Maybe it was the cold weather knocking at my door, signalling fall…which, to me, wherever I am in the world, still means Texas State Fair time, which means Fletcher’s corny dogs and funnel cakes, and well, anything fried.

Which is how I got the idea to make these little gems.

I knew that I wanted to make something like a donut hole, but with a cowgirl twist. Plus there had to be Nutella, because this, after all, is Round 2 of the Twitter Nutella Challenge (for all of the Nutella recipes, simply go to Twitter and type in the hashtag #Nutella).

First, I made a batch of yeast donut dough, and cut out little holes, fried them up, and sprinkled them with sugar, but the result was not impressive. The little balls cooked up picture-perfect, but what they had in looks they lacked in taste. Kind of like Paris Hilton.

If I’d had a can of biscuits in the fridge, I probably would have cracked one open and called it a day. But I didn’t, and besides, that wouldn’t be very sporting, now would it?

No one’s gonna start calling me Demi Homemade.

My answer: Bunuelos, fried Mexican puffs, with a generous squirt of Nutella inside.

They’re fast. Easy. And you can eat tons of them. They are so small, you know.

I used a syringe to get the Nutella inside the little holes, which worked out just fine. Seems kinda weird, but that’s all I had on hand. They may look at you funny when you tell then at the CVS that you’re shooting up Nutella, but they’ve probably heard stranger stories than that.

Nutella Bunuelos

3 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
2 eggs
½ cup whole milk
vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup sugar
½ cup Nutella
2-3 tablespoons whole milk

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Put in bowl or food processor.

2. Add cubes of butter and mix until mixture looks like coarse meal.

3. Add slightly beaten eggs and milk. Pulse until dough becomes a solid mass. If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.

4. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness and cut small circles (I used an olive oil cap!).

5. Let circles rest for 15 minutes, at least.

6. Put oil in deep pot, and turn heat on medium high. When the temperature is at 360, carefully drop small batches of the dough circles into the oil. Work fast — these will only take 20-30 seconds total to cook.

7. Roll in sugar, and with a syringe, poke a hole in the sides and squeeze a bit of Nutella inside. Yummy, right?

This is one of those things that I’ve been meaning to try for ages — I tore this Gray Kunz recipe out of a Food & Wine magazine nearly three years ago, but it became covered up with a blanket of recipes that I stacked on top of it.

Then I forgot about it.

I have recipes everywhere that I want to test – ripped from the pages of magazines in both French and English; in dozens of cookbooks marked with hot pink and baby blue flags; and ideas scribbled in notebooks and on Post-its – all over the apartment.

Do y’all do that, too?

Thing is, I’ve neglected my own love for all things lime and lemon because the boyfriend, Xavier, doesn’t like the taste of either of these great citrus fruits, something that I’ll never understand. So I’ve focused making on other things – ones that he’ll enjoy and we can share – but in doing so, I realized that I’ve been depriving myself of lots of great lemony and limey recipes.

Enough of that nonsense, I decided.

So on my next trip to the Casino, I bought limes, intending to make the tart. But I forgot the sweetened condensed milk.

Perhaps I really wasn’t ready to make it after all.

Then, last week, I went to a picnic on the Seine with some friends, among them Heather Stimmler-Hall, a fantastic writer who penned the award-winning guidebook, “Naughty Paris,” and former Chez Panisse pastry chef and top food blogger David Lebovitz, who just released his fifth book, a hilarious memoir that chronicles his often maddening run-ins with the French, entitled “The Sweet Life in Paris.”

David brought a dee-licious lime tart, covered in a fluffy cloud of meringue. Oh, sweet heaven!

It was all gone before I could beg for another piece.

Inspired and jonesing for more, the next day, I made the recipe that I’d been saving, which was easier than I’d imagined. I added more limes because I like tarty tarts, rather than too-sweet ones. I didn’t use Key limes, because they’re not available around Paris, but they’d be really nice if you can find them.

I probably don’t have to tell you this, but this is also great for breakfast. (Hello, coffee!)

Oreo-Lime Brulee

Adapted from a recipe by Gray Kunz.

(makes 5 1/2-cup tarts)

5 Oreo cookies
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 egg yolks
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
⅔ cup lime juice
zest of two limes
granulated cane sugar, for brulee top

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Put Oreo cookies in food processor and pulse until it’s a mixture of fine crumbs. Add butter and pulse again.

2. Press Oreo mixture into the bottoms of 5 small tart pans (that hold 1/2 cup of filling), or 2 slightly larger tart pans (these are individual size tart pans).

3. Put the pans on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges start to look a bit dry. Let cool

4. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, condensed milk, lime juice, and zest. Fill tart pans, leaving just a smidge of room at the top.

5. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges start to firm up.

6. Put in the fridge for 2 hours, at least.

7. Before serving, sprinkle with sugar and hit the tarts with a blow torch to caramelize.

I love nachos. I love Nutella. So why not get these two crazy kids together?

I’d actually thought of this awhile back, but I never got around to testing and writing the recipe. Then I read about @bellalimento’s Nutella Challenge on Twitter, and I felt like surely this was some sort of divine intervention, pushing me along to Nutella Nacholand. What else could it be?

So I started thinking about how I’d make my favorite appetizer a dessert.

I wanted something colorful on top, so I thought, pico de gallo — but with fruit instead of tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, garlic, lime and cilantro.

I was going to make this with strawberries, but found the cutest little raspberries at the grocery store instead, and thought that white peaches would be just lovely, too. Mint and a squeeze of lime, and there you are. I love how Nutella looks like refried black beans.

But it’s not just about me. Over the next month, there will be LOTS of other great recipes by food bloggers, too, so check them out by searching #Nutella or #TNC on Twitter.

@bellalimento has already posted a yummy recipe for Nutella gelato. Check it out, y’all. I’ll be making this next.

Nutella Nachos with Raspberry-Peach Pico de Gallo

2-3 flour tortillas
½ cup Nutella
1 tablespoon milk (whole)
1 cup raspberries
1 small white peach, diced (1/4 -inch)
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped

Preheat oven to 400.

1. Cut tortillas into eighths and spread out on cookie sheet. Slide into a hot oven for approximately 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Be sure to flip them over halfway through cooking so both sides are nicely cooked.

2. To make the raspberry-peach pico de gallo, gently mix raspberries, diced white peaches, and mint in a bowl. Add a squeeze of lime and toss again.

3. Using a wire whisk, mix the Nutella and milk.

4. Scatter the toasted tortillas on a plate and drizzle with as much Nutella as you’d like. Top with the raspberry-peach-mint pico.

Cowgirl Tips:

You may use any fruit that’s in season for the pico –try to imagine what other fruits could give you the red, green, and white colors of traditional pico.

If your fruit isn’t as sweet as you’d like, just mix up some simple syrup — equal parts water and granulated sugar cooked on low heat until the sugar dissolves — let it cool completely, and add a bit to the mixture.