I love Nutella! Now, I want to be very clear! My love for Nutella did not bloom in the the recent years where it’s advertised like crazy and kind of fad type thing. NO NO NO! I’ve loved this stuff since high school. This is all thanks to my very special and always interesting high school German teacher! If you went to school with me, you know exactly who I’m talking about! She introduced her students to some pretty amazing things and so much more than learning German. We were introduced to fine chocolates, classic musicals, bringing smiles to elderly at Christmas time, and her trademark soda – Tab! And she also introduced me to this wondrous substance called Nutella! I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s kind of dangerous to have in our house! I love chocolate and hazelnuts so this is really the perfect mix of heaven in a jar. The first year of German was a little intimidating! I remember it so well. I know I’m not alone in saying that those dictation lines will forever be stamped in my brain!
“Guten Morgen Frau Fiedler! Wie geht es Ihnen?”
“Danke, gut. Und Ihnen?”
“Danke, es geht mir auch gut!”
One of my favorite memories was the famous “gum jar.” Gum was not allowed in class and our teacher would always catch you if you had gum. When she caught you, she would make you spit your gum into this disgusting glass gallon jar filled with all the previous offenders’ gum. YUCK! I loved our teacher’s wit and sass and was lucky to have her all those four years of German. Luckily, she waited until after I graduated to retire!
Valentine’s Day is almost here. Can you feel the love in the air? Although my husband and I are pretty low-key about it, I still like to make it fun for us and the girls and do something a little special in the kitchen. We usually have a nice Valentine’s dinner at home. Sometimes we go out to dinner, but not always on actual Valentine’s Day. We’ve even taken the kids out as a Valentine’s Family dinner. If you are spending the evening in, or maybe want to just eat dinner out, but skip the over priced dessert like we usually do, this little one would be perfect. It’s quick and easy and so rich in chocolate goodness that you and whoever you share it with are going to love it. I think that when you sink your spoon into this dessert, it whispers “I love you!” I swear I heard it when I savored that first bite!
Nutella Lava Cakes Makes 2-3 lava cakes depending on mug size
Ingredients:
4 TBS Self Rising Flour
4 TBS Granulated Sugar
3 TBS Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Dark)
1 large egg
4 TBS Nutella
3 TBS Milk (Almond milk is fine too)
3 TBS butter
3 TBS chocolate chips
Directions:
In a medium-large microwave safe bowl, heat up the butter until soft.
Blend in the Nutella with the butter until smooth.
Whisk in the Sugar, Flour, and Cocoa powder until incorporated and most lumps are gone.
Add in the egg and the milk and continue to whisk until smooth.
Pour batter into microwave safe coffee mug or tea cup and fill to only 1/2 to 2/3 full. Trust me on this one! 🙂
Drop a TBS or so of chocolate chips in the center and use a spoon to kind of poke them down in the batter in the cup.
Get ready to microwave!
You can microwave 2 cakes at a time. The cakes will inflate and get to the top of the cups and may even over flow a bit so you may want a plate or something underneath. Microwave on high for around 1 min 20 seconds at first.
At 1 min 20 secs, I would open the microwave and check the cakes. You want them to be jiggly, but not completely liquid on the top still. Add 5 seconds at a time to the cooking time, checking the cakes until they are done. They are lava cakes, so they are meant to be gooey and still jiggly. You want a nice shine on top too. Mine took 1 min, 35 seconds but again this will vary with each microwave wattage etc.
We enjoyed ours with a little whipped cream and a strawberry on top. You could dust with powdered sugar, drizzle caramel or whatever you like, or just enjoy them without any extras on top since they are so delicious by themselves.
My oldest daughter, who has a major sweet tooth was dreaming up variations as we were enjoying our treat! Maybe trade out the Nutella for peanut butter, or you could use white chocolate morsels in place of the chocolate chips! I’m sure she won’t mind helping me test more of these out in the future! If you are allergic to nuts and cannot enjoy the delicious Nutella, you could always just add in some melted chocolate in place of it, or add in a little more chocolate chips to compensate!
Enjoy!
**UPDATE** my friend made these with almond milk instead of regular milk and she swapped out the Nutella and used peanut butter instead. She said they turned out awesome! I was also thinking, you could use thick sundae caramel, butterscotch, or chocolate fudge in place of the Nutella. Oh my, I’m craving one now!
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