Nutella addicts worldwide, get ready to celebrate!
Word Nutella Day is every February 5th, a tradition that strangely enough wasn’t started in Italy – but right here in the United States in 2007, by the American blogger Sara Rosso, to show her love and devotion for Nutella. She loved Nutella so much that she felt it deserved a whole day for celebrating the hazelnut spread. Since that day, Nutella lovers have come together to celebrate, sharing their love, recipes and pictures of the hazelnut spread on social media.
In New York City, Nutella has quickly become a staple for dessert menus at many restaurants. A versatile ingredient that inspired many chefs to create tasty combinations as far the imagination can go, these recipes prove that there is more than one way to eat Nutella.
Customarily, Italians grew up eating pane e Nutella – by spreading the creamy chocolate on a simple slice of bread. It is a perfect match and it’s usually eaten at breakfast or as a snack. If you want to try this Italian tradition, you can find it at the Nutella Cafe’ in University Place. It comes on a grilled baguette or a demi-baguette with some hazelnuts on top. The café’s menu also includes a mouth-watering Nutella gelato. Close by, at Ribalta Pizzeria, Nutella is served as an updated tiramisù with a name of its own, the BabaMiSud. It is the southern Italian version of the classic dessert – featuring mascarpone cream layered with babà and Nutella, topped with amarena and a couple of sour black cherries. Ribalta also serves Nutella as a topping choice for their famous Neapolitan pizza. Nutella Pizza is a highlight of Kesté Pizza e Vino’s dessert menu as well, in addition to their angeletti: strips of fried pizza dough covered with the spread – served with a scoop of gelato.
Following the theme of fried dough, Nutella also works well the traditional panzerotto: a small fried calzone typical of the Apulia region. At I Love Panzerotti, the Nutella panzerotto is filled either with Nutella, marshmallows and peanut butter (an Italian to tribute to s’mores) or with Nutella and mascarpone cheese. A sweet version of the panzerotto can also be found at Cardoncello Divino – but this time it’s filled with Nutella, truffle honey and topped with toasted almonds.
Nutella has inspired the creativity not only of Italian cuisine: at Japan Village, the Japanese Marketplace at Industry City in Brooklyn, Nutella obanyaki is on offer; this is a traditional thick, round pastry usually stuffed with sweet azuki bean paste. At Dough in the Flatiron district, Nutella is the perfect filling for doughnuts (or what we call ciambelle in Italy). Sugar N Coal in Queens created a Nutella Cosmopolitan, a Nutella milkshake (topped with fresh glazed donut and candy favors), a Nutella Cheesecake and a Nutella Cosmic Crepe Cake that’s 20 layers of pure indulgence. At Miss Madeleine, a French bakery in Yorkville, you can start your day with a Nutella croissant, while at Michaeli Bakery in Chinatown Nutella was used in the venue’s signature babka – the sweet braided bread or cake of Ashkenazi Jewish origin.