THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.

FOOD FUN: Valentine Crackers

stacys-pita-chips-chocolate-dip-230sq
Fun to make, fun to eat. Photo courtesy
Stacy’s Snacks.
  Here are two fun ways to snack on Valentine’s Day.

First the sweet: a fun idea from Stacy’s Pita Chips, delicious with a snack, coffee/tea break or for dessert with ice cream.

RECIPE: VALENTINE PITA CHIPS

Ingredients

  • Stacy’s Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips
  • Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
  • Valentine candy sprinkles
  •  
    Preparation

    1. MELT chocolate.

    2. DIP pita chips into melted chocolate. Set on wax paper.

    3. SPRINKLE with Valentine decorating hearts (LINK) before chocolate sets.

     

    Want something more savory? Try Valley Lahvosh Hearts Crackerbread.

    Similar in flavor and texture to Carr’s Water Biscuits, they’re packed with personality and ready to be topped or eaten plain with soup.

  • Spread them with soft cheese, or serve with a cheese plate.
  • Top them with shrimp salad, or whatever appeals to you.
  •  
    Whatever you choose, garnish it with something red: a radish slice, half of a cherry tomato, strip of bell pepper or pimento—even a berry.

      lavosh-brie-berry-valleylavosh-230

    Savory sesame heart-shaped crackers. Photo courtesy Valley Lahvosh.

     
      

    Comments off

    VALENTINE GIFTS: Chocolate Lips, Macarons In Red

    lips-230
    You can actually reuse the “clutch” packaging
    as a fun evening bag. Photo by Faith
    Tomases | THE NIBBLE.
      We love gifts with “keeper” boxes. We always find ways to repurpose the boxes, which continue to remind us of the gift and the giver.

    Pâtissier François Payard has chosen beautiful packaging for his Valentine confections. We’ve selected two to highlight. Both can be shipped nationwide.

    “Kiss Me” Chocolates

    Eighteen luscious lips are packaged in a container so lovely, you could use it as an evening clutch.

    Half of the chocolates are milk chocolate filled with caramel and fleur de sel, enrobed in Valrhona’s 40% Jivara Milk Chocolate.

    The other half are gancache-filled dark chocolate, Valrhona’s 66% Caraibe. The ganache is infused with freshly puréed passion fruit and mango.

    The two flavors are a contrast in deliciousness: creamy caramel versus tangy fruit. A gift of Kiss Me Chocolates should earn you many actual kisses in return.

     

    “Sweet Love” Macaron Collection

    Pull the ribbon on the drawer of the box, and pull out 12 elegant macarons. There are four each in:

  • Cassis Violet: white chocolate with violet & black currants ganache
  • Passion Fruit & Banana: white chocolate with banana & passion fruit ganache
  • Rose Water: white chocolate with rose water ganache
  •  
    ABOUT CHEF PAYARD

    Born and trained in France (he’s a third-generation pastry chef), Payard moved to New York in 1990 as Pastry Chef at the four-star Le Bernardin restaurant, and subsequently at the four-star Restaurant Daniel. He was named Pastry Chef of the Yearin 1995, by the James Beard Foundation.

    Now the proprietor of five bakeries/bakery-cafés in New York City, he also sells selected products online.

    Discover more at Payard.com.

      macarons-230
    A drawer of macarons pulls out with a satin ribbon. Photo by Faith Tomases | THE NIBBLE..
     
      

    Comments off

    Nutella Recipes For World Nutella Day

    Nutella Crepes
    [1] Nutella crepes: easy to make! You can purchase crepes, fill them with Nutella, and optionally add sliced strawberries and whipped cream (photo © Linda Roisum | Pixabay).

    Open Jar Of Nutella
    [2] From breakfast through dessert, there are many ways to use Nutella (photo © Mikael Stenberg | Unsplash).

    Nutella Whip
    [3] Nutella whip: Blend a spoonful of Nutella into 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream and top a glass of cold milk. For an extra splurge, first rim the glass with fudge sauce, and add a garnish with a wafer cookie Here’s a video (photo © Sweet Portfolio | Tik Tok). You can also top a cup of coffee with the Nutella whip.

      In 2011, two bloggers declared February 5th to be World Nutella Day.

    Typically, holidays are official proclamations by a city, state, or the federal government (here’s how it works). But in the wild frontier of the Internet, World Nutella Day became a viral hit.

    The history of Nutella follows. Elsewhere on The Nibble:

    > The year’s 69 chocolate holidays.

    > The year’s 12 nut butter holidays.
     
     
    THE HISTORY OF NUTELLA

    Nutella hazelnut spread, in its earliest form, was created in the 1940s by Pietro Ferrero, who began as a pastry maker with a small shop in Dogliani, a town in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy.

    At the time, there was very little chocolate; cocoa beans were in short supply due to World War II (1939-1945) rationing. To stretch his chocolate supply, Mr. Ferrero used hazelnuts, which are plentiful in Piedmont.

    The spread is a combination of roasted hazelnuts, sugar, skim milk and a touch of cocoa. It is an all-natural product with no artificial colors or preservatives.

    The original product was called Giandujot, after the Italian term gianduja (john-DOO-ya), referring to a filling for chocolates made of ganache mixed with hazelnuts.

    Made by the Ferrero Company of Italy, the original product was called Giandujot (john-DOO-yote), after the Italian term gianduja (john-DOO-ya).

    Gianduja is a filling for chocolate bonbons made of chocolate and cream, a.k.a. ganache, mixed with hazelnuts.

    Giandujot was later developed into the spread we now know as Nutella®. The Ferrero Company officially introduced Nutella to the market in 1964.

    Nutella became so popular that it engendered similar products. They can’t be called Nutella, of course; but the recipe below was used with Bonne Maman’s Hazelnut Chocolate Spread.

    Giandujot was later developed into the spread we now know as Nutella. The Ferrero company officially introduced Nutella to the market in 1964.

    Nutella was first imported to the U.S. more than 25 years ago by Ferrero U.S.A., Inc. Its popularity has grown steadily.
     
     
    HOW WILL YOU ENJOY NUTELLA TODAY?

    Enjoy a Nutella sandwich, put Nutella on a pancake or waffle, roll it in a crêpe, and eat it from the jar with a spoon. Add it to your favorite cookie, cake, or brownie recipe. Fill “jelly” donuts with Nutella. Make a Nutella milkshake.

    Add it to coffee or hot chocolate.

    Or, try these less conventional Nutella recipes:

  • Nutella-covered bacon.
  • Nutella granola.
  • Nutella grilled cheese sandwich.
  • Nutella Mousse.
  • Nutella ravioli for dessert.
  • Nutella Yogurt Parfait Pops.
  • No-bake Nutella Energy Bites.
  •  
    Dishes Of Nutella Ice Cream
    [4] How about some Nutella ice cream? Here’s the recipe. You can also make a quick version by whisking Nutella into a softened pint of chocolate or vanilla ice cream (photo © Taste Of Home).
     
     

    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

     
      

    Comments off



    © Copyright 2005-2026 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.