for this Christmas season is Nutella swirl gingerbread loaf with Nutella buttercream frosting. But before we get to the recipe, let me tell you the back story to this creation.

Over the summer, Liam begged me to make gingerbread cookies, and I kept resisting the idea because it’s such a seasonal, Christmas treat. But he kept asking, and then we ended up attending a Christmas in July event in town, so I figured, why not?

I bought the few ingredients lacking to make the cookies, and Liam and I quickly whipped up a batch of cut-out cookies just a few days later, pulling out the sprinkles and other cookie decorations while they baked. But then I realized my grave error—I hadn’t bought frosting or ingredients to make any! Fortunately, I vaguely remembered having a tub of frosting in a cupboard, so I scrummaged around for the only thing I had—store-bought strawberry frosting. The combination was definitely not ideal, but Liam was happy, so I was too. As we went about spreading pink frosting over the gingerbread, it dawned on me that I had also bought a container of Nutella months earlier, so I got that out and began to spread it over one of the cookies and then promptly ate it.

I might as well preface this story right now by telling you that I am not a big fan of gingerbread (although I do like to decorate gingerbread houses!). Or better put, I wasn’t until then. The Nutella gingerbread combination was so, so good! I easily ate three cookies in a row and had to fight off the temptation to eat another!

Ever since unintentionally pairing those two flavors together, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of creating a recipe involving the two and was determined to make it a bread recipe with a Nutella swirl. Well, this combination was definitely easier said than done! But after a lot of persistence and many failed, albeit delicious attempts, I stumbled upon a Nutella banana bread recipe that led me in the right direction to come to the recipe I am presenting to you all today. So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• ½ c butter, softened
• ½ c brown sugar
• ½ c granulated sugar
• ½ c apple sauce
• ½ c molasses
• 2 eggs
• 2 c flour
• 2 t cinnamon
• 2 t ginger
• ½ t cloves
• 1 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• ¾ c Nutella

For the Buttercream:

• ½ c Nutella
• ½ c butter, softened
• 1 ½ c powdered sugar
• 1 T milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease 4 mini loaf pans.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars with an electric mixer, then add the apple sauce, molasses, and eggs and mix thoroughly.

 In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, then mix the dry ingredients in with the wet. For the Nutella mixture, mix together 1 cup of the bread batter with the ¾ c Nutella in a separate mixing bowl.

Alternate between the gingerbread and Nutella mixture, adding both batters by the spoonful to each bread loaf (the spoonful of gingerbread batter should be slightly larger than the Nutella one).  Continue to do so until each loaf pan is filled halfway full. Gently shake down to get rid of any air bubbles, then smooth out the top of each loaf with a butter knife. Place the mini loaf pans on a baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake around 20 minutes or until the loaves have risen and look firm when looking in through the oven door. Do NOT open the oven to check, as this may cause the bread to fall. Once baked, turn off the oven and keep the mini loaves inside to continue to bake and then slightly cool. The loaves can be transferred out of the oven after about fifteen minutes and set aside to continue to cool.

For the Nutella buttercream, beat together the Nutella and butter, then add the powdered sugar and milk and beat until smooth. Once the mini loaves are completely cooled, they can be removed from the loaf pan and frosted with the buttercream according to taste (I had leftover buttercream once I finished frosting mine). Or, if giving as a gift, place in disposable loaf pans and frost. Makes four mini loaves.