Nutella Bundt

Have I told you lately that I love Nutella? And did I tell you that I finally bought a bundt pan? Yes my friends, a couple weeks ago, Leigh and I went out to the suburbs and indulged ourselves in the Wilton Tent Sale. Yup, tent sale..meaning saving almost 50% off MSRP...which means I can buy everything that I wanted/needed without making a million and one trips to Michael's so that I can use those 40% off one item coupons at the bottom of your receipt on my "next shopping trip". Haha...

Anyway, I have been saving this recipe in my bookmarks for the day in which I would finally have a bundt pan. Now, though I love Nutella, and would love to bake with it in a bunch of different goodies, I somewhat cringe at the thought of emptying a whole jar of my hazelnut goodness into something that may or may not compliment and enhance the flavor. Plus, when you bake with Nutella, it can get kind of expensive. However, guess what I found the other week? Aldi had their own version of Nutella in the Limited Editions aisle! Granted, I was a bit hesitant ever since my Dollar Store Nutella version but I decided to take a chance and buy one jar. And guess what? It actually tasted good! It actually resembled the "real" thing! I had to go buy more! So this past week I went and bought two more jars. One to eat (since I had already demolished the first jar) and one to bake with.

So back to the Nutella Bundt. I was excited and the pictures at The Food Librarian were tempting. Unlike The Food Librarian, I did not have time to make the yellow cake from scratch so I opted for a box mix. Now, I haven't made a boxed cake in a while so I'm not sure if it was the cake mix or if that's the nature of cakes but the batter seemed pretty runny. And then the Nutella batter I made was super thick. But I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Well, I didn't get that gorgeous marble but it still turned out pretty well. I think next time I will somehow add a bit more liquid into the Nutella mixture to lighten it up a bit. I'm not quite sure what that would be yet. Another egg? Some milk? Heat up the Nutella to make it more runny? Add a bit of batter? I'll have to do something that doesn't interfere with the taste of the chocolate and hazelnut. If you have any ideas, let me know. (Oh hey, as I was rereading the directions to rewrite them for you, I realized that The Food Librarian mixed some batter into her Nutella..whoops. I guess I will have to try it next time)

I also covered the bundt with a simple, makeshift ganache (this was the same night as the Stargazer Pie and Tornado Sirens. Actually the sirens were going off while the bundt was still in the over..it had another 6 minutes to go. I was torn between taking shelter or waiting 'til the cake finished. Lucky for me, by the time we got done closing windows, looking for our phones and keys, etc the cake was ready to come out and the oven could be turned off). A slight difference between my bundt and The Food Librarian is that I have the standard size bundt pan and, from reading, it appears she has a smaller version. Therefore the only change I made was a larger portion of the Nutella Batter.

How did it turn out? Well besides the lack of marbleization, it turned out pretty well. The "chocolate" portions of the cake had that true Nutella flavor. And our friend Nicki took a small bite and dug in for a second piece before she had really finished her first.

Nutella Bundt
posted on The Food Librarian (with some adaptation by myself)

Ingredients
Yellow Cake Mix (either boxed or homemade)- plus whatever ingredients the box calls for
1 cup Nutella
1 egg



Directions

• In a small bowl, mix Nutella and egg together to loosen the Nutella mixture. Take 1/3 of the yellow cake batter and mix it with the Nutella.
  
• Pour the yellow mix in the pan and scooped 1/2 of the Nutella mixture on top of that. 
• Repeat with the remaining batter.
• Take a knife and marbled the two batters together. 
• Bake as directed. 

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.

Nutella with Strawberry Crepes

My love affair with Nutella with Strawberry Crepes began at La Creperie here in Chicago. After seeing the restaurant featured on Check, Please! Brad and I decided to take a trip down to Clark Street to try it out for ourselves (I will post more about the restaurant on a later date). As much as I loved the crepes there, when it comes down to it, we just can't afford to go out and eat crepes whenever we feel like it. Lucky for me, The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook has a great crepe recipe that I have used ever since I discovered it. I have had no complaints about it whatsoever so I have never tried any other recipes. But hey, if it's not broke, why fix it? A few "disclaimers" so to speak before we begin. ATK says "Don't worry if the first two or three crepes aren't perfect; it takes a few to get the heat of the pan just right". I tend to agree with that statement. And just because they aren't as pretty, doesn't mean they still can't be eatten :o)

first crepe of the night, just to reiterate the point :o)

Also, there is a 2 hour resting time involved so this is a recipe that you definately need to plan ahead for. And finally, though the recipe calls for an 8" non-stick, ATK also says you can swap and use a 10" non-stick with about 3/4 cup batter- though I just eyeball it, just remember, they are supposed to be thin.

Crepes
from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

• 1 cup whole milk (though I have used 2% every time, since that is what we drink)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 6 Tablespoons water
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for the pan
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth, about 4 seconds. Transfer to a covered container (or if you are me, just use the blender jar w/ lid) and refrigerate the batter for 2 hours or up to 2 days.

2. Gently stir the batter to combine if it appears separated. Heat an 8 in nonstick skillet (or crepe pan) over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Brush the pan bottom and sides very lightly with butter (it should sizzle when it hits the pan). When the butter stops sizzling, remove the pan from the heat, tilt the pan slightly, and pour 2 1/2 tablespoons of the batter (you can fill a 1/4 cup measuring cup a little past the halfway mark) into the pan. As the batter is poured, rotate the pan to swirl the batter evenly over the face of the pan before returning it to the heat. Cook until the first side is spotty golden brown, 30 to 60 seconds. Use a thin spatula to flip the crepe and continue to cook until the seond side is spotty golden brown, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer the crepe to a paper-towel-lined plate and let cool (you can stack crepes on top of each other). Repeat with the remaining crepe batter, brushing the pan with butter as needed after cooking several crepes.
To Mix Crepe Batter by Hand
Sift the flour and salt together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, water, and melted butter, then gradually whisk into the flour. Pass the batter through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve.

To Make Ahead
Crepes can be double-wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozed for up to 2 months. To defrost, thaw the crepes in the refrigerator for a day before filling and rolling.

Crepe Filling and Folding
ATK recommends everything from a Lemon-Ricotta filling, fresh fruits (such as sauteed apples with caramel sauce), to softened ice cream for sweet crepes. For savory crepes, use soft cheeses and fresh herbs, deli meats, or sauteed vegetables to name a few. For other ideas, you can look on Le Creperie's website or use your own imagination. My personal favorite, as I have mentioned is Nutella with Strawberries (which is done by spreading Nutella on the crepe and the top with strawberries before folding).


As far as folding is concerned, you can either fold the crepe like a burrito or into quarters.