World Nutella Day 2013 - Nutella Frolla Bites

Way Hey, It's World Nutella Day

Mini muffin type  sweet pastry cups,  filled with Nutella goodness inside

What can I say? I live in the Italian province of Piedmont, where Nutella was born, so I can not resist joining the World Nutella Day celebrations that started a few years back. This event was conceived and spearheaded by Sara Rosso, who writes the Ms Adventures in Italy blog, amongst all the many other hats she wears and Michelle Fabio who too wears many hats of which the blog Bleeding Espresso  is one of her creations. You can learn more about World Nutella Day here.  I have a few recipe offerings from past  years that you might want to check out after you try this one.I'll put some links at the botton of the post. I have to say that we are all rather taken with this one and think it will make it into the rotation a little more frequently that maybe it should. It's basically a cookie cup filled with Nutella creaminess. They keep well in a cookie tin and served with a little caramel or chocolate sauce, they can double as an easy dessert in a pinch. I find it a delight alongside an afternoon espresso. Mmm, Mmmmm. Give it a whirl and see what you think.

Two crusted pasta Frolla bites. I ran out of tops for the last one, but it tasted just fine.

Nutella Frolla Bites

Yields: 24 double crusted mini bites

Oven Temperature: 350*F / 180*C

Pasta Frolla dough:

2 c (280g) plain flour
1 tsp (4g) baking powder (about half a package that you find here in Italy)
1/2 c (100g) sugar
Zest of 1 orange or lemon, I like to use a rasp micorplane, just try not to get any of the white pith
Pinch salt
4 ounces (110g) unsalted butter, chilled but not straight out of the refrigerator, cut into small pieces

1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Nutella Filling

Method:
Measure your flour into a largish bowl (Italians often make this directly on the wood work table)
Add the baking powder, salt, citrus zest, and sugar. Lightly stir to mix all. Drop the cold butter into the flour mixture. Either cut the butter into the mixture or use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour quickly to get small clumps and it starts to form a dough. Work quickly so the butter doesn't get too soft. Make a shallow well and add the whole egg and yolk. Mix in a circular motion until the dough begins to come together. Form in to a cohesive dough, Cover and refrigerate at least an hour. You can leave it overnight if you prefer.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4'/ 1cm thickness. 
Make the bases larger than the diameter of the mini muffin tin. I used a round cookie cutter to make the bases slightly larger bottoms than the tops if you have a couple of sizes. I couldn't find my set of cutters, so the tops were the same size as the bases and bigger than needed. Place the pastry disc into a greased and floured (or a no stick) mini muffin pan, or petit four cups. Press the dough in lightly. Place a small dollop of Nutella into the depression. Cover the filled bases. I either tucked the top into the depression of the filled base or pinch the dough around the edges. I didn't seal it and used a light touch. They seemed to self seal when baked. 
Bake the bites at 350*F / 180*C for about 15-20 minutes till they start to get some color, but be careful not to over bake.
Cool slightly before removing from the muffin tins, to cool completely.
Delicious warm or cold.
I think you'll find they disappear quickly.

Viva la Nutella!

Inside the folla bites

My other World  Nutella Day recipes:

- Nutella Crumb Crostata

- Nutella Cornetti/ Hazelnut cream filled pastry horns 

- Banana Nutella Cakelettes/Tortino di Banana e Nutella

- Bugie al Carnevale / Nutella filled Fried Dough

Nutella Crumb Crostata, for any day including World Nutella Day 2011

At our house we normally don't do much to Nutella other than slather it on a slice of my home made bread. For my husband Fabrizio, Nutella, has always been part of the morning repertoire since he can remember, as we are in the heart of the homeland of Nutella. I, of course, am a relative late comer, only discovering it on a European holiday and then waiting a number of years before finding it on the shelves of our grocery stores in the high country of Colorado, with a price tag befitting the high altitude. Now I find that living where hazelnuts are king and Nutella is relatively cheap, it's fun to experiment with different ways of using it when World Nutella Day arrives. Naturally Everyone is happy to share in the tasting and our guests are happy when they find it making its way onto our breakfast table at the B&B.
To learn more about World Nutella Day and the round up of all the posts and recipes from this event head over to the World Nutella Day site. Make sure to check out the  dynamic duo who pull this event together every year, Sara Rosso and Michelle Fabio and their blogs at  Ms Adventures in Italy and Bleeding Espresso.

