Midnight Snackie Snack

And yet another detour on my very, very extended train of thought, brought to you by yet another ridiculously late night. Staying up until 4am for the Inauguration has thrown my body clock out completely!

I often joke that my kitchen is for display only, I'm hardly a domestic goddess by any means. But every now and then, I muster up the courage to turn on the oven and do a little baking. When I sense a late night coming on, I have been known to whip up some fairly tasty treats, and my absolute favourite is the humble choc-hazelnut puff pastry rolls. They're sort of like little chocolate croissants, they're so simple, they need only four ingredients that even I have in my embarrassingly empty pantry, and they don't take long to make! Perfecto!
So at the request of one of the lovely ladies on the Vogue Forums, here's how you can have some tasty midnight snackie goodness too!

80 g choc-hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
80 g (2/3 cup) icing sugar
2 sheets thawed puff pastry
1 lightly beaten egg
And save some icing sugar to dust (I always forget this bit!)

Firstly, combine the choc-hazelnut spread and the icing sugar and roll into a 20cm long roll. Wrap this up in plastic wrap and twist the ends to enclose. The mixture should be quite soft but not oozy! Refrigerate the roll for 30 minutes. When it has firmed up, cut the roll into eight even pieces, and roll each piece in icing sugar.

Then cut each sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Place a piece of the choc-hazelnut roll onto each square of pastry and roll up to enclose. Pinch then ends and brush lightly with egg, then bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Dust with icing sugar, and enjoy!

Pretty simple, right? With any luck, your little chocolately pastry rolls of goodness should look like this...

[Image courtesy of Murdoch Books]

But seriously, remember to save some icing sugar for the end, because I forgot last time and they ended up looking like burnt sausage rolls. Not very appetizing. They still tasted delicious though, if I don't say so myself!

Bon Appétit!