Tag Archives: nutella

Nutella Cupcakes

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie • 12 Comments

I like Nutella a lot. A whole lot. And when I like something a whole lot, I have a process that goes something like this:

“This is good. This is REALLY GOOD. In fact, everything I make from now on should probably have some of this in it. I wonder where I can buy it in bulk?” (clickclickclickclick, pause for 2-4 business days) “Um…what the heck am I going to do with ten pounds of (insert random product name here)?”

This has happened to me with Israeli couscous, vital wheat gluten, and now Nutella. After this serendipitous discovery, I couldn’t stop thinking about Nutella. And instead of going to the grocery store four blocks away and buying a reasonably sized container, I of course went on Amazon and bought two 27-oz jars. In case you don’t feel like doing the math, that’s almost three and a half POUNDS of Nutella. And that, my friends, is wise decision-making at its finest.

This should have taught me a lesson about impulse buying and self-control, but it ended up working out so perfectly that I may buy another three and a half pounds. Just days after I bought that outrageous amount of Nutella, a coworker requested Nutella cupcakes for his birthday. And then another friend emailed to ask if I had a good Nutella recipe that she could make for Valentine’s Day. Since I was already planning to make them and was practically living in a Nutella warehouse, I offered to just double the quantity and drop them by. These won rave reviews all around, and I’m not surprised. Fluffy cupcakes with a hint of hazelnut, filled with straight Nutella goodness and topped with a light, airy Nutella Swiss meringue buttercream – how could they not be a huge hit?

So what did I learn from all this? I learned that if you impulse buy embarrassing quantities of something on the internet, you’ll find a need for it almost immediately and you might even help your friends’ love lives. So really, I did the right thing and should probably do it again very soon.

Nutella Cupcakes
Print
Category: Dessert
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Nutella lovers rejoice! Hazelnut cupcakes filled with a dollop of Nutella and topped with airy Nutella buttercream.
Ingredients
  • For the Cupcakes:
  • 2 1/2 cups (340g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp (5g) baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5g) baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5g) kosher or sea salt
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups (410g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (237mL) vegetable oil
  • 2 Tbsp (30mL) Frangelico or hazelnut liqueur
  • 1 cup (237mL) buttermilk
  • Nutella, for filling
  • For the Frosting:
  • 4 large egg whites (about 8 Tbsp/120mL)
  • 1 1/4 cup (250g) granulated sugar
  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (115mL) Nutella
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.
  2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. In another mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar on medium speed until thick and pale, about two minutes. Turn off mixer and add oil, Frangelico, and buttermilk. Beat on medium speed for about one minute. Add flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until fully incorporated, about two minutes.
  4. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for five minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely.
  5. To make the frosting, fill a medium saucepan with about 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Rest the mixer bowl over the saucepan, whisking constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is thick and glossy (note: to completely pasteurize the egg whites, they must be heated to 140 degrees).
  6. Remove mixer bowl from heat and place on stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until cooled and the egg whites hold stiff peaks, about 8 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter two tablespoons at a time. Beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3-5 minutes, or longer if necessary. At some point during this process the mixture will turn into a curdled, soupy mess. As a direct result, you will briefly lose your will to live, but fear not – continue beating, and it will come back together. Add Nutella and beat until fully incorporated.
  7. Using a paring knife, remove a small cone from the middle of each cupcake (it is up to you what you do with the removed middles – I throw them away, using my mouth as the garbage can). Fill each cupcake cavity with 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of Nutella. Frost and serve.
Notes

If not serving within 12 hours or so of baking, store in refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Filed Under: Desserts

Salted Nutella Sandwich Cookies

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Julie • 11 Comments

I have a cookie problem.

Not that kind of cookie problem, the kind where you pick up a bag of Chips Ahoy or a sleeve of Oreos and can’t stop eating them (okay, so I might also have that kind of cookie problem). My real, currently pressing cookie problem is that I just cannot seem to master correct baking times. Without fail, even following a recipe, my fear of underbaking takes over and I end up putting them back in and erring too far the other way. This only happens with cookies. Cupcakes? Pies? No problem. But if you’re going to call yourself any kind of baker, you have to be able to conquer the cookie. Cookies are the Taylor Swift of desserts. They’re sweet, they don’t make trouble, and there’s enough variety there that everyone likes them, even those who pretend they don’t. I like them too, maybe even love them – we’re not quite there yet – but I’m held back by the fact that cookies continue to be my kitchen kryptonite (real-life kryptonite: laundry). Allow me to illustrate for you how a typical cookie-baking session shakes out in my home:

  1. Timer dings. I eagerly open the door to my waiting sheets of perfectly set cookies.
  2. Wet, gooey dough piles stare back at me.
  3. I keep my cool and set the timer for three more minutes.
  4. Timer dings. I check again. Still unset blobs. Tentatively poke one and watch the indentation my finger made collapse into the cookie. Set the timer for two more minutes.
  5. Timer dings. Oven contains dozens of leaden, rock-like discs staring up at me. Are they…are they taunting me?
  6. Profanity.

The above is pretty much status quo when I make cookies, although I downplayed the swearing for you. I like to think that my complete ineptitude at cookie-making keeps me humble. The other upside is that this particular time, what seemed like an inevitable cookie disaster resulted in these fantastic sandwich cookies, which are positively teeming with Nutella (Italian for “chocolate hazelnut crack”).

When I once again slightly overcooked my cookies, I heaved a big sigh (after plenty of Step 6: Profanity, of course) and vowed to grin and bear it. I will not remake these just to prove that I can do it right, I repeated to myself over and over. But I had to do something - we had friends coming over to watch football, and I couldn’t bear the thought of sending them home with cookie bricks, especially if our Steelers lost (they did – curse you, Tim Tebow). The flavor was great, but they needed something that could counteract the crunch. So I hoisted my leftover half-jar of Nutella and spread a thick layer on a cookie, then topped it with another cookie and took a bite – and there it was. Alone, these cookies were just a little too crunchy to enjoy as a standalone cookie – but surrounding that creamy layer of Nutella from both sides, with the savory hint from the sea salt, they worked. Oh, did they work.

I’m learning to accept that I may never conquer the cookie, but they’ve certainly taught me to make the best of a bad situation. And I’ll take a life lesson over baking perfection any day.*

*False. I would prefer baking perfection.

Salted Nutella Sandwich Cookies
Yield: about two dozen cookies, or 12 sandwiches

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut spread
1/3 cup milk
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together to combine.

With a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and Nutella and beat until smooth, about one more minute.

Add the flour mixture and milk alternately in two additions. Beat until just combined. Cover the cookie dough and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Roll cookie dough into one-and-a-half inch balls with your fingers and place two inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten the balls very slightly and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt.

Bake 15-17 minutes, until set. Note: if you want these chewier to serve plain, bake for 12-15 minutes.

Allow to cool on baking sheets for five minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

When completely cooled, slather the middle of each cookie with a generous dollop of Nutella and top with another cookie. Pat yourself on the back for your salvaging efforts and treat yourself to one immediately.

Source: Cookie recipe from Sugarcrafter.

Filed Under: Desserts