Is that a lobster cracker or a screwtop turner? The tin snips are an interesting choice. ;) So sorry about the problems! I had a plastic topped cork stuck fast in a bottle of shreey recently, then it finally broke off just under where the corked joined the cap. Did the recipe come out well?

Joint pliers and tip snips. Not an educated choice -- simply grabbed them from DH's tool box because they looked like they might work {shrug}.

I want to made hazelnut semifreddo, hoping to do that this weekend, wanted to get the Frangelico first.

ETA: This one: Classic Chocolate Hazelnut Semifreddo | Emma Duckworth Bakes

Oh, that does look good! I was asking about the red loopy one, but I totally get the grab some tools and see what works part! I have some to the purpose tools, but I don't think they would have worked any better. Are you making it for company?

Oh, the red one is a jar opener. I'm testing the recipe to see if it passes snuff; if it does I'll add it into the dessert rotation. I made lemon semifreddo over the summer, and it was a big hit.

I take it you didn't have a sturdy sharp blade and a corkscrew handy? Now that there is a hole in it, you are going to need to finish opening it and replacing the cork so your booze does not oxidize. Finish removing the outer foil. If you don't own a corkscrew, look for a large screw in the toolbox. Screw it into the cork, and use a pliers to gently rock the cork out. If the cork isn't too damaged once it's out, you can glue it into place on the top of the cork only to plug the hole in it and reuse the cork. Otherwise, you will want to use another stopper if the cork cannot be used.

Online suggests running the top under hot water to loosen the sugar and the plastic false top.

There's no cork in it -- I punctured something that is plastic, and the liqueur is able to dribble out. I see nothing cork-like in the bottle, and no corky bits flaking out with the dribble, which would be expected since I had to stab at it to puncture it. This is a 375 mL bottle, maybe it's different than the full-size bottle? I wrapped the top with foil for now.

ETA: I saw the same thing about the hot water -- tried that and it didn't work. That plastic outer covering would not budge.

I would contact the company and complain. This is not acceptable at all. Google and the company shows up. Email them. I probably would call and speak to a real live person, lol.

Yeah, sorry about that. Forgot Frangelico has a regular twist off cap instead of a cork. But still since you have a hole in the cap, you need to be able to seal it. Foil wrapping isn't really a good option.

On to a more bothersome process then. Decant the whole bottle into something else with a tight capping. You can leave it there or work on the bottle to rebottle it. You can heat treat the cap more safely with the empty bottle. You can invert the empty bottle neck deep in very hot water for several minutes to loosen. I've heard of folks using a hair dryer too. Once the cap is off, make sure the cap and bottle threads/opening are free of any sticky. Depending on what the damage to the cap, there are fixes for it. Or easer is once the cap is off, you just use a different stopper in the bottle.

I feel your pain. My sister and I were just talking about how hard everything is to open these days. I often have to resort to a box cutter or scissors to open things. I bought an airplane bottle of espresso liquer for a recipe and there was no way either my hsband or I could open that stupid liittle cap. My husband ended up using a blade to cut the top off the bottle, just below the cap! Fortunatey we didn't need to reseal it. And don't even get me started on the bubble pack cold/flu medication!

Oh, yea -- that bubble pack med packaging is ridiculous....

Recipe update: It's setting in the freezer now. What an ordeal.

I followed the directions as written and the chocolate mixture seized up, just a big sticky lump. I did manage to get it back to where it needed to be by adding boiling water, but with a lot of effort and various kitchen utensils (the nutella made it stick to the whisk something awful and the rubber spatula didn't eliminate the grittiness, so I had to go back and forth). I knew I should have melted the chocolate and drizzled it in instead of putting it in as a solid, and the nutella probably would have incorporated easier if it were warm. Folding everything together wasn't all that easy either -- the chocolate mixture was so thick I had to fold and fold and fold and fold to get it thoroughly incorporated into the whipped cream, and so the mixture ended up less fluffy than it should have. Of course I had to the lick the bowl and my first impression was meh -- I don't like overly sweet desserts, but it lacked enough sweetness (and I used sweeter chocolate than was called for) and I couldn't really even taste the hazelnut flavor.

I don't even want to get into the mess I had to clean up with all that sticky chocolate goop other than to say I was concerned about my drain clogging once I rinsed the remaining bits down the sink that I boiled a small pot of water and dumped that down the drain, followed by a running hot water from the faucet for a good 10 minutes or so.

So yea, unless the finished product magically morphs into something orgasmic, recipe gets a big fat NO! from me.

Update: I had a little bit of it once it was set but threw the majority of it out. It actually never thoroughly set like it should have and had kind of weird gummy texture. This recipe sucks. Complete waste of time and money, and now I have a jacked-up bottle of Frangelico that I have nothing else to do with.