Nutella Brownies

As always, our trusty Nutella has never steered me wrong. I think, for me, anytime I see Nutella in the name of a recipe, I can almost instantly assume that it will be a hit. The original recipe calls for caramel and hazelnuts, which unfortunately I did not have on hand. I tossed around the idea of making my own caramel sauce, but just decided that was to be too much work, I forged ahead without. The results were just as lovely without, however, I feel there should be a way to work in a cream cheese swirl. Let me know if anybody figures out a way to work that in :)

Nutella Brownies (Inspired by bell'alimento at Tasty Kitchen)

½ cups All-purpose Flour
⅓ cups Cocoa Powder
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
1 pinch Salt
1 cup Sugar
½ stick Unsalted Butter
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
½ almond extract
¼ cups Nutella (1/4 cup Nutella, melted if desiredfor garnishing)
Nuts, if desired (I used pecans because thats what I had on hand) hazelnuts would be ideal though.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Into a mixing bowl, add your flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Using a whisk, mix together and set aside. Into your stand mixer or in a bowl using a hand mixed, add the sugar and butter; cream together. Add in eggs one at a time and mix well. Add in your vanilla and almond extracts. Gradually add in your flour mixture until it’s well combined. Batter should be thick and sticky.

Spray an 8"x*" ovenproof dish with cooking spray. Place a piece of parchment paper (slightly larger than your dish to allow for handles) inside. It will adhere to the bottom of the dish. Pour the batter in the prepared dish. Spoon the Nutella over the batter, and swirl throughout the batter using a spoon or a spatula. Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until sides are firm and center is no longer giggly.

Allow brownies to cool completely before removing. Cut your brownies to your desired size using a serrated knife. Make a small indentation with your finger into each brownie. Take your melted Nutella and drizzle over the tops of the brownies. Garnish with the nuts.

Nutella Rocky Road Tart

*Sorry teddy grahams, you are cute and tasty but you'll be cookie crumbs soon!

Oh my my-I've really done it this time! I asked for a vote and the vote was nearly unanimous, I needed to make something with Nutella. I wish I had words for how tasty this little one is. There is something extraordinary that comes with the meeting of Nutella and chocolate ganache that makes mouths happy. When the recipe states "whisk in the Nutella and pour over tart shell," after you have done that do yourself a favor and pause and lick the whisk and the bowl clean, you'll be glad you did.

OK, enough with the praises! Seriously, this recipe came together quite quickly, it was very easy, and is sure to impress. The original recipe calls for a 14"x4" tart pan, sort of a rectangular shape. I used a 9"tart round tart pan, but I suppose you could easily substitute an 8" or 9" pie pan/plate or even a 9"x9" square pan. There's no excuse now-try this.

Nutella Rocky Road Tart (From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Chocolate Teddy Grahams)

6 Tbsp melted butter

Filling:

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup mini marshmallows, divided

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, divided

Directions for the crust:

*Spray your cooking vessel with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl mix together your cookie crumbs and melted butter so that it forms the consistency of wet sand. I used a food processor as I had to crush my little teddy grahams, so I added the butter directly to the food processor after they were made into crumbs.

Dump the crumbs into your pan and use either your fingers or the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup to press the crumbs down and up the sides of your pan forming a full crust. Using the center rack in your oven, bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Directions for filling:

Place the chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Once that happens, pour the cream over the chocolate chips and let sit undisturbed for two whole minutes. After that, whisk until the two are incorporated. Whisk in the Nutella and the resulting mixture should be smooth and glossy.

Assembling the tart:

Place half of the marshmallows and walnuts in the tart shell. Pour the chocolate mixture over the tart shell, covering the marshmallows and walnuts. Once that is complete, top with remaining marshmallows and walnuts.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Cut and serve. This dessert is very rich, so servings should be a little smaller, serves about 10.

Nutella Cupcakes

In this case, it took a village to save these little cupcakes, but in the end I was richly rewarded. Unfortunately, I tend to leave things in the oven just a little too long on occasion. This was no different, I was so excited, the house smelled lovely, and out of the oven the 12 perfectly shaped Nutella cupcakes came. I let them cool, took them out of the paper liners, got really excited, and took my first bite. Hmmm...I thought, not quite exactly what I was expecting...kind of dry. Argh, I double checked the baking time, and sure enough, I over did it.

When we got married we registered for this really nice Analon bakeware set, which we gratefully got. However when I started to bake with them I realized that Analon cooks more quickly and gets more hot than your average bakeware. So after much trial and testing I am now almost used to adjusting recipes oven temperature and reduced cooking time. The recipe I am blogging today, the beautiful Nutella cupcakes reflect the actual recipe, and is without the Analon adjustments that I should have made. But if you do bake with Analon, let me know how it goes for you, we should have a support group I think.

So now I have 11 overbaked cupcakes, and was desperate to save them. I reached out for help, and that is exactly what I got. The outpouring support I got was overwhelming. I realize that this was merely flour and butter, and sugar but now this became a challenge. What I decided would be the best remedy for this situation was to use the blunt end of a skewer and poke a bunch of holes on the top of the cupcakes and create an almondy simple syrup. Drizzle it over the top and let the little cakes drink it up. I also used the rest of the nutella up to create a 'light' frosting. I think that did the trick-Lets taste and find out!

**Yes that's our puppy in the background, isn't she cute!

Nutella Cupcakes (found here)


10 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs on at a time, until fully incorporated. The batter may not look smooth, this is fine. Add vanilla.

Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until batter is smooth and all flour is blended. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. Cups should be 3/4 full if you're not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, folding a little batter up and over the Nutella as well.Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to wire rack and allow to cool. Makes 12. While these cooled I prepared the simple syrup.

Flavored Simple Syrup (adapted from here)

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp Cream de Cacao Liqueur (can use any liquer, I wanted to keep with the cocoa flavor theme)


*Use the blunt end of a skewer and literally poke many holes in the top and just let these little cakes drink up the syrup.

World Nutella Day Icing (found here)

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup Nutella
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, Nutella, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

So in conclusion whether you overbake your Nutella Cupcakes or not, the addition of the simple syrup and Nutella Icing are a nice treat either way!