16 Creative Things You Should Be Doing With Nutella

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Everyone loves Nutella. Or at least, this writer has yet to meet someone who doesn't. It's creamy. It's satisfying. It's affordable. Plus, it's a version of hazelnuts — one of the world's most delicious flavors — in which all of the annoying hazelnut prep work has been done for you. It's also highly accessible. If you need the goods and don't want to leave the house, you can buy Nutella Hazelnut Spread online, but it's also available at pretty much any grocery store.

But, when you're selecting those big honkin' jars at Costco, it's best to have a plan in mind that doesn't involve simply attacking it with a spoon. (Although, that could in itself be considered a plan.) Luckily, it's shockingly easy to find recipes that combine Nutella with more or less everything.

This is good because no one wants Nutella to go bad in the cabinet. That said, if you have Nutella around long enough for it to dry out (which we never do), you can keep it soft and stop it from solidifying by spreading a thin layer of neutral-tasting oil over the top. Still, it's better to use it while fresh, either by shoveling it straight into your mouth or by getting creative. With that in mind, here are 16 clever things you should start doing with Nutella.

What's better than chocolate fondue with strawberries? Or grapes? Or apples and pears? Nothing. Except, oh wait, Nutella fondue totally is. The smooth, rich, and creamy hazelnut spread is halfway to a fondue already — all you have to do is add some heavy whipping cream and you're there. Stirring some warmed cream into Nutella will produce a rich, dippable sauce that's ready in about an hour if left sitting on the counter. While you don't need to, it's always cute to put your fondue in a real Cuisinart Fondue Pot to keep it warm and get in the spirit.

Also, if you tire of fruit, you can try other dippers. Marshmallows and pretzels are a fun approach, while donut chunks, biscotti, and animal crackers will all do as well. And, if you're feeling extra-creative (and your stomach is feeling particularly robust), you can buy some Nutella Cookies and dip them into your fondue. Can't have too much of a good thing, right?

Nutella usually gets credit for its incredible flavor and creamy mouthfeel, but as a structural ingredient in baked goods, it deserves a lot more recognition. Hazelnuts and dairy, two of Nutella's main ingredients, serve as emulsifiers, or agents to bind liquids that normally would not mix, such as oil and water. That's on top of the spread itself containing lecithin, a common emulsifier in food science. This makes Nutella excellent for binding together ingredients in your baking projects, making for especially smooth and delicious batters and baked goods.

Nutella brownies use the same basic ingredients as regular brownies: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt, with the addition of hazelnutty goodness. If you want, you can dress them up by mixing in ½ cup to 1 cup of chocolate chips per 8-inch-square baking pan, or drizzle some flakes of sea salt on top.

Fried wontons are among the universe's greatest gifts to humankind, and it is in humanity's best interest to put them to use wherever possible. Enter sweet wontons: delicious crunchy wrappers filled with Nutella and deep-fried. Sounds complicated? It's really not, and you can make them at home easily.

Essentially, you take a wonton wrapper (you can get products like Nasoya Foods Wonton Wraps online), and paint egg wash around the outside to get the bundle to self-adhere so that your filling doesn't spill out during frying. Next, spoon a bit of Nutella into a corner. Rolling the wonton inward about halfway, then bring the ends up toward one another and pinch them together, helping them stick with egg wash. Fry in hot oil, watching them closely so they don't burn, until golden brown and crispy.

Another variation includes chopped hazelnuts inside the wonton for crunch, then folding all four edges upward and pinching them together. This creates more of a star-shaped packet, which is visually stunning. Take your pick.

This idea is less groundbreaking than it is mouthwatering, but it's going on the list anyway. Seriously, it's hard to improve on chocolate and dairy, but Nutella is up to the challenge. The combination of milk, vanilla ice cream, and Nutella turns separate and already delicious ingredients into heaven on Earth. Put some whipped cream on top, and you can have an amazing dessert.

If you want to lighten things up a bit, you can use skim milk and frozen yogurt instead. Or you can add ice to stretch your milkshake a bit further. It's a good idea to use a quality blender so that everything comes out nice and smooth. (The Ninja BL610 Professional 72 Oz Countertop Blender comes highly recommended by this writer.)

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what they really mean is that breakfast is the most delicious meal of the day ... at least if you're into French toast, pancakes, waffles, or crêpes. (Which you should be — just saying.) Turns out, Nutella can improve on all of these.

If you're feeling lazy, you can dollop Nutella on pretty much any sweet breakfast item and call it good. You can also mix it into your waffle batter. If you want to make like a culinary scientist, you can freeze discs of Nutella, pour a puddle of pancake batter, stick a disc in the middle, then top with more batter. The final result will be a pancake stuffed with Nutella. And just like that, civilization has peaked.