This crostata was inspired by a chocolate slice I had in a brand spanking new bar in Pinerolo, l'Oragiusta, that serves it up with Illy coffee for the ultimate in favorite pairings. I will be reviewing that bar shortly as it is a wonderful addition to the choices in bar hopping in Pinerolo and is right on the market square.
Anyway, they made a luscious slice that I have come pretty close to replicating with the hazelnut difference. Naturally, I learned a few things along the way, like the long pan I used was just a tad to small. Making it in two identical pans would have lost the thick crust that is almost like a soft butterscotch texture which is a delightful vessel fot the subtle Nutella filling. I think this sized pan with a small tartlet pan would have been the ideal combination, but I wanted this recipe to fit this pan. I sacrificed the edges to be on the overly brown side to insure it being done. The recipe works great, I just need to get the size of the pan in line.  I think if you use an 8" square, you would find it to work out in one go.
Fabrizio really likes that is isn't overly sweet and I think an addition of orange or hazelnut liqueur would set the filling off just right, so I am going to add it into the recipe, even though I didn't add it this time. I see a bright future for this recipe starring on our Bella Baita ever evolving repertoire. I hope it finds its way onto to your dessert or tea time table for a whisper of Italian coffee bar culture.

Nutellla Crumb Crostata
Yields one overly full 33cm x10cm 13”x4” long pan with extras
or 8” square or one long tart pan and a small tartlette pan to use up all the ingredients

Pasta Frolla Crust
Ingredients
300g / 2+3/8 c / 7oz,  flour, plain, all purpose (scoop and sweep for cups)
150g / 3/4c / 5.3oz, sugar, I like organic raw cane sugar, which is a kind of white brown sugar
200g / 7/8c /  7oz, butter, not too warm, but not right out of the refrigerator
1 egg
5g / 1 tsp,  vanilla extract
extra flour for rolling

Method for the crostata
Mix your flour and sugar in a medium large bowl.
Cut in the butter into small pieces into the flour sugar mixture.
I rub the mixture together  with my fingers to achieve a crumbly texture. You can use a pastry cutter or fork, but I find my fingers work the best.
Set aside 112g / 3/4c of this mixture to become the crumb topping later.
Make a well in the middle of the remaining crumbs
Add 1 egg and vanilla extract
With a fork beat your egg and extract to homogenize the egg.
Gradually pick up the crumbs until you have a dough that holds together.
You may need to dust some extra flour around the bowl to get the dough to come away from the sides of the bowl and form a solid mass.
Gently and gingerly make the dough smooth with a small amount of kneading.
I manage this in the bowl, but you might find it easier to achieve in the table if your bowl is a bit small. make sure to dust the table and your hands generously with flour to keep it all from sticking. The dough will be somewhat wet. I flatten the dough and either cover in the bowl or with some plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes or so until it is chilled and easier to roll or pat out.

Once the dough is firm roll between two sheet of plastic wrap  to get a shape to fit your pan or pans. Be generous with your flour, but work quickly so your dough doesn’t get too warm and start sticking. You don’t want or need to incorporate too much flour.
Grease and flour your pan. I like pans with removable bottoms, or I like to use parchment paper to insure it easily comes out of the pan.

While your dough is chiling finish your crumb topping and Nutella filling.

