Nutella Swirl Ring

Alright, I love Nutella...Nutella in my crepes, Nutella on Ritz, Nutella on pretzels, Nutella in my ice cream (i am forever greatful for icream for that)...it's all lovely. Well the other day I saw a small jar of a Nutella knock off at the Dollar Store. I figured, it's only a dollar and generic brands are most of the time just as good as the brand names so I bought it. The following day I sat down with some pretzels and opened the jar with mediocre hopes. Yeah, not so much. It was grainy and just not the same as the rich chocolately hazelnut spread that I love. I wasn't going to be wasteful and just through the jar away so I had to come up with a way to use it where you wouldn't be able to taste it's graininess.

I had actually come up with a couple different ideas (including making a stuffed nutella cookie-I figured mixing powdered sugar with the Nugati or whatever it was called would disguise some of it's original taste.) When looking up basic recipes I ended up finding this delicious looking chocolate stuffed peanut butter cookie and decided that I just had to use our Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter for the filling instead of the Nutella wannabe. So what was I to do with the Nutella knock off? I decided to use the new SuperCook website to look up recipes. By the way, this may be one of my new favorite recipe sites. You tell it what you have in your kitchen and it will search all the major recipe sites and tell you what you can make. You should go check it out :o) Anyway, I used the site, told it that I wanted to highlight nutella and it suggested this Nutella Swirl Ring.

As I read the directions, I thought that this would be perfect. I could melt some extra chocolate to make the Nugati a little creamier and it just looked like it would be good to eat. The recipe turned out to be really simple to make in my opinion. The only "problem" I ran into was that my dough didn't exactly "double in size" as the recipe suggests. When I noticed that, I made the oven into a proof box by heating it to 200 degrees, shutting it off right away and sticking my dough in there for a couple minutes. It worked perfectly.

So the Nutella ring? Good stuff. Definately something I will be making again and it was another hit at our small group. I love it when recipes work out!

Nutella Swirl Ring

I'm not sure who originated it, but it can be found here.

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup NUTELLA^®, warmed slightly
• (see instructions)
• 2 tablespoons water (for brushing)
• non-stick cooking spray

To make NUTELLA^® Swirl Ring:

1. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, stir together 1/2 cup warm water, yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
   
2. Add 1 cup flour and the butter and mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.
   
3. Add the remaining 2 cups flour and mix for an additional 2 minutes.
4. Grease a large bowl with non-stick spray or butter and place the dough on it, turning it once. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand for 1 hour in a warm place until double in volume.
   
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
   
6. When the dough has fully risen, punch it down, and transfer to a floured surface.
   
7. Roll the dough out to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle and spread evenly with the warmed NUTELLA^®, leaving a 1-inch band around the edge bare.
8. Beginning at the long end, tightly roll up the dough like a newspaper, forming a 16-inch-long log. Brush the ends with a little water, and bring them together, pinching to form a ring.
   
9. Transfer the ring to the prepared baking sheet. Using a sharp knife sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or oil, slice the ring into 12 individual buns – being sure not to cut all the way through so that the buns are still connected and allowing 1 inch between each slice.
   
10. Gently separate them, so they rest against one another like dominos. Brush the ring with 2 tablespoons water and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
11. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.

To warm NUTELLA^®:

In the microwave, heat on high in a microwaveable bowl for 5 seconds.
Or, for the stovetop, heat on low heat in a pot until mixture becomes creamy.