Decadent and incredibly fudge-y these Nutella brownies are the perfect treat for Valentine’s day. They are also incredibly easy to make: 1 bowl and 10 min prep time + 30 min bake.

I have to admit I haven’t really been much of a brownie fan throughout my life. Sure as a kid I would have the crispy brownie edges (which lets face it, really is the best part of a brownie) whenever there was a tray of brownies in front of me, but when the brownie edge was not an option I would always graciously decline, which annoyed the cr** out of my then best friend who argued her mom made the best brownies in the world and most of our grade would flock to her house to get in on some brownie action. I on the other hand, always asked her if there was some freshly made lemon curd to scoop on some buttered warm toast.

As I have grown older I’ve gotten even worse, my palate just CANNOT take so much sweetness. And yes, I do understand the irony of it coming from a pastry chef, but I also think it’s what lets me balance out flavors. I mean is it really worth covering up all those subtle flavor nuances with an unhealthy sugar overload and have to dash off and drink a liter of water because of how sickling sweet something is?

So naturally, because of the sugar to other ingredients ratio, brownies are something I have mostly avoided, eating at least. Despite all my efforts to keep them out of our pastry menu, and sub them for more delicate and complex opera cake or chocolate eclairs, every time we did a survey we found out how much our clients really wanted brownies. We eventually gave in and put them on the menu, tweaked for sure; think sour cherry brownies, chai brownies, and mocha brownies.

More or less the same thing happened here. I have been listening to your Instagram DMs and comments so I got to work on a brownie recipe that ticked all the boxes (ie, very chocolatey, fudge, not SUPER sweet, and easy to make). And violá. Brownies, and not just any brownies. Nutella brownies. Valentine’s day solved. You’re welcome.

Now despite this whole spiel on how I’m not much of a brownie person. I have to say I just might be a convert now. Sure they’re sweeter than cake, it’s unavoidable. But man are they GOOD! They’re also way less sweet than others out there so you can actually savor all of that scrumptious Nutella goodness.

Which brings me to Nutella. I bet you don’t know the history behind the world’s favorite spread.

Nutella history.

To uncover the origin of Nutella we have to go all the way back to Napoleon.

Between 1803 and 1815 Europe saw itself immersed in The Napoleonic Wars. These were a series of major conflicts between the French Empire and a series of coalitions, seven in total, orchestrated by Great Britain to try and hinder Napoleon’s plans for Europe.

In the midst of 1806, Napoleon tried to paralyze British trade and commerce by proclaiming a blockade which clearly stated that no French ally or neutral country were allowed to trade with the Brits. Although French manufacturing increased in certain parts of the country, the truth is this hurt French (and every other) economy much more than it helped.

Not ones to turn the other cheek, the British Parliament also decided to subject France and its allies to a counter-blockade. Being a seafaring country gave Britain the upper hand who already dominated most of the international trade at the time.

Both the blockade and counter-blockade hampered trade so ruthlessly that certain goods like sugar and chocolate became increasingly scarce and therefore incredibly expensive. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Napoleon’s allies resorted to smuggling in goods that only the British were selling.

Seeking to completely stop British trade a cocky Napoleon made the worst tactical mistake of his entire Imperial career. He declared war on Russia in an attempt to persuade Tsar Alexander I to cease trading with Britain and block the flow of English contraband from Russia to Europe. Napoleonic troops were nearly annihilated. The French Emperor lost his ironclad control of Europe, his once allies turned against him and joined the British, Russian, Spanish rebels and others. Napoleon was dethroned and exiled to the island of Elba.

But what does this have to do with Nutella? Well, the turmoil caused by the blockade and counter-blockade halted almost every industry, and chocolate one was no different. World-renowned Italian chocolatiers were desperate. It wasn’t until by a stroke of genius one of said chocolatiers decided to add hazelnuts to the chocolate mix to stretch out his chocolate reserves a bit more. Hazelnuts were abundant in the nearby Piedmont area and, even better, were dirt cheap. It was a "no brainer".

An almost "comedic" name

The resulting mixture of hazelnuts and chocolate was dubbed Gianduja after a very famous character, also called a mask, of the very famous Italian theater performance Commedia dell’arte of the Renasaince. Commedia dell’arte was an early form of professional theatre where masked actors (hence the name mask) played impromptu sketches.

The Gianduja mask (character) is a happy-go-lucky peasant from the Piedmont region with a strong penchant for wine, food, and pretty girls. The character, in turn, is said to have been inspired by a famous local happy drunk nicknamed Giann della Doja, “John of the tankard”, a testament to tankard or jug full of wine that was perpetually in his hand.

