Nutella Puppy Chow

Are you kidding me? Nutella Puppy Chow? What am I trying to do to myself? Knowingly making something that I cannot put down. Luckily, I made this for bunko night and shared it with a bunch of my girlfriends. The little bit left over I ate the next day:) Emeril made a Nutella puppy chow (that he called something different) quite a few years ago when I used to be literally addicted to The Food Network. Although, I have made his version, which is totally different from mine. His version is far too chocolaty and you can hardly taste the hazelnuts. I haven’t thought about it for awhile and then suddenly (thank you pregnancy), I had this insane craving for a GOOD Nutella Puppy Chow and after not finding any scouring the Internet, I knew I had to make it up all by myself.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer the cereal portion of my puppy chow with a nice, thick coating of the nutty chocolate topping - I can tell you the bunko girls were picking the larger pieces too! Then my son kept saying, “Mommy, I want a big one.” I’d give him a small one and he’d still eat it but say, “no, BIG one!” It was encouraging that my husband actually liked it, and he is one of those crazy people that doesn’t like regular puppy chow! Now, if we’re talking classic puppy chow, I always use about double the peanut butter and make it crunchy as well. If the puppy chow only has a hint of pb, then forget it. I’d rather eat a spoonful of peanut butter out of the jar!

So, this recipe is actually not healthy, contrary to the lovely title of my blog. However, I used white chocolate chips and bought them at Whole Foods since all the brands at the regular grocery stores have hydrogenated fats in them. Usually, I’m not a fan of white chocolate anyway, but for these, I wanted the consistency of the puppy chow without overwhelming it with too much chocolate. I ate so darn many of these after making them they started to lose flavor so I had to ask the bunko girls if they could taste the hazelnut chocolate and they said definitely! It was a hit! Basically, I figured I needed to stop eating them because when you eat so much of something that it stops tasting like itself, then you’ve OD’d obviously. Geesh. Sorry baby in my belly. And I’m going to apologize in advance to you if you make these. It’s not my fault you couldn’t stop yourself!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup Nutella
3/4 cup chocolate chips (use semi-sweet or dark, milk would be far too sweet and you’d lose the chocolate flavor)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
2/3 cup hazelnuts
13 cups (more or less) or one 12oz box of hearty wheat/corn/rice cereal like Crispix or Chex - try to find a hearty version so it doesn’t break down when stirring (try to find one without preservatives, just read the ingredients on the side of the box)
3 cups powdered sugar

Method:

In a 350 degree preheated oven, roast hazelnuts until fragrant and light brown, about 8 minutes
Allow to cool and remove as much of the skin as you can with a towel
Grind finely in a food processor, if you don’t have one, a coffee grinder should work
Put the cereal in a large bowl
On a pan over medium-low heat, melt butter, chocolate, and white chocolate, stirring constantly
When all is melted, remove from heat and add Nutella and stir until mixed in, then add hazelnuts and stir well.
Slowly pour over cereal, wash your hands, and stir with your hands! It’s much easier than with a spoon. This may take some time since the batter is thick, but if you’re patient, you’ll get the lovely thickly coated ones. The cereal that breaks clumps together with the topping and there’s no harm done in that!
Wash those hands and add the cereal to a gallon sized plastic baggie, add the powdered sugar and shake shake shake! I like to start with less powdered sugar and slowly add it - too much powdered sugar and that’s all you taste! You just want that white coating right after the light brown stage - not to over-do the sweetness.