What do you do when you get a hugeass bottle of Nutella? Well, aside from eating it one tablespoon or more at a time or drizzling it on top of pancakes and bananas, you bake with it! I've already featured an easy peasy, 3-ingredient brownie recipe using Nutella and honestly, it was the most fuss-free brownie recipe I've ever done, not to mention, tasty! 

I wanted to make something with Nutella that isn't any form of a brownie and thankfully, I came across Dinner With Julie's Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes recipe! It pretty much ticked all the boxes: easy to whip up, no special ingredients, and has a pretty generous amount of Nutella in it. The first time I made it, the cupcakes overflowed and looked like, well, mushroom-cloud cupcakes haha! I realized to make these cuppies not overflow, I need to use taller liners, not the cute short ones I have. I absolutely love how these cupcakes taste- very buttery, very rich, and very chocolatey- it's heaven. So to avoid having humongous cupcakes again, I decided to go a different route- ditch the cupcake pan and use my square pan instead!

So tada! I now converted it to Self-Frosting/Nutella Swirl Cake Bars! I used an 8x8 square pan and it worked beautifully.

The cake base is my absolute favorite thing in this recipe because it's so moist and buttery and just goes well with anything you throw in it. I already used it as a base for a simple strawberry creme cake and I plan to also use it as a base for a simple cinnamon swirl coffee cake or for a homemade crema de fruta cake. Hmm, maybe I can also make it a custard sandwich too but we'll see.

Also, don't skimp on the Nutella! This is why I lessened the sugar on the cake base, so that I could put in more Nutella and not make the cake too sickly sweet. 

A slice (or two!) of this plus a freshly brewed cup of coffee? Now we're talking!

 NUTELLA SWIRLED CAKE BARS

(adapted from Dinner With Julie)

131 grams (about 1/2c + 1tbsp + 1 tsp) butter, melted and cooled

3/4 c granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temp.

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4c all purpose flour, sifted then measured

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter, make into 1/4 tsp)

3/4 c milk

1/2 c Nutella, at room temp

1. Preheat oven at 350F and line an 8x8 square pan with baking paper.

2. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add in vanilla extract and eggs into the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.

5. Add in half of the flour mixture and half of the milk into the butter mixture and mix until combined.

6. Add in the remaining half of the flour mixture and milk. Beat one final time.

7. Transfer batter onto the lined square pan.

8. Scatter spoonfuls of Nutella onto the batter and with a knife or skewer, make a swirled patters across the pan.

9. Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

10. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.