Hazelnut Nutella Brownies

No pictures today — just dreamy delicious words…

It’s Tim’s Birthday!!! He thought no one would remember, but alas I baked up some special brownies (no, not that kind of special) last night.

First of all, I’ve never made brownies from scratch and honestly didn’t feel the need to start last night. Ha.  I took a regular brownie box and added a scoop of Nutella, about a cup of chopped hazelnuts and a scoop of homemade fudge.  I’m all about taking a starter recipe (like a box) and adding my own little personal touches to it like heath chips, chocolate chips, fudge, nuts, whatever — I’ve been looking for an excuse to bake with Nutella and thought this would be the perfect.

I don’t know if it’s my oven or me or what, but I always seem to undercook brownies no matter how I time them because I like gooey brownies, not cakey brownies.  I attempted to carefully time these suckers, but still ended up checking them on five minute increments towards the end just to be sure.   I’m extremely inpatient and usually attempt to take the brownies out of the pan way before they’re cooled, which results in losing half the bottom.  I patiently waited while the brownies stared me down from the cooling rack for at least an hour (probably longer than I needed, but I wanted to be sure) and then chopped them up! Yum!

Hazelnut Nutella Brownies:

Box of brownie mix (follow recipe – usually oil, water and eggs)

Cup of chopped hazelnuts

2-3 tablespoons Nutella (or one really huge scoop)

Mix the brownie mix according to instructions, once combined fold in Nutella and hazelnuts.  Bake and enjoy!