For the waffle-making set, make sure you have a quality product that won't cause your batter to stick. The Bella Classic Rotating Belgian Waffle Maker is well-reviewed, but anything that uses nonstick or cured cast iron technology will work great. Or, you can make like us, and use a Death Star waffle maker, which guests find both charming and ever-so-slightly intimidating ... exactly how we want them to feel.

Look, the 3 p.m. slump is real. Human circadian rhythms take a normal dive in the early afternoon, which coincides very unpleasantly with getting those TPS reports done. If that's a typical time for you to grab a drink or a sweet treat to help you stay alert (okay: awake), then consider combining the two into a Nutella mocha or hot chocolate. Yep, you can add Nutella to your hot chocolate or to your coffee. How is this writer just finding out about this?

For an instant hazelnut mocha, stir a bit of milk and a tablespoon of Nutella into a big mug of coffee, then top with your sweet treat of choice (whipped cream and marshmallows are both excellent toppings). If you're more the hot chocolate type, you can simply blend milk of any kind with Nutella in a roughly eight-to-one ratio, depending on how many servings you want to make. Finally, you can make a slightly less caloric version of this by using hazelnut milk instead of regular milk in your hot cocoa or mocha, but then again ... why not just add both? Dairy-rich creaminess plus extra Nutella flavor equals the good life.

Everyone loves granola. Not everyone loves making homemade granola, on the other hand, because it can be a bit of a pain. However, knowing you can get more Nutella into the daily rounds ought to help sweeten the deal a little bit.

If you've ever made granola yourself, you know there are two basic mistakes to keep an eye out for. The first is burning. Granola burns very quickly, especially at the edges of the pan where the layers are thin and the oats and other ingredients are exposed to higher heat. The second thing is crumbliness. Good granola has lots of pleasing chunks, which crunch in the mouth while eating. Find yourself a recipe that contains a thick sweetener, such as honey or agave, to increase the chances that your chunks will stick together.

As for adding Nutella, well, that's just genius. Some recipes pair rolled oats and rice cereal with seeds like flax and chia (which also help the granola stick together), then incorporate spreads such as honey, almond butter, and Nutella. Others use a fruitier profile, combining raisins and dried cranberries with brown sugar, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ. Whatever you like, there's a Nutella recipe for that.

You wouldn't think grilled cheese and Nutella would go together, but they are actually extremely compatible flavors. The savory cheese and butter blend perfectly with the sweetness of the spread, for a salty-sweet snack that would make any kid happy after school. This isn't as weird as you might think when you consider the fact that French toast is really pretty savory by nature — it's usually complemented by the sweetness from syrup and the richness from butter. So, a little cheese and salt can't lead you that far astray.

Now, about that recipe. Start with a mild-tasting cheese, such as cheddar or Monterey Jack. Grate it, then spread a tablespoon of Nutella onto a slice of white bread. Sprinkle about ½ cup of cheese on top, finish with another slice of white bread, then cook in a pan with a tablespoon of butter until the cheese has melted. If you want to go all-out French style, sub out your white bread for sourdough and your cheddar for Brie.

While, in general, no food goes with absolutely everything, Nutella actually might. Surely, if you can combine it with waffles, chicken, and spicy sauce, then it should also go just fine with fresh fruit — and, lo and behold, it does. If you're not up to the whole fondue thing, you can simply load up your fruit with a bit of Nutella and call it ready to go — no heating, whipping, or fancy forks needed.

You could simply pair Nutella with pineapple, strawberries, kiwis, berries, and a rolled cookie for a simple but satisfying afternoon snack. Another option is where you can cut bananas into chunks, then thread them on skewers with layers of Nutella in between. It's like a chocolate-dipped banana (which gave this writer's children life while living in Belize) right in your own freezer.

This one is a no-brainer: Fill your macarons with gooey hazelnut cream. If you have two sides of a macaron and a jar of Nutella, why aren't you doing this already? (Note to self: Learn to make macarons so as not to feel like a hypocrite when making this point.) In all seriousness, if you're a home chef who has taken the time to learn The Ways of the Macaron, then make sure to experiment with Nutella in your chocolate, hazelnut, vanilla, or coffee creations. And, if you want to but haven't yet, check out a book such as "French Macarons for Beginners: Foolproof Recipes with 30 Shells and 30 Fillings," which can help get you started.

Basically, though, the idea is simple. A mix of almond flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and egg whites go into making the macaron shells, while a filling of butter, sugar, and Nutella rounds things out. To make the filling extra luxe, consider adding vanilla bean paste.

