Nutella Gelato

Boy was that delicious.

The not-so-secret ingredient

I made this flavor as a special gift for a friend who, not so subtly, mentioned that Nutella is one of her favorite things in the world. This girl has managed to put Nutella in everything from brownies to waffles. But, she doesn’t ever need an excuse to eat Nutella; she tells me that it’s just as good straight out of the container. As if I didn’t know that already.

Adding Nutella into the milk mixture. Getting very excited.

Nutella Gelato

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and Ciao Bella

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1 cup cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup Nutella, plus additional for topping

Toasted and chopped Hazelnuts, for topping

Whisking the egg yolks and sugar. Let the tempering begin.

Method

Heat the milk and cream in a heavy duty saucepan. Once bubbles start to form around the edges, whisk in the Nutella so that it fully incorporated into the liquid. Turn off the heat and set aside.

While the milk and cream mixture is heating, whisk together the 4 egg yolks with the 1/2 cup sugar in a large, heat-proof mixing bowl. Add sugar slowly until the egg yolks get thick and pale yellow. Once the sugar and egg yolks are fully blended, slowly pour in the hot milk mixture to temper the eggs. Once the milk and egg mixture is fully combined, pour it back into the saucepan and heat until the mixture reaches 170 degrees F (which is when the egg yolks are fully cooked). Add the vanilla and let the mixture cool completely before refrigerating for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Heating the egg, milk, and Nutella mixture to 170 degrees F

Once fully chilled, pour into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn for approximately 20 minutes or according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Scoop into a freezer safe container (if you even make it that far) and freeze. When you’re ready to eat it, place two generous scoops of Nutella Gelato into an ice cream bowl, drizzle Nutella on top, add a few toasted hazelnuts and enjoy!

Up close and personal. Pure heaven.

The Verdict: This. Is. So. Good. (And very addictive . I’ve had two bowls in the time it took me to write this post). To be honest, though, when I first tasted this gelato it was too sweet for my liking (I know that sounds insane coming from a lover of all things sweet). But, once the gelato sat overnight in the freezer, it miraculously lost some of its sweetness, and the Nutella flavor became more prominent. There’s probably a culinary term for this phenomenon, but since I don’t know what it is, I recommend that you let this flavor sit overnight before eating it. The good news is that it’s still delicious (if not more delicious) a week later. I really just can’t get enough. Hopefully my dear friend, the self-proclaimed “Assistant Director of Flavor Creation & Tasting” liked this flavor as much as I did.