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Well it is another year, which means another wave of chocolate-hazelnut love to hit the blogosphere with World Nutella Day!

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This is a worldwide food holiday created by Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelley from At Home in Rome and something that all lovers of this wonderful spread celebrate in pure joy around the world due to the amazing sugar high this event produces!

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I have to say that even though I have this date marked on the calendar, this year I wasn’t quite prepared. I meant to get the Trader Joe’s brand of Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread when we were visiting relatives up north, but totally spaced it. I wanted to get that brand because in the USA, Nutella now has Palm Oil in it. Bleech. But what is a girl to do? Sometimes sacrifices need to be made in the name of Nutella goodness.

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Lately I have been having a massive craving for pudding. My mom used to make pudding a lot when I was younger – tapioca was one of my favorites, but I also loved her chocolate pudding – with the pudding skin, thank you very much! So I was going to make a lovely combination pudding – chocolate nutella tapioca, but could not find non-instant tapioca at the grocery store. So I decided to ditch the tapioca idea for now, and go for full on silky nutella bliss.

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I recently got an awesome box of spices from my friend Tony, who with his partner Jonathan travel all over the world. On their trips, they collect spices. He realized he had too much, so he sent me a huge box full of delicious spices. One was cinnamon from Thailand, which is much lighter in color than what I usually get, and tastes like heaven. So I decided to garnish the tops of the pudding with a dash of this cinnamon.

This is a good pudding people. Make it. Make double so you can enjoy it longer or give some to your friends in celebration of this fantastic holiday! Happy World Nutella Day to you all!

Silky Nutella Pudding

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INGREDIENTS:

2 cups organic whole milk
1 cup chocolate almond milk (unsweetened)
1/3 cup Nutella
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 TBS corn starch
2 TBS Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 large egg yolks

METHOD:

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In a large heavy bottomed pot (I used my Le Creuset roasting pan) over medium heat, whisk together milk, almond milk, and nutella until incorporated.

In a small bowl mix salt, cornstarch and cocoa powder and add to the pot. Turn up the heat to medium-high and whisk CONTINUOUSLY until boiling. Then keep whisking for an additional 3-5 minutes, getting all the lumps out. Remove pot from heat.

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks. Temper them with about 1/4 cup of pudding, and then add it to the pot. Whisk together until fully incorporated. Spoon pudding into bowls (we used several different bowls for pretty) and either serve hot, or place in fridge for 2 hours. Serves 4-5.