More Nutella Goodness

i love peanut butter nutella sandwiches...they’re my go to food at 1 am when i’m studying and starving haha why i didn’t come up with the idea for peanut butter nutella brownies myself is beyond me...had to steal the idea from someone :D mommy was catering a party and needed me to contribute something so i took this idea and ran with it. 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1½ cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs at room temp
1 cup flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
⅛ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ cup Nutella
½ cup peanut butter (either crunchy or smooth is fine, depending on what you like)

-Grease a glass 9 by 13-inch baking dish.
-Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a bowl; set aside
-Melt the butter over low heat; when melted, remove from heat and pour into a large bowl.
-With a wooden spoon, stir in the sugar and vanilla.
-Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, mixing well after each addition.
-Mix together the peanut butter and Nutella in a small microwave safe bowl.
-Heat until it reaches a runny consistency (about 30-45 sec).
-Stir the peanut butter-nutella mixture into the batter; then pour it into the baking dish.
-Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
-Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting.

nom nom nom!

Even More Nutella Experimentation

I'm not a huge fan of Nutella, something that nears sacrilege in this day and age, however, when conditions are right (as they are with many of Abby's Nutella confections), I can really enjoy a hint of the chocolate-hazlenut.  I experimented with a brownie recipe this evening.

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Nutella Brownies

- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Mix these two together until smooth
- 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup Nutella and mix until smooth. 
- 2 eggs
- 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate (melted)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp salt

Mix and pour into a brownie pan.  Sprinkle the top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and Reese's Peanut Butter Chips (can also switch out 1/2 of the nutella for peanut butter in the brownies).

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Enjoy!

baking from coast to coast

it’s been a month since i  moved to nyc and i haven’t had the chance to bake for two reasons: i don’t have an oven and i seriously don’t have time since i’m always in class, in lab, or at the hospital. but this past wknd, i made it a point to bake since it was my only wknd off for the rest of the month and it was my friend’s birthday the following week. so i borrowed my friend’s kitchen and it felt AMAZING to bake again lol i must sound crazy when i say i can’t live without baking, but i really can’t. i’m okay with it if you think i’m crazy. what i realized is that baking in new york is completely different from baking in california for one reason: the weather. its insanely humid in new york in the summer and even with the AC on, it doesn’t really help all that much. so, when the recipe says to cool whatever you baked before transferring/cutting, in california that means letting it sit out for however amount of time but in new york, it means sticking it in the FREEZER for that same amount of time. i learned this lesson the hard way haha

my friend LOVES nutella so i decided to make nutella brownies since brownies don’t require creaming butter which is ridiculously annoying if you don’t have either a hand or standing mixer which i clearly don’t have. having to cream butter in like 90% humidity is the worst idea ever.  nutella has a completely different consistency when left out in new york as opposed to california. its liquidy and somewhat gooey...so i’ve learned that refrigerating nutella in new york is a must unless you want the oil to separate from the chocolate...gross. after taking the brownies out of the oven, i let it cool on the table for about 30 min and it was still gooey in the middle which if it had been the case back in california, it would have somewhat solidified by then. so i let it sit out for another 30 min, nothing happens...i realized the humidity was sorta continuing to bake my brownies outside the oven...no good. so i stick them in the fridge and after an hour, the pan was STILL WARM OMG. so finally i got sick of waiting and i was somewhat irritated so i stuck the pan in the freezer and only after THREE HOURS did the brownies finally solidify to the point that you could eat it without it oozing out from the middle. but after all that, my friend said the brownies were awesome so i’m still happy. i tweaked this recipe a little but, adding more flour so it would be a little less fudgey and cutting out some sugar so it wouldn’t be insanely sweet which i can’t stand. but if you like fudgey brownies, you’ll love this recipe :)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1.5 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1.5 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup nutella
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

-sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, set aside
-with a small saucepan, melt the butter on low heat and add in the sugar and vanilla while constantly stirring
-remove from heat and cool completely before adding eggs one at a time...mix well after adding each egg
-add the flour mixture, in 3 portions, to the egg mixture until completely incorporated
-add the nutella and chocolate chips and mix to combine
-pour into a square (either 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan) and bake for 30-35 min (tip: bake for 25 min first and use a toothpick to check how done the brownies are and back for however many more minutes you need...the type of pan and oven you have can vary the cooking time)
-cool completely before cutting

Nutella: eating it, using it, measuring it

my favorite and go to snack in college was a nutella peanut butter sandwich. when i was only shopping for myself, i would buy the small tub but now that i’m back home... my parents like to shop in bulk which means costco. the best deal for nutella really is at costco... 2 large tubs (seen above) for like $7!!! they usually sell one of the small tubs for like $4 at safeway or any other grocery store... which is crazy expensive now that i think about it. so i had 2 large tubs sitting at home courtesy of my mom... but she was complaining that i wasn’t eating it fast enough and it was sitting on the shelf looking lonely. really mom?! i love her tho... she says the most random and weird things lol solution to my mom’s complaining: make cookies. these cookies have been a hit with family and friends... they’re crispy at the edges and soft/chewy in the middle. the nutella isn’t overpowering but it gives just the right amount of hazelnut flavor to the chocolate cookie.

Ingredients:
-1 1/3 cup flour
-1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp of salt
-1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
-2/3 cup white sugar
-1/3 cup light brown sugar
-2/3 cup Nutella
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-1 egg
-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

so you may be wondering how to measure nutella (or anything spreadable like peanut butter)... my mom recently got this nifty gadget called the metric wonder cup.  

 

the yellow tube can be adjusted to reflect however many cups ( or whatever measurements you’re using) you need. all you have to do is slide the yellow tube down to the line of whatever measurement you need and fill the empty space with whatever ingredient you need, in this case, nutella. once you fill the empty space, push the yellow tube to empty your ingredient into your mixer/mixing bowl. super easy! you can buy this on amazon for pretty cheap! 

Directions:
-sift together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt)
-cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy
-add the nutella, vanilla, and egg
-add dry ingredient mixture in batches and mix until just incorporated
-add the chocolate chips.
-chill the dough for at least 1 hour before using
-drop tablespoons of dough onto lined baking sheets (i used a melon baller)
-bake at 350F for about 10 minutes until the edges look done (the middle can be slightly undercooked)
-let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes to finish baking before removing them to cooling racks

recipe adapted from sugar cooking

happy nutella nom nomming!