Nutella Ravioli

I swear, I don't fall off the face of the earth every other week or so. Sometimes I wish I could for brief moments of time, but that's a whole 'nother blog altogether. ;)

Having an 'extra' day off this week due to the paid holiday of Labour Day, I decided to make something this past Wednesday. And for some very strange reason, cookies kept coming to mind. (Something REALLY must be wrong, huh? LOL) Speaking of work, this upcoming week, Tasha and I were 'volunteered' to help out in another store. On a good note, an extra hour of pay each day since the store's an hour away. On a bad note, it means I'm back on the salesfloor, dealing with customers. Oy.

Anyways, happier things. Nutella ravioli is definitely a happy. Another recipe by the fabulous Peabody. Of course, mine didn't come out nearly as pretty. Or round. Somewhere in my semi-lost brain, spacing just didn't happen. So when they came out of the oven, it was pretty much a cookie sheet of sugar cookie dough. Oops. Yay for spatulas, right?

Oh, and the flavor? So yummy. I want to say there were somewhere between 24 and 30 cookies? There are six left. My dad's been sneaking them, I think, in an attempt to make the brownies last longer. ;)



Ingredients:
18 oz. sugar cookie dough (store-bought or home-made)
½ cup Nutella

3 Tbsp. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F

Roll out cookie dough to about a ¼-inch thickness.

Using a cookie cutter or a glass dipped in flour, cut out rounds. Place about a ½ teaspoon of Nutella into the center of each round. Fold rounds over to create half moon shapes, gently sealing edges. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350F for 9-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

Once cooled, melt chocolate chips in microwave for about 1 minute. Using a fork, drizzle over cookies. Repeat with the white chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Nutella-Swirled Brownies

I'm ba-ack! :)

Vacation was AMAZING. I am so going on a cruise again, that's for sure. Alaska was beautiful, and, trust me, we have the pictures to prove it. Between Dave and I, we wound up with just over 1200 pictures. Don't worry, I will not be posting them all. In fact, I need a break from organizing photos, so it'll be a few days before any of those get posted.

The food? Oh, man. I tried valiantly to balance out my fruit/veggie consumption with my dessert consumption. I think I was mostly successful. Definitely didn't have to worry about this girl getting scurvy. I kept a notebook with what I ate (including the many new things that I tried), but that's in the other room at the moment, and.. yeah, I'm a bit lazy tonight.

Yesterday morning didn't start out in its usual way. I overslept, didn't wake up until 10:30a. So right there, only one baked good would be made. Which would be good... if only I knew what I was going to make.

I have no idea how I found it, but I wound up at The Craving Chronicles where this recipe was posted. And having read that it was a "forgiving recipe", I decided to alter things around a bit. Theresa mentioned that she found them too sweet, so I dropped the sugar down a bit, and added a bit more Nutella, because, truly, is there such a thing as too much Nutella? I think not.

Overall? It's a dense brownie that has a variety of flavors. LOL I taste more of the peanut butter, while Dave and my mom taste more Nutella. *shrug* I guess it could be a sort of a surprise brownie? Or one of those "choose your own adventure" brownies? LOL (I was never a fan of those books, though. Hmm.)



Ingredients:
½ cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup flour
½ cup cocoa
¼ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
¼ cup peanut butter
½ cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch baking pan.

Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients before gradually adding to butter mixture.

Put peanut butter and Nutella in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds, until they're easily stirrable. Fold into brownies. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Nutella Cheesecake Bars (with a Brownie Crust)

After baking the previous recipe yesterday, I came to two unfortunate realizations:

1. I had like a quarter cup of brown sugar left.
2. There's no more vanilla.

Hmph. This does not make for a happy Kristen. So Dave's baked good was put on hold until next week. And it brings me to my "to try" folder on here.

Lemon Mascarpone Blondies... nope. Missing some key ingredients. Cinnamon Blueberry Cake... I only have strawberries. Wait, wait - ooh! Alpineberry's Nutella Cheesecake Brownies! No vanilla and no brown sugar needed - woohoo!

After the incident that shall only be referred to as Exploding Butter, I just set the cream cheese on top of the still-lit stove for a bit. Probably should've left it there longer, but time was ticking as it's prone to do, thus my cheesecake layer isn't as pretty as Alpineberry's. It's okay, though. It's still deliciously rich, with Nutella in both the brownie layer and the cheesecake layer. And, really, who's going to argue with that? :D

(Oh, and I now have more brown sugar and some vanilla to hold me over until the good vanilla gets here lol)



Ingredients:
Brownie Layer:
10 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled
¼ cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup natural cocoa powder

Cheesecake layer:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temp.
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9-inch baking dish.