Although no-bake pies are especially perfect for summer, when we'd all rather die than turn the oven on and risk raising the internal temperature of the house by one more degree, they're honestly good at any time of year. Plus, they're super easy. Most no-bake pies rely on a press-in crust, a creamy filling that sets, and some kind of topping. And Nutella meets the brief for creamy filling.

One approach to no-bake Nutella pie is to use Oreos and butter. When crushed and mixed, these two ingredients form a beautifully rich and crunchy crust that you can smush easily into the bottom of a pie dish. Whip Nutella with mascarpone and beat until it gets super fluffy, adding some heavy cream along the way, and ultimately smoothing the entire mixture into the pie shell with a rubber spatula. Extra chopped hazelnuts? Sure thing.

You can make your pie a little more haute cuisine by spreading a layer of Nutella by itself onto the bottom of the pie shell and spreading or piping whipped cream onto the top. That way, when diners cut into the pie, they see those beautiful layers we all love at restaurants.

A little Nutella is bound to improve pretty much any chocolate dessert, whether you use store-bought chocolate bars or the finest product from France. For its part, mug cake is heaven-sent when you just need a jolt of chocolate to get you through the day without screaming into a pillow. (Or with less screaming into a pillow — no judgment.)

Before you curl your lip, know that mug cake is an easy baking experiment that usually turns out much better than you think it will, and Nutella is a wonderful flavor to stir in for a little change of pace. Even better, mug cakes are a major timesaver when it comes to ingredients. Most dispense with the cumbersome wet-and-dry breakdown, and just involve a combination of eggs, flour, and hazelnut spread, with some baking powder if you want to give it extra lift. Experiment to your heart's content, one or two mugs at a time.

This one presumably needs little explanation and is amazing because there are so many different directions you could take it in. Make your sundae with classic chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry ice cream — or Neapolitan if you just can't decide. Go nutrageous and mix in butter pecan. Make like an Italian and scoop fior di latte gelato into a bowl with Nutella and crumbled cookies. The sky's the limit.

For a particularly sumptuous approach, you can layer cut berries with coffee ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and Nutella, then repeat as many times as you like until you fill up your glass. Sub out flavors of ice cream and the types of fruit to make whatever combination feels right to you. Stay classy and leave it at that, or throw caution to the wind and see how high you can pile the whipped cream, nuts, and cherries. (Raises hand.)

Although the classic campfire treat doesn't need any help being delicious, it can't hurt to add in some more flavor factor. The unexpected hit of hazelnut will elevate your standard chocolate-marshmallow-Graham-cracker experience at your next cookout, campfire, or glamping weekend.

There's not much to this upgrade, honestly. You take classic Honey Maid Graham Crackers along with jumbo marshmallows — the 365 by Whole Foods Market Large Marshmallows are pretty tasty — and smush a toasted version of the latter between two of the former. Smear as much Nutella on the top cracker as you like, and boom: s'mores elevated. If you don't want to wait for a campout, you can always roast your marshmallows under a broiler. Or, for a more portable treat, consider making Nutella s'mores bars instead.

Fudgsicles are a classic for a reason. Anything that tastes good and cools you off at the same time is a real hit-it-out-of-the-park winner come summertime. However, you can still improve upon the humble Fudgsicle with the addition of the world's favorite hazelnut spread. Bonus points if you drizzle some warm Nutella over the top of your frozen pop to create an appealing pattern that will harden to a nice crunch once it's been in the freezer for a bit.

You can take several approaches here. Milk, cream, and Nutella make a thick, creamy combination. If you want to take an even easier route and lighten up the consistency, you can replace the whipped cream with whipped topping instead.

Either way, make sure to get a good popsicle mold. The Meetrue BPA-Free Easy-Release 12-Piece Silicone Popsicle Mold has been a total win in our household. It has a lid to avoid spills and hold the popsicle sticks in place until frozen, so they stay firmly anchored in the middle of the popsicles. While it does use wooden popsicle sticks (to avoid the dreaded "plastic handle pops out of popsicle halfway through eating it" scenario), you can compost them. 

Really, there's no explanation needed here. Take frosting. Add Nutella. Increase happiness levels by at least 15% on average. (No, we have not seen these statistics firsthand, but we assume they're out there.) Again, because Nutella contains a lot of emulsifying agents, this could even help keep your frosting from breaking down, giving you a stiffer spread for molding.

While there are plenty of different recipes online, a basic approach is to start with the standard combination of butter and confectioner's sugar. Whip the butter until smooth, then add the sugar and Nutella along with some cream or milk to thin it out. Add vanilla and a bit of salt to intensify the flavors, and you're good to go. You can either spread or pipe this delectable concoction onto your sponge. It's perfect for sweet bread, cakes, and cream pies.