Every now and then I get mad -- mad! -- that I didn't know what gianduja and Nutella were until I was in my 20s. Two decades wasted! But I've made up for lost time, I have. I may run out of jam or eggs or milk; I don't run out of Nutella (the brand name for the chocolate-hazelnut spread gianduja). But I've never made gianduja, and I thought making it would be a feather in my cap.
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<br />It's not nearly as complicated as I'd hoped (bragging rights deflated) -- all you do is grind toasted hazelnuts with sugar, whisk butter and cream into melted chocolate, and stir the ground nuts and some flaky salt into the chocolate. At this point, you are one step away from toast with gianduja, crêpes with gianduja, and gianduja icing. But I had a problem along the way: I couldn't find hazelnuts (what's up, Hamptons?!). So I put my chips on cashews. And invented a whole new, amazing treat: Cashewtella. Bragging rights restored.
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<br />This recipe is adapted from Bon Appétit.

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