Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins & A Challenge!
Chocolate Hazelnut & Banana Muffins and a Challenge
As the Christmas season gets going, baking is underway, decorations are hung, and family members gatherย togetherย I cannot help but be mindful ofย all those in our community that don’t have a warm bed to climb into, or sometimes even a warm coat and a pair of boots.ย We do our best to do our part.ย We donate food to the food bank, adopt a family at Christmas, and toss coins into the Salvation Army kettles.
There is a gentleman in our community who has takenย one (very necessary) step forward to aid in the plight of the homeless in our cold Canadian winters.ย After seeing yet another homeless person huddled in an ATM pavilion trying to keep warm he is spearheading a drive to bring warm clothing and blankets to those people who sleep on the street, or even those who do take advantage of the out of the cold program, but still are outside in the elements all day.
He is excepting donations of new or good condition coats, boots, blankets and sleeping bags.ย He has also issued a Facebook challenge across Canada for people to donates clothes to the homeless at their closest drop-in centre or community centre that serves the homeless and accepts such items.ย He is spot on when he says “we may not know why they are homeless, but we absolutely need to reach out and help them”!
I want to take it one step further and reach across not only Canada, but all of North America and beyondย too!ย If you find yourselfย in a position to donate anything to aid in keeping the homeless warm, please contact your local organization and give them what you can!
Luke 3:11
And he would answer and say to them, โThe man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.โ

Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins (adapted from 2015 Milk Calendar)
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- muffin tins
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- ยฝ cup butter, melted melted
- โ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas over ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375โ. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray, set aside.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan or microwave and allow to cool.
- In a small bowl combine milk and lemon juice and set aside
- Into a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl whisk together cooled butter, sugar and eggs. Stir in mashed banana.
- Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients and blend only until just combined.
- Scoop batter into muffin tins until โ full.
- Top each cup of batter with a spoonful of chocolate hazelnut spread and swirl gently to combine.
- Bake for 20 to 24 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack.
Hi Maureen! I have a couple blankets/quilts I would be happy to donate. What about hats, sweaters, etc? Where can I drop them off?