Line your pan with the dough pressing it into the corners and patting the dough evenly into place.
Dock your dough by pricking the bottom with a fork so it doesn’t rise too much while baking.
Blind bake your dough almost ¾ of the way done, by first covering the dough with a sheet of aluminum foil and weighting it down with beans or pie weights. I had some small heavy round tart pans that weighted it down nicely.
Depending on your oven bake at 190* / 350* for about 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven.  I I have a convection oven which bakes very quickly.  
Remove the foil and check the color. Bake until light golden brown, but the bottom isn’t fully cooked, about ¾ of the way cooked. It will still have some give to it.
Add your Nutella filling evenly over the center of your pan.
There should be a depression to fill. If not, press the center of the dough down.
Fill with Nutella mixture and continue to bake  until the filling begins to set.
Add your crumb topping now. You can add it at the same time as your filling also. The crumbs will stay softer and whiter if you add them part way through the cooking process.
Bake until the filling is solid and has lost its shininess. You want to cook it through, but not completely solid. It took about 45 minutes to bake the dough and filling from beginning till done.
The baking times will vary depending on the thickness of the dough and your ovens’ personality.
Cool some before removing from your pan. I think the flavors come out when it cools completely.
The crostata holds very well for a few days if well covered.

Crumb topping
Ingredients and method
112g (¾ c)  sugar, flour and butter mix
Add 2T sugar, raw cane sugar
1T flour

Combine your crumb mixture that you  set aside and add the additional sugar and flour and clump it together between your fingers to  make clumps of various sized crumbs.

Nutella Filling
Ingredients and method

200ml / 8 oz heavy cream
8g / 1T cornstarch, don’t substitute flour as it will overwhelm the delicate flavor of the Nutella
24g / 2T Sugar, raw cane sugar
1 egg
300g / 1c Nutella
30g / 2 T orange liqueur, hazelnut or chocolate to kick up the flavor

In a small heavy bottomed sauce pan being your cream just to a boil being careful not to boil it and remove from heat, but keep it warm.
Mix your cornstarch and sugar together for easier addition without lumping.
In a small bowl, whisk the one egg till smooth.
Add the sugar and corn starch and whisk till all is incorporated.
Slowly drizzle the hot cream a little at a time into the egg mixture so not to cook the egg mixture.
Once you have added all the cream to the egg, pour the mixture back into the sauce pan. Make sure the bottom of the pan is clean.
Return the mixture to low heat and whisk the mixture occasionally till the mix thickens and cooks through. Remove from heat if necessary and add the Nutella and whisk till blended and melted into a thick pudding like consistency. Return to heat if necessary to melt and thicken. It shouldn’t take but a few minutes. Add the liqueur flavoring if desired. Remove from heat but keep it warm till you have the crust ready to fill.  Refer to the directions above to finish the crostata.

Nutella Cornetti for World Nutella Day 2010

It's that time of the year again.
Which one you might ask?

 World Nutella Day 

(of course, silly)

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso 

solemnly declared Friday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2010″ 

 A day to celebrate and get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

Heck, why not?

We live in the region of Piedmont, where Nutella was born, (over in Alba), so we take our nutella consumption very seriously. We also love to sample all the other home grown varieties that you'll find through out our area, made by local chocolatiers. Ferrero aren't the only ones making a tasty chocolate hazelnut confection. They may have been first and it may be good, but it's worth trying a few for comparison. We know a few places to try do some serious tasting and research....

If stay with us at Bella Baita for a few days, you are more than likely to come across these little crescents on the breakfast table. This nutella filled pastry strikes a delicious balance of not too flaky and a slight chewy texture after the initial crispy bite. They are a perrenial favorite around our house and make an appearance regularly along with our home made apricot preserves tucked inside some too, just in case, gasp, someone might not like nutella.

Nutella filled Cornetti
based on a recipe by Anna Moroni
of "La Prova del Cuoco" fame, an Italian cooking show
(for 12 small cornetti)

Ingredients for the dough:

• 125 g butter (8.7 TB/ 4.4 oz)*
• 125 g yogurt (1/2c)*
• 1 T sugar 
• 250-300 g flour (2 1/2-3 c)*
• 2 tsp baking powder
•  pinch salt

*I haven't actually made these with the American measurements and have only looked up the conversions on line to convert the amounts, so proced with caution. I find that conversions for the weight of flour is wildly variable, so if you  have a metric scale, I would reccomend weighing everything at least the first time. I will try and update this in the future to secure American measurements. so stay tuned.

