Chocolate Hazelnut Smoothie (or Milkshake)

June 27, 2011 By 7 Comments

Apparently I’m on a dessert kick. There’s been lots of desserts in my recent roundups and my last two posts were ice cream and cupcakes. Hope you don’t mind. :D

Really this recipe was all about trying to use up some nuts we had leftover from vacation (Mike eats a lot of nuts, so we stockpiled). The only thing that popped into my head for hazelnuts was a hazelnut smoothie. I’m not really sure what fueled this notion, as I’ve never had or made a hazelnut smoothie before, but I couldn’t come up with anything else, so here you are.

  • 1/4 cup raw hazelnuts
  • 1 1/4 cups milk of your choice
  • 4 scoops of ice cream, vanilla or chocolate
  • 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until hazelnuts are fragrant and swollen in size with cracked skins, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
  2. Once hazelnuts are cooled, place in a towel and rub vigorously to remove skins.
  3. Put hazelnuts in a blender and blend until finely ground. Add the milk. Blend until hazelnuts are thoroughly incorporated into the milk. (You may need to scrape the bottom to remove ground hazelnuts from beneath the blades.)
  4. Add in the ice cream and chocolate syrup and blend again until completely mixed. Serve immediately.

(Serves 2)

I really liked the hazelnut flavor. I wasn’t sure how much you’d be able to taste it, but it came through loud and clear. And the nuts make it healthy, right? ;)

I should note that this smoothie is much thinner than standard smoothie or milkshake consistency. It pours easily. Decrease the amount of milk for a thicker consistency.

[An aside: I love this blender. This one belongs to Mike's parents, but my parents had pretty much the exact same model--which I ended up taking to college. Whenever it came out, someone would walk into the kitchen and say "my parents have the same blender!" Whoever would have guessed a blender could be a conversation piece? Of course what's really most impressive is that it's 30 years old and still going strong. Yay tan Osterizer that never dies and teaches you the word frappe.]

Could you get by without removing the skins? Probably. Your smoothie might not be as pretty. Maybe you don’t care. As you can see from the picture above, mine did not come completely off. (Most likely they needed more toasting.)

You do probably want to use toasted hazelnuts (whether you toast them yourself as listed in the recipe or buy toasted hazelnuts is up to you). I think the flavor is much better. If you really prefer raw nuts, give it a go.

Our nuts were not salted. Given that this is a dessert, I think most people would want to go the unsalted route. However, I also know that when you dip french fries in milkshakes it’s delicious, so maybe the salty and sweet thing would work?

I actually used chocolate chip ice cream because that’s what was around. Chocolate will clearly make a more chocolatey smoothie. I pondered adding some coffee powder to make a mocha hazelnut smoothie. Coffee ice cream would do the same job. Mix and match to your tastes.

Chocolate Applesauce Cupcakes

June 22, 2011 By 4 Comments

We’re on vacation with Mike’s family right now. In preparation for the trip, Mike’s mom made chocolate applesauce cupcakes. This is a recipe she got from her grandmother that she’s tweaked a bit over the years. It’s a family staple. She made a triple batch, and we went through most of them before we even left. Luckily she’s a smart lady and she froze some to bring on the trip. I made another batch to share with you all. (Really who’s going to complain about extra cupcakes?)

  • 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour mix
  • 3/4 cup sugar, plus extra sugar for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2/3 cup dry milk powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 3/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup light olive oil
  • 2/3 cup chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix together flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cocoa powder, dry milk, and salt.
  3. Push the dry mix to the edges of the bowl. In the center of the bowl, add the applesauce, milk, and olive oil. Mix wet ingredients together, then mix into the dry ingredients. Just as the mixture is coming together, mix in the chocolate chips.
  4. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners. Spoon mixture into the muffin cups. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a cupcake will come out clean.
  5. Remove from the oven and place tin on a cooling rack. Lightly dust cupcakes with sugar. Once muffins have slightly cooled, prop them up in the muffin tins to allow them to completely cool.

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

We used 1/3 cup oat flour and 2/3 cup of Andrea’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend. Be sure to get certified gluten-free oat flour if you are going to use oat flour. If not, use one full cup of whatever gluten-free flour blend you’re using. Do pay attention to whether your flour mix has leavening or not. This recipe is written as if the flour does not have any leavening.

Mike’s mom uses dry milk powder to cut down on the sugar in recipes. Since it’s milk, it still adds some sweetness, and it also adds protein. If you don’t have any, you can take it out and add more sugar.

