In honor of World Nutella Day on February 5th, I offer this recipe of a friend of ours for Nutella Semifreddo. For those of you who are Nutella novices, World Nutella Day was created by American expats Sara and Shelly in 2007, and Michelle joined the fun in 2008. Nutella Day has inspired many of us to come up with Nutella creations to celebrate the day. Nutella is a wonderfully addicting chocolate hazelnut spread that my children consume frequently in their sandwiches. However, the nutty sweetness of the mixture lends itself to many preparations and there are a variety of recipes on the web. A word of caution, the European version of Nutella is slightly less sweet than the American version, but both are delightful. Nutella was created in 1940 by baker Pietro Ferro as a way to extend the chocolate supply in post World War II rationed Italy. His invention was so delightful that it now has worldwide distribution!
Last fall Giuliano taught by himself at our cooking course at Villa Giona. Now that, our oldest daughter, Gabriella is in 6th grade, we’ve realized that we can no longer pull her from school and go as a family as we used too. I must admit a bit of trepidation, Giuliano and I usually team-teach the course and I’m the one who smoothes out any ruffles. One of the courses had been bought out by a group of ladies from a country club in Huston Texas. Now I knew the ladies would be lovely; however, Giuliano didn’t even know what a Lilly Pulitzer was. Fortunately, all went well, the ladies adored him and even had matching aprons made (should I be jealous?). After the week, they said that it was one of the best vacations they had ever experienced. While Giuliano was away, I attended the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco. An Italian friend of ours offered to fly to Sarasota to take care of our kids. Of course, the fact that she would get a two-week vacation on the beautiful beaches didn’t hurt, however, it was an EXTREMLY generous offer, and we jumped at the chance.
Like most Italians that I’ve met, our friend Lorella Cappellato, loves to cook. Half of her luggage contained Italian ingredients that are not yet possible to get in the States. She also brought loads of recipes to make with the girls. My girls were excited because Lorella is a baker and loves to make cakes and candies. Her pièce de resistance is her Nutella Semifreddo.
For those of you who think Nutella is just a sandwich spread, you are in for a treat. This is a sweet and creamy dessert that the kids love, yet is sophisticated enough for adults too. Lorella made it as a semifreddo in a glass for the adults, she then surrounded it with chocolate and created popsicles for the kids. Semifreddo in Italian means half frozen, and this recipe had the lightness of meringue mixed with the sweet flavor of Nutella. A fun dessert for the entire family.
Nutella Semifreddo
Adapted by me, Lael Hazan from Lorella Cappellato’s recipe in Italian
1 cup heavy cream
2 oz meringue Italiana (see below)
2 tablespoons of Nutella
Whip cream until firm peaks are formed
Mix whipped cream and meringue together.
Add Nutella and whip until mixture is smooth and creamy.
Pour into small dessert goblets,
Decorate as you wish, for adults you may want to add pistachios, for the kids perhaps sprinkles or chocolate chunks.
Freeze. It won’t get too hard.
Meringue Italiana
Makes 2 cups
1 cup egg whites
2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1. Mix 1 ½ cups sugar with water on top of stove until it boils.
2. In bowl, mix egg whites with ½ cup sugar until combined.
3. Slowly add sugar mixture into egg whites a little bit at a time. Continue mixing until the mixture forms peaks. Around 10 minutes on high speed.
To make Nutella popsicles.
Put Nutella semifreddo mixture into marshmellow sized silicon mold, insert small sticks, and freeze.
12 comments
Oh my gosh Lael it’s absolutely gorgoues – elegant and I love the sound of the texture – Happy World Nutella Day to you!
Looks fabulous…plus, Nutella popsicles?! LOVE it! Thanks so much for participating, and Buon World Nutella Day 🙂
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michelle Fabio and Ellanie Sampson, Lael Hazan. Lael Hazan said: Happy 5th #nutelladay! I've posted a nutella semifreddo recipe http://bit.ly/nutelladay @nutelladay @rosso @michellefabio […]
This looks divine and beautifully decorated!
This is lovely Lael and right up our alley – we’ve only made semi-freddo a couple times but it’s wonderful; Nutella will take that right over the top! And glad to have you confirm that US Nutella is sweeter than Nutella in Italy – we ate it by the jar-fulls when I was in Rome back in 1997 – slathered on bakery rolls – oh. my. heck.
Love this recipe!!! I may try for a valentine’s treat for my sweetie. He’s a nutella nut 😉
Oh my. How awesome does that look!
[…] Nutella Semifreddo in honor of World Nutella Day […]
I love that spread. You semifreddo looks so tempting and the presentation is fabulous!
Cheers,
Rosa
I’m in and loving this. Have to make this as soon as the weather changes. How delicious! Happy Nutella Day my friend. I’m glad this delicious wave has thrown up so much Nutella yumminess.
Isn’t it funny how European Nutella is different than it’s US counterpart, in fact I think even within Europe it varies. I’ve had the French and Italian versions and I think they are slightly different, I’ve also heard that the German version is stiffer in consistency. The semifreddo sounds incredibly light and yet sinful!
My mouth is watering as I read & look and think about this dessert! *drool* I hope you enjoyed your nutella day! I ate an entire jar by myself! 🙂
Oh my! Of all the Nutella recipes in the blogosphere at the moment this must be the most elegant, the most beautiful and maybe the one that most has my name written all over it! Stunning! And definitely a must-make! I didn’t know, but thoroughly believe, that Nutella sold in Europe is (happily) less sweeter than the American version, as are all products sold on both continents…but I never realized that it was created in Italy! I learn something new here every time I visit! xox
this recipe makes amazing delicious semifreddo, but it is soooo sweet :3