200th Post of Love: Salted Caramel Nutella Fudge!!

 Picked up the original recipe over at Doughmesstic, and it's worth every second!

This recipe makes one 9x9 pan, with as many pieces as you want (up to 50 if you plan accordingly!)

Bottom Layer

• 1 cup Semi Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Nutella

1. Melt the chips in the microwave, stir every 30 seconds until smooth, then add the Nutella.  

2. Spread in the bottom of a parchment paper lined and greased 9x9 pan.

Salted Caramel Layer

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream

1. In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt.  Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved.  Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat for about 6 to 8 minutes.  Just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan.  Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

3. Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Let the caramel cool to room temp

 Middle Layer

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Evaporated Milk
• 1 7 oz. Jar Marshmallow Creme
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Chopped Hazelnuts

1. Top caramel with chopped nuts.

2. In a medium pan, melt butter.  Add the sugar and evaporated milk.  Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. 

3.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and marshmallow creme.  Pour mixture evenly over the previous layers.

Top Layer

• 1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Semi Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Nutella

1. Repeat process for bottom layer, and pour evenly over the top of the previous layers.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until firm.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Caramel layer will be gooey, keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

* Make sure you refrigerate between layers so there is a better distinction between each one when you cut into it. *



It's funny how the first 100 took the longest.  This second set of 100 posts went by in a blink.  Here's to many, many more.

Enjoy!

World's Most Expensive Cupcakes? Totally worth it!

Happy 2012!  I have spent the last two weeks enjoying the presence of my family and luxuriating in going out and having others cook for me.  Ultimately?  I'm behind on cooking and blogging.  However, I did make the world's most expensive cupcakes and lived to tell the tale.  True story!


It started back the week before Christmas.  We were planning our menu, and there was a variety of cakes and desserts to be made.  However, time ran short and desserts were in abundance, so I put my dessert on the back burner until the New Year, when we could all properly enjoy it!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 24 chocolate-hazelnut truffles (Ferrero Rocher®)

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder; set aside. Combine the milk, liqueur, and vanilla in a small bowl.
2. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Pour in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing until just incorporated, ending with the flour. Pour the batter into prepared cups, about 1/2 cup each.

3. Press an unwrapped truffle into the bottom of each cupcake and spread the batter over the top of each truffle. (I put some batter in first so they weren't resting on the bottom of the pan, then I placed the FR, then I finished filling the cup.) Bake in a preheated oven until the tops spring back to the touch, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Just a note: it's okay if you don't completely fill the cups.  I covered the Ferrero Rochers and then filled each cup 1/2-2/3 of the way.  They rose incredibly, as you can see from the cooling picture, and once you frost it, no one will ever know!

Now, for the frosting...

I had a hard time just spreading Nutella as a frosting.  Thomas loves it, as do many others, I'm sure, but I just can't do the straight up Nutella.  My cupcakes, my rules.  So, I found another recipe that seemed like a great compromise.

Nutella Frosting Ingredients:

1 (16oz) can of pre-made dark chocolate frosting

1 tspVanilla Extract

3/4 cup Nutella spread

3/4 cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:Blend well and pipe on.

* Side note: once you put chocolate frosting on a chocolate cupcake, it looks pretty bland (at best) and like an unmentionable body function (at worst).  I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top to break up the monotony, but I'm sure you'll be clever enough to figure something out.

The sweetness is all in the frosting.  The cupcake itself is very mellow, especially without a lot of sugar.

Sweet Sunday!

c

 Oh, yeah!  It's a Nutella kind of day.  Thomas was gone for 36 hours and I wanted to spoil him horribly upon his return.  PLUS, I just landed a new job here, and I was in the mood for a cooking celebration!

So, I started mixing up the recipe for the Chocolate Hazelnut Torte, when I realized I used a regular size devil's food mix instead of the half-size.  Whoops!  I guess that just means I had to make two instead of one.   Luckily, I had enough of the other ingredients to double up without causing too much of a scene in our household.  Oh, and I only used 1/4 of the prescribed hazelnuts from the single recipe for the cake because I'm not entirely nuts about nuts.

 Now, I didn't have any Cool Whip in the house, and I wasn't really in the mood for their prescribed frosting, so I did a little search and found a Nutella Cream Cheese frosting that sounded OUT OF THIS WORLD!  Real talk.  Be jealous.

Now, I had two cakes, so instead of making two whole cakes, I decided to be a piggy make a double layered torte.  If you're going to make a cream cheese frosting, why let any of it go to waste?!  Also?  I think I used almost twice as much Nutella in the frosting and about half as much powdered sugar.  It made more sense to me that way.

I couldn't let the rest of the nuts go to waste, so I used the other 1/4 cup to sprinkle across the top.  I didn't want to save them for another day, so I figured that it was now or never.  Finally, I made up some strawberries to cut the richness (ha!) or at least add the goodness of strawberries and whipped cream.  How could you go wrong with a dessert like that?!  Quick tip?  Use the egg slicer+ to slice your strawberries beautifully for a dessert!

Oh yeah...  it was that good!