Everybody knows Nutella for its hazelnut-chocolatey goodness.
It was made by combining widely-available hazelnuts and little cocoa.
Aside from being known to many people around the world, ants have also grown to love its sweet taste.
This is the reason why, Nutella jars are best stored in refrigerators to keep it away from these ants.
But doing so leaves you with a solidified version that is very challenging to spread on toasts or use on dessert recipes.
Before you become frustrated with this, I am here to share you 3 easy and effective ways to melt your Nutella so that you could enjoy its goodness right away.
The key to melting your solidified Nutella is through adding in some heat to liquefy it.
For all these three techniques I will be showing you, you will all need a heat source, a means for transferring heat from the source to your Nutella, and of course, your Nutella.
Technique #1: Using a Warm Spoon or Butter Knife
For this first technique, the heat source can be your morning cup of coffee or tea.
If you don’t have one available, it can also be simply just a mug of hot water.
Make sure that your coffee, tea or warm water is hot enough to melt your solidified Nutella.
It is best to use freshly boiled hot water for this technique.
Aside from this, you will also be needing a clean spoon or a butter knife depending on what is available to you.
The spoon or butter knife will serve as your means to transfer heat from your warm water to your Nutella.
Technique #2: Using a Microwave
You will be needing primarily a microwave oven to perform this technique.
This will be the source of heat to liquefy your Nutella.
You will also be needing a microwavable-safe container to hold the Nutella that needs to be liquefied.
This technique also requires you to do some stirring in between heating intervals.
This is why, you will also need a clean stirrer which could be a spoon, a spatula, or a butter knife.
Technique #3: Using a Hot Bowl of Water
If you don’t have a microwave oven available to you or simply your microwave oven is acting up, then this technique is perfect for you.
Instead of a microwave oven, you will need a large bowl preferably a clear glass bowl to hold your newly-boiled water and a timer.
You also need your clean jar of Nutella which should be tightly closed to avoid the water from coming in contact with the hazelnut-chocolate spread inside it.
Step by Step Instructions
Now that we have settled the things we will need, it’s time for me to show you the step-by-step process.
One can actually bring back Nutella’s good spreadable quality by simply letting the jar reach room temperature away from ants.
Although this is the easiest alternative this only happens if you are in a temperate region, a lot of us do not have the leisure of time to actually wait for the Nutella to melt on its own.
I’ve tried experimenting these steps myself and I have realized that in order to liquefy Nutella, adding in enough heat in to the Nutella spread would shorten the time for it to liquefy.
So these steps I will be showing are also different ways to add in enough heat into your Nutella.
Technique #1: Using a Warm Spoon or Butter Knife
Just like using a warm butter knife to evenly spread butter on your toast, the same principle applies to your Nutella spread.
You will be needing to make sure that the utensil whether a spoon or a butter knife that you’re using is warm to melt your Nutella to touch.
Nowadays, a self-warming butter knife is already available.
To get rid of these steps, you can purchase one now and you can use it to spread your Nutella as it can warm itself and does not need to be submerged anymore on hot water.
But if you don’t have your hands on this kitchen innovation, then you could always still follow these 3 simple and effective steps.
- Firstly, make sure you have a clean spoon or a butter knife.
- Once you have made your cup of coffee or tea, submerge your clean spoon or butter knife into your cup for 1 to 2 minutes.
This will allow enough time for your spoon or butter knife to be warm. - With your warm spoon or butter knife, you can use this already to scoop out your desired amount of Nutella on your toast or for your desert recipes.
Pro-Tip #1: If it is still quite difficult to spread, your spoon or knife might be not warm enough.
For this you can go ahead dip your spoon or knife again for another minute to reheat it.
You can do repeat steps 2-3 until you get the consistency you desire.
Technique #2: Using a Microwave
If you have a microwave available to you, then, this technique might suit you the best.
The microwave uses electrical energy and converts it to heat.
The heat in return, liquefies the Nutella spread.
It usually works by heating the outer surfaces first and then inward.
For the time duration for this step, it is most likely that the heat does not reach to the middle part yet.
To help in distributing the desired heat to meat it totally, then stirring during intervals is needed.
For the specific steps, the steps are:
- Using a clean spoon, scoop out desired amount of Nutella into a microwaveable-safe container.
- Place the container into your microwave oven for about 15 seconds.
- After 15 seconds, stir the heated Nutella mixture using the same spoon you have used to scoop out the Nutella.
Doing this will help in evenly spreading the heat into your Nutella spread. - Repeat steps 2-3 repeatedly until you achieve the consistency you desire.
Enjoy Nutella’s spreadable goodness.
Pro-Tip #2: Instead of repeating the steps, you might be tempted to let it stay in the oven for more than 15 seconds instead.
But doing this will not do any good to your Nutella.
Do not let the Nutella mixture stay in the oven for too long because it might burn it off and cause it to harden and become brittle.
Fifteen seconds is usually enough to warm the mixture.
Technique #3: Using a Hot Bowl of Water
This is an old-school technique but very effective nonetheless.
It makes use of a hot water to melt the solidified Nutella.
This is perfect for those who do not have microwave oven available to them.
The steps for this technique are:
- First and foremost, boil water enough to fill your bowl using a kettle on a stove-top or through an electric kettle.
If you have already boiled water before and stored it in a thermos, you can use this water but just make sure that the water is still warm enough. - Pour freshly boiled water on to your bowl and place your tightly closed Nutella jar.
- For 2 – 3 minutes, submerge your Nutella jar on to the bowl of hot water.
If the jar floats, place a load on top of it to keep it in place. - After 3 – 5 minutes, remove the jar from the hot water bath and stir the Nutella spread inside.
Scoop out your desired amount of Nutella and enjoy!
Pro-Tip #3: The Nutella jar must be tightly sealed since getting the Nutella mixture in contact with hot water may alter its taste and could result for it to becoming brittle instead of becoming spreadable.
Conclusion
We all love our Nutella for its hazelnut-chocolate flavor that is one in a million in the world.
Nothing should stop us from enjoying it and not even a solidified version of it should spoil the fun.
Now that I have shared to you these 3 easy and effective techniques, you could go ahead now and try them.
Let me know which technique suited you best in the comments section below.
If you have other techniques you want to share, I would love to hear about them too in the comments section.
Until the next chocolatey adventure!