Chocolate Nutella Crunchies

I was recently faced with an emergency– I needed to make something sweet and decadent for a work gathering, and I basically had an hour to make it. Talk about short notice! (well, it wasn’t really that short– I’d known the night before I needed to make something and then completely forgot until I woke up the next morning) I took a quick survey of my pantry ingredients and was inspired by the Honey Cornflake Crunchies I’d made earlier, along with a jar of Nutella on the shelf.

For a starting point I googled “nutella cornflake cookies” and found a recipe for a no-bake candy involving just three ingredients– cornflakes, Nutella, and chocolate. How could I go wrong with those? I fiddled with the recipe a bit, doubling it. substituting dark chocolate for milk chocolate (I always have dark chocolate on hand) and adding more cornflakes for texture, but it really couldn’t be easier. And the results?

Utterly delicious. It’s like a deeper, darker Ferrero Rocher candy, with less creaminess and more of a dark chocolate punch. The only possible improvement I can think of is if I could somehow add caramel to the mix. I’ll have to think about how…

Anyway, recipe below. Make these and share them– no one will ever guess how easy they are!

Chocolate Nutella Crunchies (adapted from Nutella: the 30 Best Recipes)

makes 36

180g dark chocolate, chopped (about 6 oz)

240g Nutella (about 1 cup)

120g cornflakes (about 5-6 cups)

1. Place chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds at full power. Stir, and heat for another 30 seconds.

2. Add Nutella and stir, then heat for a final 30 seconds. Stir until completely smooth.

3. In a large bowl, crunch the cornflakes up with your hands just a little so the flakes aren’t too large. 4-5 good scrunches should do it.

4. Pour melted chocolate/Nutella over the cornflakes and stir to coat.

5. Scoop into paper-lined mini muffin cups, or into small heaps on parchment paper. Chill for about an hour (or 30 minutes in the freezer).

Notes:

1. While you need to chill these so they set up properly, I think they’re best served at room temperature. The chocolate and Nutella form a creamy background to the crispy cornflakes that keeps the whole thing from shattering immediately– instead you get a nice mouthful of smooth chocolate with interspersed crunch. Not to say that they wouldn’t be good cold, too!
2. It could be worth it to try melting a handful of mini marshmallows into the chocolate mixture– they might give chewiness to the resulting confection, which I think would be a nice feature.
3. I’ll bet these would be awesome mixed into ice cream, or between cake layers for added crunch. I would anticipate that the chocolate coating would prevent the cornflakes from going all soggy– I’ll have to try this next time I make them.