Friday, August 28, 2009

The Nutella Challenge - Mini Nutella Cheesecakes

Happy Chocolate Friday everybody!! We survived another week! I hope you had a wonderful week and I hope you've got a jar of Nutella to enjoy 'cause that's what I'm talking about today!

A while back I joined the Nutella Challenge hosted by Paula of bell' alimento. I love Nutella so how hard could it be to come up with a few recipes? Well, I am not really a food blogger and have never created a recipe! I am a recipe follower, not a recipe creator. And look at some of the entries like Nutella Gelato or Nutella Crostata and tell me you wouldn't be intimidated! But, for the sake of Nutella and Chocolate Friday readers everywhere - I did come up with something! :)

Now, the main Nutella recipe that I eat is this:

But I figured I should come up with something a little more complicated than that!

I had a mini cheesecake recipe that I decided to tweak and make into mini Nutella cheesecakes. I'm not used to taking pics of the whole process, but thought I would attempt it this time.

I wanted to create a new crust, so I got some Pepperidge Farm Pirouette Cookies - Chocolate Hazelnut flavor. Take 12 cookies and crush them in a bowl. Then try not to eat the leftover cookies in one sitting.


Then mix in some melted butter. Not 4 tablespoons like I did - that was too much. Try 2-3 tablespoons instead.


Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners and fill evenly with crust mixture - about 2 teaspoons each. Then press down and flatten.


Mix up cheesecake batter and fill paper cups about 3/4 full or so. Put about 4 tablespoons of Nutella into remaining cheesecake batter and stir. Distribute evenly between cups - either covering the top completely or using a knife to marble the batter. I tried different methods to see if it mattered for presentation or flavor.


Bake as directed and let cool. Chill. Carefully peel off paper cups and eat!


The two different types don't have a big flavor difference and I think the marbled one is prettier. The cheesecakes have a nice subtle Nutella flavor, but I think some Nutella drizzle (Nutella thinned with a little milk) on the plate helps out. The crust is good, but slightly chewy - not sure if that's because I used too much butter. However, hubby gave the crust 2 thumbs up. You could always try the original crust which is just dropping a Nilla Wafer into the bottom of each paper cup.

Mini Nutella Cheesecakes

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
4 tablespoons Nutella
12 Chocolate Hazelnut Pirouette cookies, crushed and mixed with 2-3 tablespoons melted butter
-or - 12 Nilla Wafers

Line muffin pans with cupcake papers. Put Nilla Wafers or Crushed cookie mixture into bottoms of cups. If using cookie mixture, press flat.

On medium speed, blend cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well. Pour batter over crust, filling cups about 3/4 full. Stir Nutella into remaining cheesecake batter. Distribute Nutella batter evenly between cups and use a knife to marble mixture.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Remove, cool, and chill. Serves 12.

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There you have it - my first Nutella Challenge (stop over there for yummy Nutella recipes)! I survived! I hope you enjoy the recipe.

If you like Nutella, try my other Nutella recipes:

 ~ Nutella Biscotti
 ~ Nutella Popcorn
 ~ Nutella Macadamia Cake
 ~ Nutella S'Mores Cake
 ~ Nutella Bites

I'm linking this post up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Stop over there for great food tips and lots of yummy recipes!

Have a lovely chocolate-filled day my friends!




19 comments:

  1. Hey Lisa,
    Thanks for the new dessert for PMS food..looks yummy...my daughters and I will love it...may my son too.. ;)
    but,everyone here in my family LOVES Nutella.

    Erika

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  2. I stumbled across your blog several months ago in my search for yummy dessert recipes. So many of them I have wanted to try, but we are missionaries and living overseas where we cannot get many of the ingredients. I was SO excited to see this because Nutella (or any of the other 50 different kinds of hazlenut spread we have here) is everywhere. I am looking forward to my next dinner with friends and trying these out because we actually have all of the ingredients! (Just not the Pepperidge Farm brand) Thanks so much for posting! :)

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  3. I think you found yourself a new gig - recipe creator! Looks amazing! :)

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  4. Maybe that's just what I need to get me out of this funk I'm in. Chocolate!!!!!! Can never go wrong with chocolate.

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  5. Those look yummy! I'm like you though, a recipe follower, not creator!

    I posted the Ho-Ho Cake recipe! Invite some friends over if you make it... you'll want to share the calories!

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  6. Nutella is perfect for creating recipes - that is, if you don't eat it all with a spoon straight from the jar first! Your recipe looks great.

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  7. Would you believe that on the top of my to-do list today was "use up the Nutella"? Although your recipe looks delicious, I'm going to use it instead of the caramel in the brownie recipe I linked up. We'll have to try the cheesecakes another day.

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  8. Bring some of those over to me NOW! And while your at it bring your laptop!
    *sigh* I'm going nuts here! I need to blog my thoughts! LOL I got stuff that I know you all need to hear! LOL
    Would you hurry and come into that money my friend. LOL
    Big Ugh size hugs to you my friend.
    Be thankful I just deleted what I wrote even though it was too funny!
    Love you!

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  9. Love Nutella!!
    I had to copy this recipe to my computer. Lisa, you have your own file in my computer. :)

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  10. Sounds and looks DELICIOUS!! Nutella, cheesecake and chocolate...how can you go wrong?!

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  11. I'm not sure a jar of Nutella will last long enough for me to try your cheesecake recipe, but I plan to give it a shot! ( I'll have to pray for the strength to resist. lol!)

    I found your blog via Like a Warm Cup of Coffee and I'm glad I did!

    Lisa
    @ All That and a Box of Rocks

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  12. Wow. I thought I knew Chocolate.
    I learned what Nutulla was.
    This is wonderfyl. Thank you.
    http://germanedel.blogspot.com/
    Lmc.

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  13. See, it wasn't that hard! It looks great! Brava! You also did a fab job with the pics :)

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  14. Oooh...that looks yummy! I love Nutella!

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  15. Yummy. I will need to try this. Love Nutella.

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  16. Wow! love this. Thanks for sharing. I hope to see you at Crock Pot Wednesday on diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com. Thanks again for posting.

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  17. You did a beautiful job with the Nutella. I like the marbelled, also.

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I would love to hear your comments! Thank you for stopping and smelling the chocolates with me!! Currently disabled anonymous comments due to spam attempts - thanks for understanding!

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