Original post July 26th 2010

Nutella is not just a Chocolate Hazelnut spread in Italy!
PLEASE … Bite your tongue! Nutella is a way of life!
You can find Nutella in gelato (called gianguia), served in crepes, Kinder eggs*, in small individual servings to giant jars that sit in shops. Even La Befana (the old woman/witch at Christmas is known to bring Nutella to good Children. There will be stories on her as we approach the holidays, don’t worry).

This past July when the EU proposed a law about posting the nutritional information on the requirements on food labels a very heated debated started in the Italian press with food companies. I wish I could have read more of it (however my limited understanding & speaking of Italian and reading the newspaper (giornale) are two different things, but I knew the word (parola) “Nutella” & with translation help from friends they shared this: that if the law was to go through it could bring an end to Nutella
( http://www.nutella.it ). Can you say … NUTELLA PANIC for all of ITALIA!?!?!?! Putting this in perspective & with what I have read, we are looking at approximately 2012 when this legislation would pass. But until then, Nutella & ALL the people who LOVE Nutella are out to support their favorite food staple via a Facebook campaign
( http://www.facebook.com/Nutella.Italy?v=wall&ref=search ) or any other means they can create.

A side note about Nutella, the version we eat here in Italy is not the same as the versions eaten outside of Italy unless it’s imported, as the Ferraro company holds the Italian recipe as a highly guarded secret! So all other versions are different. For example, in the USA, Nutella is sweeter, it is lighter in color and made with hydrogenated peanut oil & comes out of Canada.

There are many blogs devoted to Nutella even a day devoted, “World Nutella Day” the next one is, February 5, 2011 ( http://www.nutelladay.com/ ). In our household, we love Nutella and LuccaBella has even jumped on the bandwagon by finding a recipe she wanted us to try. I revised it into a Nutella muffin recipe so we could have these for breakfast! There were no complaints so with a cup of café or LuccaBella’s cup of milk (latte) in hand, the last few mornings have been quite yummy in our house (casa).

As you can see, Nutella is MORE than an a Chocolate, Hazelnut spread …
Nutella is a way of life!

* Kinder eggs cannot be found in the USA because they are banned due to the laws of “non-nutritive items” in foods meaning they have a non-nutritive object embedded in them. They are a CULT phenomenon here & around Europe with collectors from young to old. The Ferraro Company makes them & they are thin chocolate/Nutella eggs with a toy surprise inside! A day doesn’t go buy when I don’t hear, “Mamma, a Kinder egg today”?

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LuccaBella’s Breakfast Nutella Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins
Ingredients:
10 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4-cup white canter sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
12 tsp Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F.
Prepare muffin tin with liners.
To make muffins—Cream together butter and sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs on at a time. The batter may not look smooth, this is fine. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until all the flour is blended. Note, the batter will be quite thick, this is normal. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill each muffin liner with batter. Cups should be 3/4 full if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with the 1 tsp Nutella. Swirl the Nutella in with a toothpick or wooden skewer, folding a little batter up and over the Nutella as well. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool.
(Revised from a recipe LuccaBella found on her new News website dogonews)