Peanut Butter-Nutella Brownies

More Nutella, this time paired with delicious, creamy peanut butter. These aren't your ordinary cake-like, box-mix brownies. These are gooey, fudgey, melt-in-your-mouth, gotta-have-milk brownies, and I'm so excited to share! I swiped this recipe from the official Noble Pig food blog. Just discovered it, and I'm in love. Check it out.

I was out of PB, so my roommate let me use her Reduced-Fat PB. (Does that mean I can call these Reduce-Fat Brownies? Sure, that's logical.)


You'll need:


Brownies
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter


Topping
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
Peanut butter chips
Mini chocolate chips

Start by melting two sticks of butter in a large sauté pan on medium-low heat.

While that's slowly breaking down, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk sugar and vanilla into the melted butter.

Add in eggs, one at a time, whisking well between each one.

Add dry ingredients and whisk together.

Whisk, whisk, whisk!

Then, melt the peanut butter and Nutella in the microwave (in a microwave-safe bowl) for about 30 seconds on High.

The mixture will be runny, but still use a rubber spatula to get all of it into the batter.

Keep whisking!

Spray a 9x13 inch glass pan with Baker's Joy (a mixture of flour and oil - best invention ever), and pour in the batter!

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the icing, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk with a fork.

When the brownies are cool, drizzle on the icing.

Or if you're impatient like me and can't wait for the brownies to cool, just know the icing will melt and not look as pretty. I'm okay with that.

Sprinkle on the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

 Mmm happiness.

Sending you lots of Nutella/love from my kitchen. Enjoy!

Pasta in Creamy Wine Sauce

This is another one of those pasta recipes that I improvised and somehow it turned out great!! Try it out!

You'll need:
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 onion, coarsely sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely sliced
1/8 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup sliced black olives
2 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (plus a little more for topping)
1/4 cup dry white wine (like Chardonnay)
1/4 cup half-and-half
1/3 pound pasta - I used medium shells.
*Serves 2 - Feel free to double or triple the proportions. :)

Sauté onion, pepper, and pine nuts in olive oil in a medium pan for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

Chop up and add some olives, and sauté for another 5 minutes or so.

Drizzle on more olive oil as necessary.

When the veggies are tender and cooked the way you want them, set the pan aside (off the heat) while you make the sauce. I like to buy these mini bottles of Chardonnary because they're great for cooking. Just use what you want and store the rest in the fridge!

 Start melting 2 Tbsp. butter on medium-low heat.

Whisk in wine and half-and-half.

Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes as the butter melts and alcohol evaporates out, stirring occasionally.

Add your cooked pasta to the veggie mixture.

Pour on sauce, and toss. Top with more parmesan, obviously.

Enjoy!

Nutella Rice Krispy Treats

That's right... two Nutella recipes in a row! Can you handle it?!

You'll need:

1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) butter

1 pkg. (10.5 oz) mini marshmallows

1 jar (13 oz) Nutella

1 pkg. (9 oz) Rice Krispies cereal

Melt butter on medium-low heat in a large saucepan.

Add marshmallows and fold together.

When marshmallows and butter are melted together, remove from heat and fold in Nutella!

Stir until all melted together.

Fold in cereal.

Once combined, press the mixture into a 9x13 glass dish that has been sprayed with olive oil cooking spray.

Cool and cut into squares.

Eat up!!

Nutella Croissants

Recently I wandered over to the "Stats" tab on my blog and took a look at which posts have the most hits. The two most popular are the Nutella Swirl Cupcakes and Oatmeal Nutella & Walnut Cookies.  I guess my readers - whoever they are - really like Nutella. And I'm here to make you happy. So I have a few Nutella recipes that I've been playing around with - here's the first. Could not be easier!

You'll need:
1 can "Big & Flaky" Pillsbury crescent dough (12 oz.)
8 Tbsp. Nutella
Powdered sugar for sprinkling

One day I will experiment with making my own croissant dough. But not today. Not when Pillsbury makes a can version that's SO easy and delicious.

Just unroll the dough and place a dollop of Nutella on the wider end of the triangle of dough.

Roll up the triangle, and gently press together the dough on the sides where the Nutella is peeking out. This will keep it from seeping out while baking.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

 Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Mmmm... I might have eaten three of these for breakfast - don't judge.