Saturday, November 28, 2009

(Im)possibilities

Sometimes, there seems to be nothing but impossible tasks in front of us. There's never enough time in the day, money in the wallet, gas in the car or water in the kettle when we need it, which seems like constantly! However, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving festivities and underlying meaning to the celebration recently held by my southern (i.e. American) neighbours, I'm trying my best to think only of the possibilities ahead. Like what a little (or a lot) of flour and sugar can do for morale - or the sheer amazing property that Nutella posesses to make absolutely everything it touches taste wonderful!



This recipe for dense, chewy, banana and Nutella filled bars was actually inspired by another banana bar recipe I'd made almost a year ago. Given that the basic recipe was so well recieved, I figured why not go all out and throw some Nutella in there instead of the butter, and add a touch of soy flour for nutrition too? The resulting bars were almost like fudge in consistency without being wet, and the combination of hazelnuts, chocolate and banana really worked well. If anything, I think I would have added more Nutella, and really made it a showstopper for the Nutella Challenge this month at Bell'Alimento. But oh well - it's yet another possibility!!

Thanks to everyone both "in reality" and on Twitter for listening to my rants and tears over the past few weeks. I love you all and your kindness really matters to me!

Banana Rocher Bars
Makes 16
1 cup flour
1/2 cup de-fatted soy flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup Nutella
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 bananas, mashed well
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup 1% milk
1 tbsp vanilla
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F, grease a 9x13" pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl beat together Nutella and brown sugar.
  4. Add bananas and yogurt, beating well.
  5. Add half the dry mixture to the bowl, followed by the milk and vanilla and the final half of the dry mixture, stirring to just combine in between additions.
  6. Scrape into the pan, smoothing the top.
  7. Bake 20 minutes, then cool in the pan 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack, removing the paper and cooling completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 137.3
Total Fat: 3.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.5 mg
Sodium: 12.0 mg
Total Carbs: 25.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
Protein: 4.0 g

3 comments :

  1. YUMMY! There is no resisting Nutella, one shouldn't even try ; )

    ReplyDelete
  2. These look scrumptious! Saw your link on the Nutella site. So nice to read a fellow Canadian's blog, eh? :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!