Sunday, February 3, 2008

Nutella!!!

I didn't think this post needed a more elaborate title than that. After all, it is only the most delicious spread to grace our pantry shelf! And lo and behold, Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso have made a holiday for it!! World Nutella Day is on Febuary 5, and what could be better, especially if you are like the little sister and down almost a jar a week!

Nutella was first imported from Italy into the U.S over 20 years ago, in 1983, mainly in the Northeastern part of the country. The popularity of Nutella grew steadily over the next 10 years, and demand became so strong that the Ferrero company decided to build a plant in the U.S., in Somerset, NJ. Since then, Nutella has been sold in the peanut butter aisles in grocery stores, warehouse clubs and mass merchandisers all across the United States. (nutellausa.com)

Most of the time, Nutella in our household is slathered on bread or kaiser rolls for lunches, and I don't know if my mom has ever made a dessert with it. It is a popular flavour with the Italian side of the family, though, so I'm sure that either of these recipes would go over well regardless. I'm posting two Nutella-riffic recipes today - one an un-tried but decadent looking, fibre filled bread with the Nutella baked right in (found the recipe on a label from an old jar!) and the other an invented-today, absolutely divine, espresso-spiked frosting and filling that I'm using in some cookies for Valentines day, and possibly a doughnut or two this week. But don't get me started on piping decorations or doing any cakes, okay, not until I stop dreaming of palette knives! (Can you tell what I did in school yesterday?)

As fibre-rich as this bread is, I still wouldn't go so far to say that it is in any way a "health food". I had to roll my eyes when, a few weeks ago at the store, I heard a woman saying to her husband that they needed to buy the "value-size" jar of the spread because "it's a way for [her child] to get some vitamins, since she doesn't eat fruit!". Erm, okay then, if you really would like to stretch and go with the fact that nuts are the fruit of trees....

Nutella Fibre Bread
Serves 16
¾ c warm water
1 pkg dry active yeast
½ c apple juice
1 tbsp + 1/3 cup Nutella
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole-wheat flour
2/3 barley flour
¾ c quick-cooking (but not instant) oats
1 ¼ tsp salt
  1. Dissolve yeast in water, let stand 10 minutes.
  2. Stir in juice and 1 tbsp Nutella.
  3. Gradually stir in white flour until a loose batter is formed. Beat with a wooden (not metal!) spoon approximately 100 strokes.
  4. Cover with a damp towel and let rest in a warm, draft-free place 1 – 1 ½ hours.
  5. Sprinkle salt over top of batter, and fold in along with remaining Nutella.
  6. Fold in whole-wheat flour, barley flour and oats.
  7. Beat until dough comes away from sides of the bowl.
  8. Knead minimum 15 minutes, until dough is smooth and a little glossy.
  9. Place in greased bowl and turn to grease the top. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 hour.
  10. Punch down and knead 1 minute.
  11. Form into tight loaf, place in large greased loaf pan.
  12. Cover and let rise 40 minutes.
  13. Preheat oven to 350F.
  14. Bake loaf 55 minutes.
  15. Turn out immediately onto wire rack to cool.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 129.1
Total Fat: 2.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 223.7 mg
Total Carbs: 22.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
Protein: 3.5 g

So, this is the frosting I came up with using another frosting of mine as it's base. It is rich in good fats from the macadamias (and a little bit from the Nutella, I suppose!) and has only 2 tsp of butter in the whole batch, but is nice and high in protein (for a frosting) because of it's "secret ingredient" (which really isn't so secret, if you've been reading this blog very long). It makes a spreadable but still thick concoction that isn't too sweet, since the other frosting is something I made for some mini red-velvet cakes that were on the sweet and rich side (something featured here soon, I promise!) which I am bringing in for my healthy baking and cooking seminar on Wednesday. You can swap the nuts for another type too, if you'd like!

Hazelnut - Espresso Frosting
Serves 12
3 oz soft tofu
2 tsp salted butter, soft
1/2 tbsp fat-free cream cheese
1 tbsp Nutella
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1 tsp espresso powder
3 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

  1. Combine tofu through macadamia nuts in a food processor or blender.
  2. Process until very smooth (it took me about 5-6 minutes of grinding for this to happen).
  3. Stop the processor, scrape the sides of the bowl and add the espresso, sugar and cornstarch.
  4. Process again until thick and well blended, about another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Chill before using.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 72.8
Total Fat: 5.6 g
Cholesterol: 1.8 mg
Sodium: 10.7 mg
Total Carbs: 5.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.6 g
Protein: 1.1 g

2 comments :

  1. The bread sounds really interesting; I've yet to bake so much as a loaf, but this just might inspire me!

    And I love the idea of the frosting--as you might guess, I'm game for anything with espresso ;)

    Thanks so much for participating!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nutella is a food group of its own!!!! I love it in S'mores as a substitute for boring old chocolate...:)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!