You had me at Nutella...my husband David & I look forward to our Friday night 10km walks. We get a little bit of air into our lungs, get a bit of exercise and with no distractions, we get to have a really good talk. On a recent walk we stopped off at a cafe in Fitzroy for a coffee. David spotted Nutella Rolls on the menu and asked if I could somehow replicate them. This is the result...

Ingredients:

Makes 15

1 pkt Filo Pastry

Nutella

3 Bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon Honey

80g Almond Meal (ground almonds)

100g Butter, melted

Method:

Remove the filo pastry from the freezer and allow to semi defrost in it's original packing. This should take about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash the bananas with the honey and almond meal in a bowl until well combined. If your bananas are a little unripe add a little more honey for that extra sweetness that the bananas may be missing. Set aside. I of course, used my defrosted bananas as they were perfectly ripened!

Line an oven tray with parchment paper. Get a pastry brush, spoon and spatula ready as you will need these when assembling the Spring Rolls. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Open up the filo pastry and place it on a tray or chopping board. Cover with a damp cloth. Filo Pastry dries out very quickly so I always cover the sheets with a damn clean tea-towel or cloth.

Take one sheet of filo and lay it out on your work bench. (Remembering to place the damp cloth back on top of the remaining stack of filo pastry). Brush the filo pastry with the melted butter, making sure to coat every piece of the pastry.

Place another sheet of filo pastry on top of the already buttered filo. Butter this second piece of filo as per the previous. Place another sheet of filo on top of the second buttered filo. Brush the 3rd sheet of filo with butter.

Cut the stacked filo pastry sheets onto quarters.

Smear a little Nutella onto each of the filo quarters about a third of the way from the bottom. Place about a tablespoon of the banana mixture onto the Nutella.

Working very quickly, roll the bottom of the filo over the banana mixture making sure to fully encase the banana mixture inside the pastry. Brush a little butter onto the sides of the filo and fold them towards the centre of the spring roll. Brush more butter onto the top of the pastry and continue rolling tightly into a cigar shape.

Brush the top of the spring roll with more butter and place on the baking tray.

When you have made all of the spring rolls place them into the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown.

When ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray.

Dust with icing sugar and arrange on a platter.

Serve with a jar of Nutella!

I use Almond Meal in the recipe to soak up some of the moisture of the bananas. You could also use Hazelnut Meal (to match the Nutella) . You could also add some chopped nuts and a bit of cinnamon if you want to spice up your life!