0 Nutella Rugelach Bar Cookies

February 5th is World Nutella Day. American bloggers in Italy, Sara and Michelle, began the holiday in 2007 to celebrate and eat that wonderful chocolate hazelnut spread called Nutella.



I participated in that very first World Nutella Day in February 2007 by baking Nutella Cheesecake Brownies and again in 2008 with my Valentine's Day inspired heart-shaped Hazelnut Nutella Sandwich Cookies.

It's been far too long since I've used Nutella. So for this 6th annual World Nutella Day I am showing some chocolate hazelnut spread love with these Nutella-filled rugelach bar cookies. I found the recipe on Hungry Rabbit and he calls them "rugetella" since it's a combination of rugelach and Nutella.

I'm not sure what my problem is but I always have trouble rolling out and making the traditional crescent shapes when making rugelach. I mean, I can do it, but I seem to always end up with some very irregular shapes and sizes. So baking the cookies in a pan and cutting them into fingers/rectangles was so much easier for me. Same great taste and less work!

Since it's supposed to be all about Nutella, a chocolate HAZELNUT spread, I embarrassingly admit that I didn't have any hazelnuts and substituted walnuts in my cookie. It was a decent last minute substitution, but next time I will definitely use hazelnuts. My sincerest apologies to Nutella for this little faux pas.

All that cream cheese and butter definitely makes a very rich and extremely flaky dough. That's the beauty of rugelach dough. And it was a great showcase for Nutella, but I can see that a sour cherry jam or bitter orange marmalade would be great as well.


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0 Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

Nutella is such a sweet girl (yes, Nutella is a she). Although her strong chocolate personality might be a bit overwhelming for some, it's really her subtle hazelnuts that make her unforgettable. It's hard not to like her. Just last week she was hanging out with new friends egg white and jam like they had known each other forever.

For World Nutella Day, I thought I would introduce her to cream cheese. I wasn't sure if they would get along since cream cheese can be a bit tangy. Well, I was worried for nothing. Nutella and cream cheese got along just swimmingly. I think they're going to be BFF (best friends forever)!



Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients for brownie layer:
10 tbsp butter (5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder

Ingredients for cheesecake layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp.
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment.

To make the brownie layer...
Combine butter, Nutella, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Sift in flour and cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Pour batter into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Set aside while you prepare the cheesecake layer.

To make the cheesecake layer...
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and Nutella until well combined. Pour over your brownie batter.

Bake at 325F until the cheesecake looks set, about 40-45 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting. (I cut my brownies into 36 since they are quite decadent.)



World Nutella Day is the brainchild of Ms. Adventures in Italy's Sara and At Home in Rome's Shelly. Please join the Nutella festa on February 6th and celebrate the original chocolate hazelnut spread.