This Nutella Puff Pastry Braid is a fast, easy and delicious recipe. Using just a few simple ingredients this comes together quickly and is delicious served warm straight out of the oven.
I’ve been on a Puff Pastry binge lately with my Lemon Cream Cheese Danish and my Easy Apple Danish. Honestly, the great thing about using puff pastry is that it’s just so easy. I don’t often use store bought ingredients, but puff pastry is one I use all the time friends! If you haven’t started using it yet, get on it. And check out my post all about Puff Pastry Recipes and Ideas for more inspiration.
What Makes This Pastry Braid Great
- Easy – just using a few ingredients, this comes together quickly.
- Prep ahead of time – This can be prepared up to 8 hours before baking. Just cover it and refrigerate it until baking. Don’t brush with the egg wash until just before baking.
- Delicious – for such a simple dessert or brunch, this delivers so much flavour and is pretty as well.
- Versatile – You can choose to add your own spin on flavours by adding hazelnuts, sliced almonds, pecans, frosting and so much more.
Ingredients
- Puff pastry sheet – I used a frozen ready to roll pastry sheet for this recipe
- Nutella – store bought nutella was my choice.
- Topping – I used an egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar for the topping.
REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions is always found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- Lay the pastry sheet on a sheet of parchment paper
- How to cut the pastry. Cut around six equal strips on each side.
- Start the shaping of the pastry by cutting the top corners off and then making a small oval cut at the top.
- Add the filling – spread the nutella down the center, leaving a 1/2 inch (1 cm) space at the top and the bottom, fold the dough over the chocolate.
- Fold the pastry strips over each other. Gently press down the edges so they stay shut.
- Refrigerate – place in the fridge or about 20 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees f/180 degrees c.
- Brush the pastry with the egg wash.
- Sprinkle over a little sugar and bake for around 20 – 25 minutes or until golden and puffed.
Baking tips
- Use cold puff pastry – when putting the braid together, make sure to use cold puff pastry. It’s much easier to work with. Warm puff pastry will be difficult to fold properly.
- Warm the Nutella – the nutella will be much easier to spread if it’s warm. Place it in a small saucepan for about 1-2 minutes over low heat. Give it a quick stir as it melts. It will be much easier to spread
- Chill the braid before baking – it’s important to place the prepared chocolate braid in the fridge for about 20 minutes before baking. This will ensure the pastry puffs properly.
How To Serve This Chocolate Pastry Braid
This is just amazing straight out of the oven. Warm layers of flaky pastry filled with melted nutella, delicious. If you like, you can even dress it up more and serve it with whipped cream, ice cream or even a flavoured vanilla yogurt. All of these toppings would still work well for this easy dessert.
Other Substitutions and Flavours
- Make it gluten free and or vegan – by using a gluten free pastry made with vegetable fat instead of butter, this becomes suitable for other diets. Switch out the Nutella for a vegan friendly chocolate spread. Instead of using an egg wash, use a plant based milk like almond milk to brush the top.
- Add fruit filling – You could use any flavoured jam like marmalade (orange), peach, raspberry, strawberry or other flavours you might like.
- Try a different chocolate – Instead of nutella, you can use a chocolate bar inside this pastry braid.
- Make a glaze for the top – By combining about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of milk, you can make a basic sugar glaze. Just drizzle over the top.
- Make a different shape – you don’t have to be limited to a lattice braid for this recipe. You could make turnovers, cut into triangles, scrolls, pinwheels, swirls, sticks or squares. You can put your own twist on it easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread that originated in Italy
You can use any chocolate spread that you prefer. As well, a whole chocolate bar cut up or chocolate chips will also work no problem at all.
Puff pastry need to be baked cold to puff up properly in the oven. It’s possible, your pastry was too warm when you baked it.
Puff pastry works best for this recipe, but you can use filo or shortcrust. Just remember, the results will be different and may require different baking times.
This gives the pastry a nice golden colour when it’s baked.
Nutella Puff Pastry Braid
Instructions
- Lay the pastry sheet on a sheet of parchment paper.
- Think of the pastry in thirds. Cut approximately 6 equal diagonal strips on each side.
- Start the shaping of the pastry by cutting the top corners off and then making a small oval cut at the top.
- Spread the nutella down the center, leaving a 1/2 inch (1 cm) space at the top and the bottom, fold the dough over the chocolate.
- Fold the pastry strips over each other. Gently press down the edges so they stay shut.
- Refrigerate for about 20 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees f/180 degrees c.
- Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle over the sugar.
- Bake for around 20 – 25 minutes or until golden and puffed. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Notes
- Use cold puff pastry – when putting the braid together, make sure to use cold puff pastry. It’s much easier to work with. Warm puff pastry will be difficult to fold properly.
- Warm the Nutella – the nutella will be much easier to spread if it’s warm. Place it in a small saucepan for about 1 – minutes over low heat. Give it a quick stir as it melts. It will be much easier to spread
- Chill the braid before baking – it’s important to place the prepared chocolate braid in the fridge for about 20 minutes before baking. This will ensure the pastry puffs properly.
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