Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Buon Nutella Day!

It's here, it's finally here! The day you've all been waiting for!

I hope you all found a way to participate in our global celebration of that chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness known as Nutella.

Being a co-host made me feel that the pressure was on to come up with something really special. Now, I don't really like to cook, but I do enjoy me some baking every once in a while. So I got as culinarily creative as I could possibly muster and decided to combine an Italian favorite, ravioli, with Nutella. Here's the result. Hope you like it!

Nutella Ravioli

Ingredients and materials:

"Pasta frolla," frozen pastry dough (or make it yourself if you're a foodie. I cheated.)
Nutella
Cookie cutters or ravioli shapers
Flour
Cookie sheet, rolling pin, board or countertop for rolling out dough

Here's the how-to:

Pre-heat the oven to 425°F (about 220°C).
Let the pastry dough thaw for about 2 hours, then roll out to about 1/4" (about 1/2 centimeter) thickness.

I found these really cool things for ravioli. On one side it's like a cookie cutter, so I cut the circular shapes into the dough.

Then you pop the shapes out of the dough and place them on top of the cutter. Don't forget to spread on the Nutella---it's the secret ingredient and our ravioli filling! And don't be skimpy about it. The only thing I'd do differently next time is I would add more Nutella. I only did a light spreading on each because I wasn't sure how much to put in.

Once you've spread all that Nutella goodness on, you simply fold the shaper in half, and voila!

A bowl of Nutella ravioli ready to bake.

Now, if you can't find one of these little ravioli doo-dads, just cut shapes out with a large round cookie cutter and fold them up, pressing the sides down to seal. Use light dustings of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, etc.

I baked them for about 10-15 minutes on a cookie sheet covered in "carta forno" (oven paper, something they use here in Italy to prevent food from sticking. You might need to grease and flour the cookie sheet.) They came out pretty good, I have to say. Of course, Italian "pasta frolla" is a bit dry and not so sweet; I would have preferred a softer, more sugary cookie, but these were definitely traditional Italian dry biscotti. I dusted on a bit of powdered sugar and that helped. Alessandro loved them though. Italians tend to prefer things that aren't on sugar overload; I always hear from my Italian friends that the desserts I make are "good, but too sweet." These go great with a cappuccino for breakfast.

Stop back tomorrow and I'll have a splendid round-up for you of many Nutella Day participants and their creations. And don't worry if you missed Nutella Day. You can still post and email us at: nutelladay (AT) nutelladay (DOT) com, and we'll add your post to our round-up. But hurry! This offer ends soon!

23 comments:

Cynthia Rae said...

Yeah! I am the first to wish you a happy Nutella day! Hope everyone finds a little way to celebrate!

Indy wins the Super Bowl followed by Nutella Day! Can life get ANY better????

Cyn

Anonymous said...

Happy Nutella day ! and congratulations on these cookies, they look great !
I'm preparing myself for this great day lol, I will post something this afternoon ;-)

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Happy Nutella Day Shelley! Italians just don't know what they're missing with all of our yummy, processed sugar, do they? My post is up! :)

Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy said...

Happy Nutella Day! Those look even better than I imagined! You're awesome!!!

Tracie P. said...

happy nutella day to you too! i'll be celebrating with my head in the jar :)

Unknown said...

Pastafrolla AND Nutella? Jeez... i could kill for something like that... :)

Delina said...

Felice Nutella day a tutti! :D

Anonymous said...

Yum! These look lovely! I love the ravioli shaper - need to pick up one of those. Thanks for co-hosting. Can't wait to check out the round up.

christina said...

Excellent! Those look so awesome. I'm just about to do my Nutella Day post.

Anonymous said...

Happy Nutella Day.Those look so good!

Anonymous said...

I really must try them!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Nutella day! (But not so happy for me)
Those Ravioli Cookies look SO buttery.

FinnyKnits said...

Yes, I will be making these for an upcoming party for sure -- they look delish!

I am celebrating this lovely holiday on the road -- to spread the gospel and broaden my Nutella loving horizons.

My post is up - see where Nutella has been so far...

Anonymous said...

Happy Nutella Day! Thanks for hosting a great event for all the Nutella lovers out there (like me)! Your Nutella ravioli looks fantastic! And I love the ravioli doodads :)

African Kelli said...

Shell, my goodness! Those nutella ravioli are amazing! And I love that crimper thing. WOO HOO! I've got to post this on my site. You did such a great job.

sari said...

Happy Nutella Day!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Happy Nutella day! The cookies look molto deliciouso.

my post is up as well.

Tea said...

Happy Nutella day! Yum yum! I have a huge sweet tooth!

tea
xo

Anonymous said...

Oh my God, I've wanted a recipe for these for the longest time. I still remember eating what seems like the exact same thing at a bakery right around the corner from the Pantheon. As I recall, their ravioli had a hint of citrus in the crust. I've been craving these for six years now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Sassy said...

Wow! I love Nutella so much. Thanks for all the great food ideas. It makes me miss Rome (where I was on vacation last September).

Madelyne said...

they look delicious, send some my way!

Happy Nutella Day :)

Anonymous said...

oh the ravioli shapers! love it and have to have it. mmmm this recipe is awesome, mmmmmmmm!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I've been reading your blog from the beginning..Thank you for your wonderful work! Keep up the good work.