Thursday, October 09, 2014

Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

If you just happen to find yourself with some extra hazelnuts and spare time, might I suggest this recipe. 

The first time I had chocolate hazelnut spread was in France. They served it every morning, at the hostels, along with baguettes. I am not sure which is worse, England's toast and jam or France's baguettes with Nutella every morning. Baguettes are just so dry and sourdough flavored (I don't think it goes with chocolate spread very well). I guess you can eat the Nutella plain and save the bread for later when you are site seeing (which I did). One of Martin's first weeks of life was fueled by Nutella, baguettes, good pastries, and espressos. I had no idea I was pregnant. He had a lot of caffeine to counter the jetlag. But enough about that. 

I found the recipe on NPR's website, but it is an ATK recipe, of course. How amazing would homemade graham crackers be with this spread? I plan on making those soon and the dairy free whipped cream, if baby 2 needs to go dairy free, like Martin. 

Honestly, the only reason I found this page is because I was looking for a recipe for kale chips, which came in my csa bin... Bleh. I thought I would give kale chips one more try before giving up on kale altogether. If anyone loves kale, let me know and you can have mine. Ha ha. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/07/24/334424736/with-help-from-americas-test-kitchen-why-buy-when-you-can-diy

And in case you think we are only eating Nutella around here, let me say I haven't bought Nutella since Martin had to go dairy free, almost two years ago. Also, I have a spaghetti squash cooking with some brocoli for dinner (but who needs a post about how to cook those?).  I am going to serve it with chicken in red sauce. We eat some healthy things. Ha ha. Life is too short to live on green stuff alone. :) 

Ingredients
1 c. Powdered sugar
2 c. Hazelnuts
1/3 c. Cocoa powder
1 T vanilla extract
2 T hazelnut oil (I used olive oil, but veggie oil would probably work better since it is flavorless)
1/8 tsp salt

1. Roast hazelnuts at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes until dark brown. Cool slightly. Dump into either a container with a lid or a bowl with another bowl flipped on top. Shake vigorously until skins come off. 

2. Put skinless hazelnuts in food rices sit with oil and process until they from a smooth, loose paste. Add everything else and process until the mixture becomes glossy. You may need to scrap down the sides of the food processor. 

You can store this in the frig for up to a month. This is super easy. Thankfully, hazelnuts are expensive and not something I keep around the house.  But if you do, you might find yourself making this quite often. 

2 comments:

  1. How do you do spaghetti squash? I might be the only one never having cooked it!

    Jeanne

    It's leftover night at our house! Taco salad, borshcht, cutlets, green beans and Apple sauce... The boys and I also had leftovers for lunch.

    Carla had a posted something about kale chips to Caitlin, maybe it's different than what you've tried? I've never had kale, ever, that I know of!

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  2. I like leftover night and I am thankful for a husband and son who eat leftovers without complaining. We had leftovers tonight for dinner.
    I like spinach, but I can't stand kale. Sigh.
    And I just roast my spaghetti squash upside down on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350 or until softish. I wouldn't buy spaghetti squash, but it came in my csa bin. It is okay. I much prefer butternut or acorn.

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