The filling:
Nutella 
or anything that strikes your fancy
marmalade/ fruit preserves
or ricotta or cream(sweetened with 1 Tbsp sugar)
with mini chocolate chips or
nuts with cinnamon and other spices


Pre-heat the oven at 200C (400F)
Melt the butter
Add the yogurt  and butter along with the sugar and  blend well
Add  the flour, pinch of salt, and baking powder and gingerly make the dough.
Try not to handle to much, but do combine all thoroughly. I find that at 250g it is quite sticky, so I add the other 50g more or less around the edges of the bowl to make the dough more manageable without losing any tenderness.
Split the dough into 2 pieces and cover with a towel or plastic shower cap
Let rest for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator if it is really warm
Roll one ball out into a circle about 12cm or so (6-7" across)
Cut into 6 slices with three cuts across the circle(triangle shape).
Put a generous dollop of Nutella on each slice  at the wide end of the dough
Roll it to make a little "cornetto" (which in Italian means "small horn" for the shape) or crescent
Repeat with the other dough ball.
(I have also refrigerated the second dough ball over night and had good results the next day as well)
Place on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or till golden brown
Let them cool down and then sprinkle with icing/powdered sugar or cocao powder
Watch them disappear.

World Nutella Day is Here!

February 5th has been declared World Nutella Day, by the lovely ladies consisting of Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso and Sara at Ms Adventures in Italy, in case you hadn't heard.

There is nothing quite as exciting as opening a fresh jar of creamy hazelnut chocolate yumminess, especially to my husband. He grew up on the stuff, slathered on bread for breakfast or after school with Nonna who sandwiched it between Pavesini biscuits, to keep his energy level up. Like Fabrizio needs it. You will understand what I mean if you know him. He's a pretty high energy kind of guy most of the time, with or without Nutella, but he would prefer with!

In honor of this momentous occasion, I made mini banana cakes with a dollop of Nutella on top, which promptly sunk to the bottom yet made for a welcome surprise when you thought it was just an ordinary banana tortino.

The recipe I used was roughly based on Flo Brakers' banana sheet cake from her delightful "Perfect Baking" volume. I served them warm with caramel sauce, but there just as tasty cold. Nutella here in Italy is quite creamy, so the center stays soft even when cold the next day.
Hot or cold, don't delay to try this combination. I am sure you will be making them a regular feature whenever you have a banana that is calling out that it's time for plain eating has passed and it's being called for greater glory paired with Nutella.
Go on, you know you want to.

Banana Nutella Cakelettes
Yields 6 very generous mini cakes or one 10-12 in round.

Sift together
1 cup (100g) cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
Set aside.

Whisk together
3 T (50g) butter, lightly browned
1/2 c (100g) brown sugar

Add
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 c (50g) yogurt or sour cream
1/2 c /1 banana, smashed
1 tsp orange or lemon zest

Gently fold in the flour mixture.
Mix until all is incorporated.
Fill your prepared pan.

Drop
1 Tb generous, Nutella onto the top of your batter in each cup.
Quickly put into your preheated 375*(190*) oven.

Bake until they spring back.
Cool a few minutes before unmolding.
Serve warm with caramel or chocolate sauce.
Wait for the appreciative oohs and ahhs.

Be sure to check the World Nutella Day website on Monday, February 9 for the 2009 recipe roundup!

World Nutella Day!

In case you haven't heard February 5th has been declared World Nutella Day, by the lovely ladies consisting of Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso and Sara at Ms Adventures in Italy.
It's a time to indulge yourself and let you imagination take you on a flight of fancy to create a tasty treat to share on your blog om February 5th with all the other nutters, hazelnutters, that is. Or if you just can pull that together you could let said imagination go and take a picture of yourself or someone you know enjoying Nutella in their own unique way. (please note that this a family event!) You can find all the information about how to participate, at the the World Nutella Day post. You'll find links to the past 2 years round up of the event there also.

Here's a link to what I entered last year, Bugie, an Italian Carnevale specialty that makes it's appearance here in Piedmont every year at Carnival time.
So put on your thinking cap and join in the creative chocolate hazelnut fun!
Ciao for now!

