nutella makes everything better

A Breakfast that makes you want to eat breakfast

Nutella® (pronounced “new-tell-uh”) is a tasty unique spread made from the combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa. Nutella® has no artificial colors or preservatives. It can be used on a wide variety of breads.

This post is about Nutella, an amazing chocolate and hazelnut spread. When I first sat down to write it I asked mysef, Self, what on earth is a hazelnut?
A hazelnut is a tree nut. I’d figured as much. But I didn’t know what it looked like.  So, I had a brief meeting with Google and found out that it looks like this:

So there you have it. A hazelnut looks like, well, an acorn without a hat.

I seriously heart Nutella.  I have since the first time I tried it at a French friend’s party.  That was a few years ago and from that moment on I was hooked. I’ve kept a jar in my pantry ever since.

Nutella, along with MomSelect, generously sent me a large jar of their hazelnut spread, a bunch of Nutella coffee tumblers, some great coupons, and sample packages of the nutty-chocolaty goodness.  The idea was for me to have a fun gathering in my home and have coffee and breakfast snacks using the Nutella spread with my mom-friends while we talk about diapers and discipline and writing on the walls (literally) and whose kid can interrupt the most in a 5 minute time period.

That didn’t happen.

I’m not kidding when I say my children know how to time their illnesses. For 3 weeks I dealt with small people with fevers, congestion, coughing, headaches, body aches…
It was less than fun.
Nobody was throwing up, however, so I only almost lost my sanity.

So, in lieu of a fun get together, I’m going to do a post about a favorite dessert recipe with a breakfast-ish Nutella spin to it.

I’m calling them…
Something.  I haven’t decided yet.

The recipe this is modified from is my award winning cinnamon roll recipe.  Well, I haven’t really won any awards with them but I like to pretend I have.  I have been asked to sell them, after all.  And my kids get all excited when I’m baking them.  And my neighbor likes me cause of them.

Anyway, here is the modified recipe to make them more breakfasty.

rolls:

• 2 1/4 cups very warm water (not hot)
• 6 to 7 cups freshly milled 100% whole wheat flour (Okay, I know that might be asking too much. You can use store bought whole wheat flour. Just sift it well.)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey (sugar works too)
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons yeast

filling:

• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• cinnamon to taste

icing:

• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1  cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk

To make the rolls -
First you’ll need to see if you can scrounge up a 7, 6, & 3 year old to help, and a toddler for under your feet for good measure. You can make these without them, but believe me when I say it’s. just. not. the. same.
Hey, you can borrow mine! Or just use your own if you got ‘em.

1. Mix water, oil, honey, salt, bananas and 2 cups of the flour in your mixer.  A strong mixer is best. If you have a Kitchen Aid you’re right in there. Though, I suppose you could do all this with your hands if you had to.  Let this mix for about a minute.
2. Add two more cups flour, and then your yeast.  Mix well.
3. Add two more cups flour, mixing well.  Then add about 1/4 cups flour at a time until the sides of the bowl are being licked clean.  This is how you know you have good, ready to use dough.
4. After letting it mix for another 5 minutes, turn your dough out on a well oiled countertop.  To oil your countertop, make sure it’s clean then dump about 1/4 cup olive oil onto it.  Rub it around with your hands.  Using oiled hands to handle the dough will keep it from sticking to your hands, too.
5. Knead your dough a couple of turns, then divide it into two halves.  Let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Press each half into a rectangle about 15 inches by 10 inches. though this is a rough estimate.  You really don’t need to measure it.

For the filling:

1. Mix Nutella, butter, and sugar together.
2. Spread onto prepared rectangle.  I use my hands for this.
3. Sprinkle with cinnamon. In my opinion, the more cinnamon the better.

To bake:
By now Lucy (almost 6 weeks already!) was sca-reeeeming.  Seriously.  I hollared for my 10 year old, Gabe, to come do the rest so I could take care of the wee one.

1. Roll up your cinnamon roll long ways. This will be gooey. And that is okay.  Gooey is good.
2. Use thread to slice your cinnamon rolls out.  Slide some thread under your cinnamon roll. Bring your thread up and cross it over the top, cutting through the dough.  Make them thinner for more smaller rolls, or thick for fewer larger rolls.
3. Place in a backing pan – spread evenly apart.  It is okay to squish them together a little if necessary.
4. Repeat these steps with your second dough half.
5. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and allow your cinnamon rolls to rise on top of the oven for at least 30 minutes.  1 hour is best.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the tops are lightly browned

Topping:

1. Mix topping ingredients together with a wisk or a fork.
2. Once smooth, drizzle over cooling rolls.

These are best served warm and gooey!  As I’ve said before, gooey is good.  We like gooey around here.

My neighbor says you can prepare cinnamon rolls and leave them in the fridge overnight, baking them fresh in the morning.  I’m sure you could do the same with these breakfast rolls.

Also, if you want to leave out the bananas you can.  Just add 1/4 cup warm water in place of them.

I need to shout out a thanks to MomSelect and Nutella for the opportunity they offered me.  The friends I’ve given the coffee tumblers to were excited to receive them. And the coupons and samples are going over quite well.

I think I’m gonna run go have me a Nutella roll snack real quick before I head off to bed.
Yum.

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