I was never a PB&J kind of kid; jellies are usually too sweet for my liking, and though I still haven’t read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, I have a healthy distrust of manufactured foods, especially peanut butter (though that doesn’t stop me from consuming all those processed goods!). My mom only recently allowed the regular use of butter (mayo is still banned) at home, so when I was a kid, I didn’t have much in the way of spreads to put on my breads…
…until Nutella. Modified from the traditional gianduia, Nutella is a chocolate/hazelnut spread by Ferrero (includes the famed Ferrero Rocher) that is fabulous in, on, around anything and by itself. It’s creamy and delicious, yummy and nutritious, and so fabulous, it can be used in lots of baking and I buy it from Costco in obscenely large jars. :D Below is the easiest, simplest recipe I often employ:
Nutella Brownies/Mini Cupcakes
Adapted from Kirbie’s Cravings
Ingredients
1/2 cup Nutella
1 large egg
5 tablespoons flour
(additional: chocolate, nuts… even raspberries)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a bowl, mix Nutella, egg, and flour until fully incorporated. Spoon batter evenly into 12 lined/greased mini-muffin cups.
(This is the fun part! If you’ve got anything extra on hand, little chocolates or some chopped nuts, or a dozen small berries, top each brownie off with whatever you want. I usually do some chocolate, like above, peanut butter chips or toffee pieces).
Bake! The recipes I referenced all say 11-12 minutes, but my oven’s a little weird, so at 350, it usually takes me 15-17 minutes to get it right. Go with the 11-12, and just add a few minutes if an inserted toothpick comes out gooey. :)
Last step: nom nom (is officially entered in the Oxford English Dictionary).
Wow it looks so good! I definitrly should try this!!
“nutella”=taste of heaven!!!
oh wow, I want to echo “saykimchi.” these look so good. the kind of good that makes me wish computers had an application that pops out the real version of food pictures.
Those look AMAZING! I’ve only tried Nutella a few times, but all my roommates are absolutely obsessed with it, so I will have to surprise them and make these sometime!
I am a nutella fan. It is very popular in Europe, but for some reason has not really made it in the states. However, I would struggle to replace my beloved peanut butter with nutella.
I don’t think I have had a lot of nutella before (other than those in the chocolate). But it does look good, I wonder if nutella would taste even better by having crunchy bits of hazelnut!
The original recipe calls for sliced hazelnuts! We don’t have them around #8 very often, but you’re very right–it would be spectacular!
Here’s a link to a recipe that has the original hazelnuts in it: http://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2011/04/nutella-fudge-brownie-bites.html