Pumpkin Nutella Spread

Classic hazelnut cocoa spread with a pumpkin twist.

When it comes to treats, you can't go better than Nutella, but what about giving this classic dessert-snack a yummy Autumn makeover?

Ingredients:

- Nutella or other hazelnut cocoa spread (1/3 cup)

- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

- mashed pumpkin (1 full cup/ 1 small can)*

* You can use store-bought mashed pumpkin or cook/slow-cook the squash yourself (see: instructions below).

*

Instructions:

If you decide to cook pumpkin yourself, your safest bet is kabocha squash (which is the sweetest and the mushiest), but regular cooking pumpkin works great, too.

If you want to cook it in the traditional way: wash, peel, gut, dice it, throw it into the boiling water and simmer until it gets very tender. Then pour out the water and squish the squash with a potato masher.

If you want to slows cook it: you can put the whole pumpkin into the crockpot, stew it, and gut it & scoop out the flesh after it's thoroughly cooked. Or you can cut it in half, gut it while it's raw, and then slow cook the halves.

Kabocha squash needs 1hr or 1,5hr of cooking on high mode/+ 2hrs when simmering on low mode (and a splash of water at the bottom of the crockpot). Regular medium-sized pumpkin needs around 2 or 3 hrs of cooking on high mode/+ 2hrs when stewing on low (and a splash of water at the bottom of the slow cooker).

Leave cooked pumpkin mash to chill.

If you want your spread to be chunky, don't mix ingredients with an electric mixer, just combine them using a spoon.

Mix mashed pumpkin with one teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/3 cup of Nutella.

You can add a splash of boiling water to make mixing smoother. Combine ingredients until your mixture is smooth and dense. Use a mixer, if there are too many lumps. Depending on your preferences, you can make your spread more 'chocolatey' or more 'pumpkiny!

Bon Appétit!