Just like you never forget your first kiss, you never forget your first taste of Nutella.

My first bite was in a Nutella crepe in Paris. The warm chocolate hazelnut spread is heavenly, and just a bite or two is so satisfying.

This week's French Friday's with Dorie is a Nutella Tartine. A tartine is a toasted open-faced sandwich. Ingredients can include pesto, arugula, tuna, tapenade, goat cheese.... you get it.

The Nutella tartine uses toasted brioche, orange marmalade, Nutella and sliced almonds. I perfect Sunday morning (or Valentine's Day...) breakfast.

I decided to combine my Tuesday Baking with Julia white loaf bread with this recipe. The bread is sturdy, with just the perfect amount of sweetness.

Nutella is a treasure, but there are a few treasures I'd like to introduce. The first is the Breville Toaster Oven. Dreamy! It toasts, broils, bakes, everything perfectly. It takes up no more room than a microwave. It's a new best friend. If you're in the market for a new toaster, pick up one of these instead. I toasted the bread in the Breville, and buttered it with the next treasure...

Sweet cultured butter. I found an Irish brand at our cheese store. The butter is so good, you can almost eat it alone. You shouldn't skip buttering the bread. If you can't find fancy-schmancy butter, find some good salted butter. This is one time when salted butter is important. It will balance the sweetness of the jam and Nutella. You can also make butter. What?!? Make butter? Yep. It's so easy and delicious. Here's how:

To Make Your Own Butter:

Pour 1 quart heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the PADDLE. Mix on medium speed for several minutes. (about 10). The cream will go through the whipped cream phase, then become light yellow, and separate into butter and buttermilk. You'll see the butter separate out, and hear the clunking in the mixer.

Remove the butter mass from the bowl, and scrape off any butter on the paddle. Place the butter between sheets of parchment paper, or plasic wrap and knead the butter to remove any remaining pockets of buttermilk. The buttermilk will sour, and taint the taste of the butter, so take time to make sure the butter is solid without liquid. Then knead sea salt or salt and herbs into the butter to taste. Start with about 1/2 tsp, and increase. If you have a box of food service gloves, they come in handy for kneading the butter.

Form into a log, about 2 inches in diameter, and about 6 inches long. Wrap in parchment paper, plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill (or use right away). The butter will keep a few days in the refrigerator.

Back to the Tartine!

After the bread is toasted, it's spread with butter and orange marmalade and drizzeled with Nutella. The toasted sliced almonds add great texture and crunch. I like to cut the bread into slices, or on the diagonal. This would also be great on a baguette. If you're not an oranage marmalade fan, you could substitute your favorite jam. Simply, sweet and so lovely. We loved the tart orange taste with the sweet Nutella. We'll be making these again!

Have a great weekend! Coming up... Chocolate Truffle Tartlets