For brownie layer:
Combine butter, Nutella, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl, mixing well. Sift in flour and cocoa powder, and mix until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Set aside.

For cheesecake layer:
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and Nutella until well combined. Pour over brownie batter.

Bake at 325F for 40-45 minutes, or until the cheesecake looks set. Allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting.

WND : Nutella Crumb Cake

Finally! I get to participate in World Nutella Day!

Originally created by Misadventures in Italy, with her co-host Bleeding Espresso, WND is a celebration of that food of the gods, Nutella. Personally, the discovery of such divinity was truly an eye-opening moment, and since then, I've converted many a Nutella-deprived soul into its cult of worshippers. (My mom no longer believes in brownies if they don't have Nutella in them.) :)

For this, I wanted to do something different, something that I hadn't found online. A quick bread came to mind at first, but evolution took its course and now we have a Nutella Crumb Cake.

It comes together very quickly and it's probably best to not eat all of the batter, despite how delicious it is. ;) It's loosely adapted from a peanut butter crumb cake recipe, but I think this way is much better. :)



Ingredients:
2¼ cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
¼-½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
14 oz. Nutella
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Stir together flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda in mixing bowl. Add Nutella and butter, beating until crumbly. Remove 1 cup of crumbs for topping.

Add milk, eggs, and vanilla, beating on low until combined. Continue to beat on medium speed for three minutes. Pour into an ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips, then the crumb topping.

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool before cutting. Enjoy at room temperature or cooled.

Nutella Cupcakes

Admittedly, I'm generally behind on most things. Except for time. I'm very good at being on time. But movies, sometimes books, current trends? Yeah, forget it. Most movies that everyone and their mother have seen (with the exception of LOTR and all the Harry Potter movies), I probably haven't seen yet. Forest Gump? Saw it for the first time maybe four years ago? Star Wars? Bits and pieces, but have never seen one in its entirety. (Please don't throw anything at me) ;)

This recipe, originally created by Donna Hay, seems to be very popular. Although most posts that I found about it were from four years ago. Again, behind. But it's okay; they were worth the wait. And, in my defense, I didn't read food blogs four years ago.

Since the introduction of Nutella to this household, my parents have become addicted. I'm worried that I might need a 12-step program for them or something. Seriously. Since I'm not usually off of work today, I thought I'd surprise them with these. Dave gets his peanut butter baked goods tomorrow, if all goes as mentally planned.

My only complaint about these was the swirling in of the nutella. That could be due to the fact that I was using a cake tester since there are no toothpicks in this house. But other than that, I'm pleased. Really easy to make, not much to clean up - good deal. :)



Ingredients:
10 Tbsp. butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
½ tsp. vanilla
1-3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
Nutella (about 1/3 cup)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Beat butter and sugar until light, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated, then add vanilla. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; add gradually to the butter mixture.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full, then top with about 1½ tsp. of Nutella. Using a toothpick, swirl the Nutella with the batter, creating a marble-y, swirly pattern.

Bake at 325F for 20 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Nutella Brownies

Finally! I was starting to get twitchy from the lack of baking. Can you believe I went just over two weeks (15 days!) without making a thing? Incredible.

This was one of the easier times of baking at my parents' house. Because my good ol' HG (Holy Grail... aka: the KitchenAid mixer) is here. He has spoiled me mercilessly for any other mixer and I am quite fine with that. But, even with HG and my own usual items, it still felt awkward because I'm not used to the kitchen. The stove is different and I have to get used to the way that it works. The counter, while larger, is still set up differently. I know I'll adjust in time, but it'll take some getting used to.

To get to the recipe, I was telling my mom the other day about Nutella. She had never even heard of it! I started searching through recipes this morning, trying to find something that would combine my dad's desire for brownies and my mom's curiousity of Nutella. Which led me to discover Windsor Eats' Nutella Brownies. It's a match made in heaven.

I'm happy to report that both of my parents and Dave enjoyed them, especially as they were still a bit warm from the oven. Even happier to report that I only ate a little bit out of the jar myself. Really, there was self-restraint. ;) These are super-moist and have just a hint of hazelnut flavor. My mom said they reminded her of the Ferrero Rocher chocolates that she loves. I highly doubt there'll be any left come Monday morning. :)



Ingredients:
½ cup flour
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup Nutella
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

Sift together flour and salt; set aside.

Beat eggs, Nutella, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Alternately add butter and flour mixture, beating until well incorporated. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack. Makes 16 brownies