The Gianduja character set the groundwork for the stereotype of the Piedmontese during the Renaissance; happy, simple, and drunk. Actors playing the mask were always dressed in a brown jacket decorated with red borders and wore a tricorn hat. It was actually the shape of Gianduja’s hat that was immortalized forever in chocolate form. All Gianduiotti are shaped in a triangular log before being individually wrapped.

The birth of Nutella.

When WWII war broke out and scourged Europe, rationing kicked in once more. Chocolate, as well as many other products, was scarce and expensive again. Chocolatiers and pastry chefs turned to Gianduja once more. Out of all of these men, few stand out as much as Pietro Ferrero.

The pastry chef from Turin was determined to make a cheap chocolate snack that would end in every factory worker’s lunch box. By grinding the hazelnuts with sugar and oils he created a paste that when added to chocolate would make the sweet much softer. He dubbed his creation Giandujot and sold it in blocks or bricks wrapped in tin foil. Giandujot was easily cut and sandwiched into bread.

His creation was a success selling at less than a quarter of the price than traditional chocolate, and although it was well received by the factory workers was aiming his product at, it was a much younger demographic who raged about it. Giandujot was an instant success amongst children and moms, always on the lookout for a novelty lunchbox snack.

Pietro, however, died on the 2nd of March in 1949, months before his paste became the spreadable and the household "pop luxe" ( popular luxury) wonder we know and love today.

According to the company, the summer of 1949 was a particularly hot one and their stock of Giandujot inevitably melted, forcing the company to transfer their chocolate and hazelnut product into jars and avoid losing their stock. The “meltdown” inspired Michele Ferrero (Pietro’s son) to revolutionize his father’s formula and create a spreadable version of it. Michele called his new and improved paste Supercrema. Nutella had been born, albeit with a different moniker.

What's in a name?

In 1962, Italian lawmakers decided to ban all superlatives from brand names in an effort to prevent consumers from being misled. This meant Supercrema had to be revamped, yet again. Always one for innovation Michele decided to rebrand his creamy-chocolatey-concoction Nutella a compound word from the English word nut and Italian suffix -ella and change the dated yellow and orange packaging for a more slick and modern jar with white background and red and black typography. It was so well pulled off that little has changed from the 1963 design.

Branding and advertising might very well be the keys to Nutella's success. Not to say that their recipe isn't delicious (because we all know it is), but in fact, even despite the fact they would rather lose lawsuits than spill the beans on what oil combination they use to make Nutella so spreadable, there really isn't that much too it. Making a delicious paste out of chocolate, sugar, hazelnuts, and oil is almost too easy.

There are hundreds of companies out there that make comparable products that are in fact just as good, but let's face it nobody in their right mind REALLY prefers a jar of generic hazelnut and chocolate spread. It's like saying you'd rather have a Pepsi than a Coke.

The fact that a jar of Nutella is sold somewhere in the world every 2.5 seconds only ratifies this statement. That’s a lot of Nutella guys. Here to contribute to the Nutella madness are my brownies.

Yield: 15Author: Michelle Bessudo

Nutella Brownies

prep time: 10 minscook time: 30 minstotal time: 40 mins

Decadent and incredibly fudge-y these Nutella brownies are the perfect treat for Valentine’s day. They are also incredibly easy to make: 1 bowl and 10 min prep time + 30 min bake.

ingredients:

75 g (1/3 cup or 5 Tablespoons) butter
(50g) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
(350g) Nutella, (reserve 6 spoonfuls for later)
1/2 teaspoon salt
(100g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
(100g) semi-sweet chocolate cut into semi-large chunks (chocolate chips would also work well)
A generous amount of Maldon salt flakes.

instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
Line the bottom and sides pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, you could grease the pan with butter and dust with cocoa powder.
Cream butter and sugar and salt until fluffy and double in volume.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add eggs & vanilla extract. Continue beating until well combined.
Add Nutella and mix until thoroughly combined.
Fold in flour with the help of a spatula (makes the batter a bit more dense and gooey)
Add chocolate chunks (or chips) and hazelnuts and fold into the batter.
Pour the batter into baking pan and with the help of a spoon make sure you even out the batter in the pan.
Dollop the reserved 6 tbsp Nutella on top and swirl into the batter with a knife or spoon.
Sprinkle salt flakes to taste
Bake for approximately 25 -30 min
Let brownies cool completely in pan before taking them out or cutting into them. This makes it possible to make a very clean cut.

Created using The Recipes Generator