French Friday with Dorie: Nutella Tartine

OUR FRENCH LUNCH THAT I WOULD LABEL DESSERT...YUM!

It's my day with Honey and we are making a fancy French Toast, not the dipped in eggs and fried kind, but traditional toast, or Nutella Tartine, for lunch.

I first got into Nutella several years ago, when we  brought home our adopted daughters #4 and #5 from an Eastern European orphanage. Upon arrival, they struggled with our American diet.  America has such an abundance of good foods to choose from, yet we quickly learned that while in the orphanage "prison" where our girls were rarely allowed out, their palates had not developed a liking for even regular foods.  They had lived on bland, unsweetened mush for breakfast, the same mush for dinner and nothing in between, and some days, the menu was just "nothing."  But the children dream about chocolates and oranges and strawberries...mostly sweet foods and candies, and on rare occasions, possibly at Christmastime, charities brought treats to the children, and these were usually some version of hazelnut chocolates.  The flavor of Nutella was the flavor of fairytales.

FRESH OUT-OF-THE-OVEN BAGUETTE--I READ YESTERDAY THAT THE FRENCH OFTEN EAT THEIR BAGUETTES WITH CHOCOLATE

It did not take the girls long to figure out that Nutella was a dream come true.  In their country, hazelnuts, which grow on bushes, are plentiful and used in chocolates and desserts and are readily available if one can afford such luxuries.  I often came home to find empty Nutella jars carefully placed back in the cupboard where I was expected to discover that their contents had magically disappeared.  To this day, Nutella is a favorite food for the girls and also for all their European friends.  If I place a jar of Nutella in their Christmas stockings or as a fun additional birthday gift, the girls feel loved.

HONEY STIRS THE NUTELLA

I too enjoy Nutella, especially the homemade version.  We like to spread it along with a few white chocolate chips inside croissants, give them 10 seconds or so in the microwave until the chocolate spread is melted, and then bam them with powdered sugar and cocoa.  This simple, yet dreamed about, dessert is mentioned in a more sophisticated form by Dorie where she writes about a patisserie-bought pain au chocolat, a croissant with a rectangle of chocolate in the middle." 

HONEY MAKES SURE THE NUTELLA IS GOOD

After melting the Nutella inside the croissant we like to additionally stuff it with sliced fresh strawberries or bananas...and the result is divine.  But I'd never thought to add chopped hazel nuts as a garnish. YUM!

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Today will be more simple.  Honey and I made from scratch baguette breads and I have sliced rounds that are just Honey's size.  After toasting our rounds, we spread them with freshly made raspberry jam, drizzled the hazelnut spread over the tops, and then we garnished our toasts with Fleur de Sel and  toasted, chopped Hazelnuts.  Honey bagan her lunch by carefully picking off each nut piece and eating it like it was a new delicacy.

The important verdict is in.  Honey loves this lunch treat!  We will make it for whoever shows up to visit us today as this particular delicacy only takes a couple of minutes to prepare.  Nice.

Note:  Sunday we will enjoy a family from Moldova, the smallest of all the Eastern European countries; coming for a cookout dinner.  I'm thinking they will enjoy the croissant version of this tartine as an appetizer with some fresh fruit.   I was wondering what they might like and now I have this great idea because of today's French cooking.

THE TASTIEST LUNCH HONEY HAS EATEN IN A LONG TIME!

This Nutella Tartine would make a perfect Valentiine's Day breakfast for the one I love.  Perfect with a cup of hot cocoa. And with fresh raspberry jam, the color is right, the taste is fabulous, and we will honor this "Most Chocolate Day of the Year."

Happy Valentine's Day to all my Cyber Friends!  Eat lots of chocolate and have a wonderful week!!!