Chocolate Hazelnut Snowflake Pastry

Thank you to Disney for inviting me to a The Nutcracker and the Four Realms press screening #DisneysNutcracker
Rich and delectable Chocolate Hazelnut Snowflake Pastry, inspired by The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. It goes perfectly with a cup of Hot Cocoa!

Lots of my memories are tied together with food. Vacations, holidays, special people, are all intertwined in my brain with the food we ate. Maybe that’s why, for me, the food I serve around the holidays and special occasions is so important. It helps me remember all my favorite people.

For many families seeing The Nutcracker is a family tradition. I remember my Mom taking me to see a performance of the ballet when I was younger. With three boys I’m afraid taking them to the ballet was not a tradition that I pursued. Which is why I was so excited when I first saw the trailers for The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. A bit of the beauty of the Nutcracker story, but easier to watch with my own family. Because I was curious, the original story was written in 1816 and titled “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”. That story was adapted by Alexandre Dumas and later turned into the ballet with music by Tchaikovsky. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a new re-imagined version of the classic Christmas story.

I don’t know if sugar-plums were dancing in my head, but I was having visions of snowflakes and sweets after watching the film. Put those together and what do you get? The sweetest snowflake you ever tasted. I did mention how much I like pairing food with traditions, right? I forsee many future holidays celebrating with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms along with this Chocolate Hazelnut Snowflake Pastry.

My snowflake pastry is layers of dough, filled with chocolate hazelnut spread. Four layers of dough to be exact. While you could make dough from scratch, you could also pick up 4 containers of crescent roll dough. Spread out each piece of dough and cut into 10 inch circles. (Use a 10 inch dinner plate and sharp knife to cut out each round layer. Chocolate hazelnut spread gets placed in between each layer of dough.

To create the snowflake shape you will need a glass and a sharp knife. Place the glass in the center of the pastry. Cut your dough into 16 equal sections. It’s easiest to start by creating four sections, then cut each of those in half and each of those in half. Then you end up with 16!

Once you have all the segments made it’s just a little twist to make the snowflake shape. Hold two segments at a time and twist them outward, away from each other. Two twists and then tuck and pinch the ends together. Once you’ve twisted your 8 groups, 16 segments total, your snowflake is ready to go into the oven.

I just love how the layers of dough and chocolate hazelnut spread look!

What does a holiday dessert need? Some snow! Or some powdered sugar sprinkled on top.

This snowflake pastry is easy to serve and is basically just a holiday pull apart bread.