Italians call this breakfast, right?

Back in the 80's, Nutella was kind of a big deal in the TD home. Before you could just pick up a 5-kilo barrel of the stuff from Costco, mom would bring it home when she visited her parents, and whenever our dad traveled to Europe for work, he would lug back entire suitcases filled with Nutella and Ritter Sport. All bazillion TD kids would sit around in a big circle, and mom would dole out tiny tastes with a teaspoon. We would gasp and groan in ecstasy, before the hallowed jar was hidden away on the very highest shelf to await our next bout of uncharacteristically-good behavior.

Now that Nutella's gone mainstream, we're liberated to enjoy it in ways other than straight-up. And we're (obviously) not the only ones. When we were in PEI last month, we picked up an assortment of yummies from the Charlottetown farmers' market, including a Nutella-spiked rice krispie treat. It was pretty epic, so the kiddies and I decided to recreate a batch to send to Mercina. I'd give our efforts two big chocolate-hazelnut-covered thumbs up.

I had a hard time getting a picture before Phineas had his way with them....

 Read on for the recipe!
Nutella Rice Krispie Treats

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows, plus a generous handfull
• 6 cups rice krispies 

This is just a very basic rice krispie treat recipe, except you reduce the butter and add a bunch of Nutella: melt the butter and 4 cups marshmallows, then stir in the Nutella. Pour the hot mixture over the cereal and extra marshmallows, then use buttered fingers to press it into a well-greased 9x13 pan. Let it cool, and cut into squares.

If I weren't popping these in the mail in August, I'd probably have made a Nutella ganache to go on top. And if I did that, I'd probably have covered said ganache with a generous sprinkle of chopped, roasted hazelnuts. But the truth is they're pretty awesome without any of that fuss.