An Excuse to Eat Nutella. Like I Need One.

Woo-hoo!
 World Nutella Day is finally here.
An excuse to eat Nutella out in the open.
I can take that jar that's been hidden behind the chicken broth in the pantry, just to the left of the arborio rice, and dip my knife proudly into it. No hiding shamefully with it in the garage today (just checking my tire pressure - be right in!).
I'm thinking Nutella for breakfast (on a banana), lunch (Nutella panini) and dinner (Nutella chicken mole anyone?).
There's even a Nutella cocktail. It's Friday isn't it?

So what if World Nutella Day is a pretend holiday (may I remind you that so is Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Administrative Assistant Day)? It's the delicious brainchild of Sara Rosso at Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, now in it's fourth year.

My entry this year is Nutella Rugelach. Traditional rugelach are mini pastries, made with a cream cheese and butter dough, and filled with apricot jam or brown sugar and nuts.
Delish.
But not quite as yummy as this decadent version.
The rolling part requires a little muscle, which is fine. You'll burn a few calories.
Permission granted to have another rugelach.

Nutella and Toasted Hazelnut Rugelach
adapted from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies


Dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsps. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold

8 oz. cream cheese, cold

Filling:

1 cup hazelnuts, chopped and toasted

1 13 oz. jar Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread (you won't use all of it)

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into eight pieces and add to the flour mixture. Pulse until the the butter pieces are the size of breadcrumbs. Cut the cream cheese into four pieces and add to the mixture. Process until the dough begins to clump together, about 30 seconds. Remove from processor and divide into four equal pieces. Press each piece into a flat circle, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350.
Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator. Roll between two pieces of wax paper into a 12" circle, approx. 1/8" thick.  Peel the top sheet of wax paper from the dough and place it on the counter or a cutting board. Flip the dough over onto the paper and peel off the second sheet.

 Spread a thin layer of Nutella over entire circle of dough, then sprinkle generously with hazelnuts.

Cut the dough like a pie into 12 equal wedges. Roll the wide outside edge of each slice up around the filling towards the point. Place the roll, point side down, on a cookie sheet (lined with Silpat if you have it). Repeat with remaining wedges, placing cookies about 1 1/2" apart. If at any time the dough becomes too soft, return it to the refrigerator to firm up for a little while.
Roll, cut and fill the remaining pieces of dough.

Bake about 25 minutes or until light golden brown at the edges.
Remove from oven and set baking sheets on cooling racks.
Cool completely before storing or stacking.
They're best the day they're made, but can be stored airtight for a few days.

Note: I brushed the top of each rugelach with a little beaten egg and a sprinkle of vanilla sugar before baking. It doesn't change the taste, but they look pretty.

See the World Nutella Day website for LOADS more chocolate-y, hazelnutty recipes.