A few days ago, I wanted to make a super delicious cake using what I had at home. I absolutely didn’t feel like going out because there was a torrential downpour and it was freezing cold!
The cake, besides lifting my mood, would also warm me up a bit, giving me an excuse to turn on the oven!
So I opened various cupboards in my kitchen looking for inspiration. Well, flour and sugar are always there, but aside from the basics, what is never missing in my house is Nutella.
Yes, I admit it, I’m a “Nutella addict” in the sense that I love it, I would eat it anytime and spread it on anything, and warnings about its composition don’t matter much to me; even if it were made with bitumen, nothing would stop me from consuming it.
I swear Mr. Ferrero didn’t pay me to say these things!!!! My craving for sweets was big, but my willingness to put effort was a bit less, so I created a crumble – nothing new, you might say rightly – to which I added some excellent Piedmont hazelnuts in the dough.
The result, needless to say, is amazing. As a line from a movie goes, it lasted as long as a cat on a highway!!!!!
If you, like me, are incurable Nutella addicts, try it, this crunchy hazelnut crumble is truly unparalleled. If you’re also a Nutella addict, you might be interested in these recipes too.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 10 slices
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 518.04 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 49.93 (g) of which sugars 30.09 (g)
- Proteins 7.21 (g)
- Fat 33.57 (g) of which saturated 18.42 (g)of which unsaturated 14.18 (g)
- Fibers 3.61 (g)
- Sodium 93.44 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 60 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup toasted hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups Nutella®
- 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts
Tools
- Springform pan
Steps
In the bowl of a stand mixer or a manual bowl, mix the cold butter in cubes with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the egg yolks and mix until incorporated. Then add the sifted flour. Finally, incorporate the coarsely chopped hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour) and knead. Form a dough ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 40 minutes in the freezer.
Take the Nutella and slightly warm it in a bain-marie or in the microwave (15 seconds at 700W is enough) so it softens and is easier to spread on the dough.
After the resting time, take a little more than half of the dough, take a 9-inch diameter baking pan (I always use springform pans so it’s easier to remove once baked) and distribute the crumble dough evenly to make a layer slightly less than half an inch thick. Press it gently with your fingertips.
Pour the Nutella over the dough base and spread it evenly. Crumble the remaining dough over the hazelnut cream to cover it. Decorate the surface with a few hazelnuts inserted between the dough crumbs. Bake in a preheated ventilated oven at 330°F for 45 minutes on the lowest rack of the oven. Remove from the oven and let cool. If desired, you can dust the surface with powdered sugar.
NOTES
Please, when buying butter, choose high-quality ones and the same goes for hazelnuts, get the Piedmont IGP ones. If you have any leftover crumble, bake it separately by spreading it evenly on a baking sheet at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. Once baked, let it cool in the turned-off oven. You can use it later to prepare a quick breakfast by spreading it on fruit puree or on vanilla yogurt.
HAZELNUTS You can replace hazelnuts with other nuts in the same quantities.
NUTELLA You can replace Nutella with pistachio spread in the same quantities.
BAKING If you use a static oven instead of a ventilated one, increase the temperature by 30°F, the baking time will remain almost the same. Keep an eye on it during the last minutes of baking.
STORAGE
This cake keeps at room temperature for at least 3-4 days, preferably covered under a cake dome.
