2011 - the year of the chocolate

This holiday season I made myself happy. Selfish, I know, among this season of perpetual giving and generosity, but I wanted chocolate and dag-nabit, I would have it! Merry Christmas to me! (not my waist-line)

My weapon of choice: Nutella. For those of you who aren't familiar with this silky, smooth Italian chocolate hazelnut spread, it was a gift from the gods bestowed to happy little children across the Italian peninsula. Thankfully, this chocolate dream is available in U.S. supermarkets. Try in on toast or a hunk of chewy ciabatta or Italian bread and you'll be hooked. Try a Nutella and cream cheese sandwich and you'll thank me. You're welcome.

Salty Cream Cheese Brownies

I turned to Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess for two recipes: Torta alla Gianduia (Chocolate Hazelnut Cake) and Salty Cream Cheese Brownies. The Nutella cake is a rich, dark, and surprisingly light, mousse- like cake with a thick, velvety ganache and toasted hazelnuts to garnish. To say this cake is a chocolate lovers' dream is an understatement. You have to really, truly, love chocolate to eat this cake. The cream cheese brownies are not you're typical brownies, either. Nigella adds a layer of cream cheese slices in between layers of "brownie goop" (as she calls it) for a sharp bite of cream cheese in every brownie. Play a quick game of hide and seek when you slice through the brownie batch and try to find the melted chunks of cream cheese through the fudgy layers of chocolate.

Sharing these recipes and directions with you will not do it justice, read the way Nigella describes the prep and baking of these treats and you'll know why she's an esteemed food columnist.

Crunchy Nutella Puffs

My third Nutella treat are these crunchy little Nutella puffs. Super simple to make and in about 20 minutes you'll have an elegant treat. In all honesty, I didn't really follow a recipe.  But, I'm going to try to jot it all down for you.

Here's what you'll need:
1 package of store-bought puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup of Nutella (roughly)
1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts (roughly)
1 egg and a splash of water
Flour for dusting

Here's what to do with it:
Roll out the thawed pastry onto a board dusted with flour. One sheet of pastry, for me, made about 9 or 10 (4") squares to fill.

Microwave the Nutella for about 30 seconds, just until it reaches the consistently of a thick syrup and loses it's thick spread texture. Combine the chopped hazelnuts with the melted Nutella and spoon a teaspoon amount of this mixture into the center of each pastry square. Add more Nutella and nuts, if needed.

Brush the edges of the squares with a bit of egg wash and fold each square in half, over the filling, Crimp the edges of these little purses with your fingers and then brush the edges and center of the puffs with egg wash to seal the deal. Continue with each pastry square. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and pop them into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until perfectly puffed and golden brown. (Check the directions on dough box, though, just to be safe.) Let them cool on a wire rack and then enjoy these delicate beauties with a glass of milk and a big crunch.



Happy 2011 - maybe it be filled with the sweetest treats and greatest memories!