Fudgey Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

A few weeks ago, Amy from One Artsy Mama posted on Facebook that she had never tried Nutella before.  Well, neither had I, and so I commented that I was in the same boat.  Sure, I see lots of recipes with Nutella in the link parties that I host and participate in, but I had just never ever tried it, or thought to try it in some baking.  Well, that all changed when Amy issued a challenge last week, inviting all of us - new and not new to Nutella, to join her at "Go Nuts Day" and to take part in her link party!  Of course I HAD to accept the challenge, and I was off, searching for a recipe for my family!

Over at Averie Cooks, I found this recipe for Fudgey Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting.  These sounded divine, so I chose this recipe for "Go Nuts Day"...here is the recipe:

Fudgey Nutella Brownies


4 squares Baker's Chocolate (semi-sweet)
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons espresso or brewed coffee (optional)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F.

Foil line a 9 x 13 pan (or in my case, an 8 x 12 pan) with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and the butter.  You can do this in a saucepan or in the microwave.  I went the microwave route and heated the two for 45 seconds, enough to melt the butter, and then stirred the chocolate and butter until the chocolate was melted and mixed well. 

Stir in the sugar, followed by the eggs and then the vanilla.  If you choose to add in the espresso, do so now (I did).

Stir in the flour until just moistened, approximately 30 strokes. Do not overmix!  Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Measure out your Nutella and drop/drizzle/dollop along the top of the brownie mixture.  Do not stir it in.  Use a knife to make swirls with the Nutella in the top of the brownie mixture.

Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes.  Be sure to check at 25 minutes to see if a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow the brownies to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of icing sugar (or more, depending on your icing preference)

Combine the cream cheese and butter, mix very well.  Be sure to scrape sides of mixing bowl with spatula to ensure proper mixing.  Mix until smooth.  Slowly add the icing sugar until desired consistency is achieved.  When the brownies are cooled, thinly ice them with the frosting.  Too much frosting takes away from the fudgey goodness of the brownies.

Store brownies in an air tight container in the fridge.  These will also feeze for up to three months.

The original recipe notes that this frosting recipe makes WAY more icing than you will need.  Please do take note!  You can cut the recipe in half and still have plenty of icing to frost the brownies.

VERDICT:
At first, I over-iced the brownies, and found that the icing, which is delicious, took away from the fudgey goodness of the brownies.  My husband agreed.  So, I took some of the frosting off of the brownies, and just like that...AMAZING.  Tasty, fugdey, brownies.  Next time I would probably skip the espresso, neither of us noticed the flavouring.  But we did notice the Nutella.  Not overwhelming, but still good.  Oh and we all enjoyed licking the Nutella spoons and measuring cup when I was prepping the dessert.  Our 5 year old just said "mmmmmmm" when he tried the Nutella.  A nice treat!

Thank you Amy for issuing the Nutella challenge and for hosting us at "Go Nuts Day"!