Clean out your nutella jar, and have your hazelnut hot chocolate too

Having discovered that house hunting in Sydney is as soul-crushing as most people say it is,* Will and I both needed some serious comfort food, so we’ve taken to throwing back hot chocolates like a central city Sydney-an would throw back coffee. Today, when I noticed our nutella getting to that annoying almost-finished stage, a delicious idea began to form in my head.

Instead of trying to scrape the last bits of nutella out from the awkwardly-shaped jars, I concocted a mindblowingly amazing hazelnut-kissed hot chocolate. All you need is cocoa (since nutella is so sugar-laden), and if you like your hot chocolates fairly sweet, some additional sugar of some sort, or honey.

Heat your milk of choice in a mug in the microwave, until hot to the touch. Meanwhile, spoon about 2 heaping teaspoons of cocoa (the stuff you bake with, not necessarily drinking cocoa) into your nutella jar**. Pour the milk into the jar, cover tightly, and shake it like a polaroid picture until you can see that the nutella is off the sides. Taste, and add sugar (pref brown, or use honey) if it’s a little “dark” for your liking. Pour back into your mug if drinking out of a jar isn’t your scene, and enjoy! If you want it piping hot you can microwave again for another ten seconds or so. 

* The situation has become so dire we’ve resorted to increasingly ridiculous hyperbolic statements to keep ourselves amused/sane, very few of which would be appropriate for a food blog. If you’re ever planning on moving to Sydney to live, I don’t suggest house hunting on foot. You’ll be that much more sore (literally and figuratively) when the real estate agent doesn’t show up, or when you realise the address has been advertised incorrectly, or when the apartment does not live up to the ad.

** This is also where you can add whatever other things you like in your hot chocolates, like vanilla extract or sea salt.

PS. I wouldn’t advise heating the nutella jar in the microwave as the plastic will likely do weird things. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

PPS. Coincidentally, if you didn’t already know, the easiest, cheapest way to make a regular hot chocolate is to heat your milk of choice, and add cocoa and sweetener to taste.

Currently clickalicious

Mango coconut ice cream @ US Masala

Nutella brownies @ Alaska from Scratch

Baked pandan cake @ Singapore Shiok!

Tangerine & almond shortbread tart @ Food 52

Foodie Fave 

One of Sydney’s greatest redeeming features would be the food (good places are dispersed, but plentiful). We’re currently walking distance from Central Baking Depot, whose tarts are lovingly crafted from case to filling – the flaky, crumbly, buttery, properly deep golden crusts are a miracle in themselves, not just a delivery mechanism for the filling.