Did you know that today is World Nutella Day?  Did you even know that there was a World Nutella Day?  Well, there is and today is it!

Since its first appearance on the culinary scene in the 1940's, Nutella has become much more than a popular after-school snack. It is literally a cultural and social phenomenon, not only in its native country, Italy, but all the world over. Nutella is marketed in over seventy-five countries across the globe, and outsells all brands of peanut butter combined worldwide!  So, what better way to commemorate its success than to give it its own special holiday.

World Nutella Day was created in 2007 by Sara Rosso, an American writer living in Italy, and is currently co-hosted by Sara and Michelle Fabio, another American writer living in Italy.  And, today, February 5, 2010, Nutella fans around the world will once again celebrate their love for the chocolate-hazelnut spread for the 4th annual World Nutella Day. For the past four years, Sara and Michelle have joined with thousands of Nutella fans from all over the world to get creative and showcase the wonders of Nutella.

I love Nutella! And, I've been enjoying it for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, while all of my friends were bringing PB&J sandwiches to school for lunch, I was munching on Nutella sandwiches. Sometimes all by itself, sometimes with bananas, and sometimes with another favorite – marshmallow fluff!  The other kids didn't know what to make of my "chocolate sandwiches".  They'd never seen Nutella before.  It was pretty much unheard of in this sleepy little Florida town way back in the 70's.  My mother used to have relatives ship it down to us or bring some when they came to visit from up north.  Fortunately, all of that has changed, and we can now find this luscious, creamy chocolate-hazelnut spread hanging out right next to the peanut butter in Publix.

Even though I’m all grown-up now, I still never miss an excuse to eat Nutella in any way, shape or form - although my favorite way is still right out of the jar.  And, because I am a grown up, I get to do just that.  My house, my rules!

It’s always fun to come up with new ways to use this wonderful product!  Although I have numerous Nutella recipes in my culinary arsenal,  I'm going to keep it simple and share with you the most popular way to enjoy Nutella at my house – Nutella Ice Cream.

I found the recipe for this dreamy dish a couple of years ago on the excellent blog, Chocolate and Zucchini.  One look was all it took for me to know that I had to try it.  With only two ingredients and a minimal time investment involved, it was a no-brainer!  After my rapturous first taste of the stuff, this Nutella Ice Cream became a permanent fixture in my dessert repertoire.

If you love Nutella, you really owe it to yourself to try this.   Rich, dense and impossibly creamy, this chocolatey frozen wonder is like crack in a bowl! Plus, it’s ridiculously easy to make!   Trust me.  After you try this stuff, you'll be naming your firstborn children after me!

SUPER SIMPLE NUTELLA ICE CREAM

adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini

INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 cups (12 and 1/3 ounces or 350 grams) Nutella
1 and 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon (14 and 1/2 ounces or 380 ml) evaporated milk

DIRECTIONS

Pre-freeze the bowl of your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Combine the chocolate hazelnut spread and the evaporated milk in a medium mixing bowl and microwave together for 30 seconds to 1 minute.  You just want to warm them up a little to make the mixture easier to blend. With an electric mixer or hand blender, blend until the mixture is completely smooth and homogenous.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Whisk again and churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Put in an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze until ice cream reaches your desired consistency.

Note: If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still make this recipe on a day when you're home most of the time. Prepare the mixture in the morning and chill for two hours. Pour into a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer. Every hour or so, remove the container from the freezer, draw the sides in with a fork (the ice cream will set on the sides first), stir vigorously, and return to the freezer. Your ice cream will be ready by dinnertime.

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