Nutella Banana Puff Pastry Braid

Last week, I finally worked up the motivation to get back into my daily pilates routine. Needless to say, my body was NOT happy about having to move again. I could barely keep up with the workouts and was extremely sore throughout the whole week. I guess this is the price I pay for eating and hibernating all winter long. But can you blame me? We had polar vortex after polar vortex. Who wants to be fit and eat healthy in a time like that? Not me. That's who.

Okay, if I'm being honest, I never want to be fit and eat healthy. I just want to look fabulous without making any effort. A girl can dream.


Anyways, since I had a rough week, I rewarded myself with this Nutella banana stuffed puff pastry. Guys, I will ace every single pilates routine if it means me getting to eat this at the end of the week. Have you ever tried Nutella and bananas together? If not, you need to, STAT.


I cannot concoct the right set of adjectives to describe the gloriousness of this combination. I just can't. And honestly, words would not do it justice.


Did I mention this takes less than 30 minutes to make? Yeah, that's dangerous. I think the only thing that would keep me from making this every day is the outrageous price of puff pastry in my local supermarket. Otherwise, I would be in so much trouble.

Nutella Banana Puff Pastry Braid

Yield: One puff pastry braid

Ingredients:

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup Nutella
1 small banana, sliced thinly

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Unfold pastry sheet onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Roll out into a 12x10 inch rectangle.

Spread Nutella vertically down the center of the rectangle. Layer banana slices over Nutella.

Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut 1 inch slits on both sides of the Nutella filling, stopping right where the filling starts, like so.  Fold the top and bottom strips over the filling. Then, criss cross the other strips over each other, left over right, to make the braid. Tuck in any loose ends.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and water to make an egg wash. Brush egg wash over puff pastry. Transfer puff pastry, with the parchment paper underneath it onto baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.