From Italy to France All in One Night

I am completely in love with my nook color (that was so lovingly given to me by, none other than, my favorite person in the universe, Brian) It allows me to carry around my entire e-library in my purse which includes mountains of books and also stacks of magazines. I have subscriptions to several magazines that are immediately downloaded onto my nook as soon as the newest issue is available, its like a dream come true. No matter where I am I can get Martha's newest advice on how to make good things, better things or Food Networks advice on which wine to serve with which cheese, as soon as the information is available.
This month Food Networks magazine was devoted to Italian cooking and I was only mildly interested. Brian's eye, however, was caught, as he was reading over my shoulder, which irritates me to no end, by a short, simple recipe that I knew I would have to make that same day, for Brian's sake. The recipe was for a tart, a nutella tart.
Brian has always forbade me from keeping nutella in my cupboard for the sole reason that, as soon as my back was turned, he knew that his will power would be lost and i would find him in the in kitchen, unconscious, in a hazelnut and chocolate induced coma. We stopped by the grocery store on our way to my apartment and picked 26oz of the stuff, almost 3 times the amount i knew that i would need to complete the recipe but i was sure that we would both find a use for the excess.
I cheated a little on the recipe, for time's sake. I skipped making my own crust which really was a shame after reading through the recipe which included ground hazelnuts I knew that I should have taken the time but there is always next time. Needless to say, even though I cheated, the finished product was heaven. I'm not one who really yearns for pie or desserts in any way, shape or form and i usually will usually pass if offered a slice of even the best, homemade, secret recipe, passed down from generation to generation pie or cake or cookie or tart, for that matter. As it turns out, even I cant resist nutella in dessert form.

its current resting place is the bottom shelf of the fridge...
its so droopy because we couldn't wait for it to set
we dug in halfway through the chilling time 

I, later, sat contemplating other uses for this little jar of divinity. My inspiration for my second, uncharacteristic of me, treat of the night came from the simple picture on the front of the jar, a slice of bread liberally slathered in hazelnutty goodness. I needed to make bread, sweet bread, fried bread, beignets. My newest hobby is bread making so i grabbed "the everything bread cookbook" and  found a simple beignet recipe

3/4cup warm milk
2tbsp honey
1 package (1 3/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2tbsp melted butter
2-3cups bread flour
1tsp kosher salt
oil for frying, powered sugar for dusting and nutella for smearing on every inch of the warm pastry.

Brain had left, as it was late and passed his bedtime, with a gentle reminder to be careful, since he wouldn't be there to save me from another house fire. I was left alone with a small pile of puffy, french doughnuts and more nutella than I could handle and now it is me who will soon be passing out, over indulged and a little sticky with visions of hazelnuts dancing in my head. I don't think I regret any of tonights gluttony but i might later if this becomes a habit, which seems entirely probable considering the reputation of this Italian siren called nutella.