Bugie Bugie! a World Nutella Day entry

Winter has returned yesterday, and just in time I might add. Why you say?
Well, because I was starting to get use to the idea that spring might just be round the corner and since it is the first part of February we know that Ma nature must be a bugiardo! (That's Italian for liar!)
So Lies Lies....the translation is for these tasty little carnival treats was the choice yesterday for a fitting way to celebrate carnevale, as well as make an entry for World Nutella Day February 5th

Nutella Filled Bugie  

Nutella filled BugieSara of Ms Adventures in Italy, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso, two Italian based blogs of note and always worth a read, created and hosted this event last year. (update, actually, Shelly, of At Home in Rome and on blogging hiatus, was the original co founder and Michelle is taking over her co hosting this year). We were traveling to the states this time last year and in a whirl of visiting family and offering cooking classes to keep us out of mischief, that I didn't have an opportunity to participate. This year I thought I would combine a couple of favorites, deep fried puffy pastries filled with creamy Nutella and offer them up to the selection of very tempting chocolate hazelnut recipes being compiled over at the World Nutella destination.

Nutella is close to my heart as a local Piemontese creation originating in neighboring Alba just over the road from us about an hour away and close to the heart of our wine and truffle country. Most people don't know that Ferrero Rocher, makers of the ever popular Nutella is located in Alba and not only produces this perennial favorite from Alba's bounty of hazelnuts, which lends itself to the production of truffles, (the underground growing mushroom tuber variety, not the chocolate confectionery variety), but produces a line of variety of other confectionery treats, like Pocket Coffee, Mon Cheri, Raffaello and surprisingly "Tic Tac". Fun Facts to know about Piemonte, Italy... I always like to point out the culinary treasure of our beloved Piedmont.

Anyway, I fiddled around with a variety of recipes that I found on line till I came up with something that suited me. Some recipes made what to me looked like Cenci or Chiacchiere as they called here were the fried strips of flat dough with a few bubbles and more like pasta. Here in Piedmont bugie is more like a richer version of a sopapilla that gets filled with Nutella or apricot jam. They only make their appearance during carnevale and will disappear shortly after Fat Tuesday. Speaking of fat, it seems that carneval time is also a festival of fat and frying. Every carnival pastry that I have seen made revolves around a batter or dough rich with eggs, and fried, fried, fried.
I worked for a local friends bakery a few years back during the carnival season and we made loads of Bugie and Cenci. I couldn't locate his recipe as it is on a scrap of paper somewhere in the piles of scraps of paper with recipes and ideas, waiting to be sorted, but came up with what seems to me to be very close. Most recipe I found called for a large amount, so i cut it way back to make a more reasonable amount of fried dough. The dough was tighter than it should have been, which leads me to believe that I will make the batter wetter next time and let it rest a while longer to insure larger fillable holes. The Ligurian variety calls for dry white wine, a splash of that might do the trick. If you find your batter is also too tight also, you can always slice them in half and slap on the Nutella or jam and sandwich them back together. No worries!

rolled out Bugia dough

Frying the Bugie

Cooling fried Bugie before filling with chocolate or fruit jam

Bugie Piemontese styleYields about 24 small pastries or enough for 2-4

30 g butter, soft (2 TB)
30 g sugar (2 1/2 Tb)
2 eggs room temperature.
pinch salt
250 g pastry flour or all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp orange flower essence or vanilla if you like
milk or white wine, 2 tablespoons to 1/4 c, if needed, which I think it will be
Oil for frying


Cream your butter and sugar till light.
Add the eggs, salt and mix well.
Lightly blend the flour and baking powder and don't over mix.
Add the orange flower essence, you could also use some orange or lemon peel for a bit more flavor though not traditional
and the milk or wine to make a very soft dough.
cover and let your dough rest about an hour at room temperature as long as your room isn't too warm.

Roll out in one go or 2 smaller pieces in a rectangle on a lightly floured surface, to about 1/4 inch thick
Cut into roughly 2 inch squares.
You don't want the dough too think or they won't puff as well.
Fry a few at a time in hot oil (375-400, a thermometer is very helpful), turning once.
Drain on absorbent paper.
Fill with Nutella filled pastry bag fitted with a medium sized plain tip. For Apricot jam you might need a larger tip, as the chunks of jam may clog.
If you don't have a sufficient puff, slice and spread Nutella or jam on one half and put back together.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.