Dulcet Devotion

World Nutella Day you ask? Could it be?! Oh yes, yes it’s true.  Created by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso to celebrate their intense love of Nutella, World Nutella Day is the perfect excuse (as if you need one, snicker, snicker) to eat, share, create with, cuddle with, and write odes to the smooth, chocolatey spread that is Nutella.

The Savoury

Never one to take the easy road, especially in the kitchen, I was determined to try both a savoury and a sweet dish containing the hazelnut treat.   As much as I love desserts, I felt as though making a dessert with Nutella, in place of chocolate, just seemed too predictable. I even got my co-workers involved in thinking up interesting, tangy options.

We talked Southwest cuisine, adding Nutella to chili or making a mole sauce. A good start, that’s for sure. But somehow it just didn’t feel right. I hadn’t yet hit upon the perfect option.

Next thing I knew, Nutella Day was upon me! And I still hadn’t come up with a plan! The shock! The horror! What was I to do?!  Cleaning out my pantry today put me face to face with my container of quinoa. Somehow it got me thinking about a chocolate vinaigrette (see the thought process? Not sure I do either). Was this even possible? It might be ok with cocoa but a sweetened chocolate goo? Onto Google I went.

Well thank goodness for Gena at Choosing Raw. I came across her blog and found this recipe for a Chocolate Balsamic Vinaigrette.  As I saw the dressing I immediately started thinking avocado, spinach…and as I scrolled down the page…avocado, spinach, strawberries and roasted beets! Perfect! I could already taste it. I was imagining the creamy avocado neutralizing the sweet strong chocolate and the earthy beets rising up to meet it. Add in the sweet and fragrant berries…I mean, this is a no brainer!

What was interesting, as I made the dressing, was that the Nutella was acting as an emulsifier, preventing the dressing from separating. And the amazing thing is that while you might not be able to pick out a distinctive chocolatey flavour, overall, it just works.

The Sweet

While it pains me to be predictable, bananas go really really well with Nutella and there is just no getting around it. As I was going through recipes on the couch this afternoon, my taste buds kept coming back to the same thing: Fried banana, hazelnuts, and Nutella drizzle. Surrendering, finally, to my creative self, this is what I ended up with:

Spiced Banana Nut Fritters Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream and Warm Nutella Sauce

Now this could have been simple. Do you ever have those evenings, after a great dinner, where you just feel like something? You don’t want to bake a cake, or make anything too involved, but you still want more than just a bowl of ice cream? One time, years ago, I was experimenting in the kitchen when I came up with a banana flambée. Now obviously, I didn’t invent flambée, but this was suddenly something new to our household dessert rotation. Bananas, sliced lengthwise, pressed into brown sugar and cinnamon and fried in butter. Once golden brown and beautiful, in goes the rum and a flame source. Fun to do, sinful to eat. Topped with ice cream? There are no words.

So this is where I was heading today. Except why not take it to the next level? Instead of just slicing and frying bananas, why not make them into fritters?

So I ground up 1/4 cup hazelnuts, added 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon in a small bowl. Then I mushed up 2 bananas with a fork and added a splash of rum.

I then added the nut mixture into the bananas and left in the fridge until I was ready.  I fried it in a wad of butter in a frying pan, and topped with a scoop of ice cream and some Nutella that I warmed up in the microwave on MED-HIGH for about 20 seconds.

If we’re only going by taste, then I give this a 1o out of 10. But my fears did come true: the batter was a bit too gooey making it quite difficult to flip the fritters. Next time I will either add more nuts and flour, use less banana, or prepare a simple crêpe or pancake batter and add the ingredients into that.

Overall, a super fun day filled with creativity and Nutella, and really what could be better than that? So a big thank you goes out to Sara and Michelle, for getting this whole thing started so that all lovers of Nutella can unite!

What did you make for Nutella day?