You can triple the recipe and bake in a 9×13 pan.

 

Green Tea Ice Cream

June 20, 2011 By 3 Comments

Having an ice cream maker is dangerous. Fresh ice cream, whatever flavor you want, in half an hour, who can resist? (I mostly don’t.)

This is the inaugural batch of ice cream this summer. I meant to make a green tea ice cream last summer but never got around to it. My sister was drinking matcha tea when we were in St. Louis a few days ago, and it reminded me to give it a go.

The other great thing about homemade ice cream: You tell people you made them homemade ice cream, and they’ll ooh and aah and think you’re a culinary wizard. But really, homemade ice cream is probably the easiest dessert to make.  See recipe below. Impress friends.

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/3 white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon matcha

  1. Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved and matcha is thoroughly distributed.
  2. Pour mixture into ice cream machine and chill following manufacturer’s instructions. (For me, this about half an hour.)
  3. Ice cream can be eaten now, but for a firmer texture remove from ice cream maker, and chill in freezer for another hour or so.

Or, for those of your without an ice cream maker–and I feel you, for years I had to endure everyone posting ice cream recipes before I had one–follow this method that I mentioned in my peanut butter ice cream recipe, learned from David Lebovitz.

  1. Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved and matcha is thoroughly distributed.
  2. Chill mixture.
  3. Pour the mixture into a baking dish or bowl. Put in the freezer.
  4. After 45 minutes, check on the mixture. Stir any ice crystals around the edges into the liquid. Refreeze.
  5. Thereafter, check every 30 minutes and give the mixture a good stirring. (The point is to break up the ice crystals.) Ice cream should be ready in a few hours.

(Makes ~1 1/2 cups ice cream)

This was a pretty small batch. Recipe can be easily doubled if you have guests coming over.

Gluten-Free Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Bars

April 25, 2011 By 6 Comments

I was cruising around on TheKitchn the other day when I came across a post about making a giant cookie in a cast iron skillet. How could I pass up a recipe like that! It also fits in nicely with Gluten-Free Homemaker’s Monthly Gluten-Free Challenge to make a dessert bar.

Turns out TheKitchn writer used Martha Stewart for the guidelines. (Don’t we all at some point or another? Well, I do, like when I made red velvet cupcakes.) I hopped over to her site, looked over the recipe, thought up the necessary gluten-free changes, plus a few other adaptations (namely making the cookie hazelnut flavored) and we were good to go. (Mike always gets scared when I want to adapt recipes. As he explains it, 3/4 of the time the changes are good; 1/4 of the time he ends up with kale in his food.)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix flours, salt, and baking soda together. Combine well.
  3. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter together. Then add in egg and hazelnut extract.
  4. Once thoroughly mixed, add in the flour. Stir until just mixed, then stir in the chocolate chunks.
  5. Press into a 12-inch skillet. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove and allow cookie to cool completely before cutting.

( Serves 8 )

The hazelnut flavor was very prominent, which was my main goal. However, because of the high proportion of hazelnut meal to other flour this cookie is not quite the same texture as “regular” cookies. (It had a dense chocolatey middle, with a crispy crusty top.) If you can’t find hazelnut extract, plain old vanilla works too.

I used chocolate that was 71% cacao, because I love dark chocolate. It makes for a very rich flavor. Semi-sweet or milk chocolate work as well.

Martha’s original recipe calls for a 10-inch skillet. I only own a 12-inch. If you use a 10-inch adjust the cooking time upward. She says to bake for 40-45 minutes.

Cast iron holds heat well, so remove the cookie before it gets too brown. It will continue to bake after you remove it from the oven.

You have to wait for the cookie to completely cool before cutting it up–unless you want gooey crumbly mess. Granted, warm gooey, crumbly cookie mess is not that bad of a thing. But if you want actual bars, you’ll have to wait.

This recipe is shared in Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Avocado Pie (and a Great Gluten-Free Pie Crust)

April 11, 2011 By 15 Comments

Maggie at She Let Them Eat Cake is hosting Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten-Free this month. She chose Springtime Brunches as the theme. At first I was a little stumped.  But after some thought, I remembered an avocado pie that I made for my sister-in-law’s wedding shower. The bright green color screams spring to me. While not exactly traditional, I think it’d make a great brunch addition. It’s quirky. It’s cool and creamy and tangy all at once. The perfect dish to add a little pop to a spread.

For the crust:

For the filling:

  • 4 ripe avocados
  • 6 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar

  1. Start by making the crust. Heat an oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place nuts in a food processor and pulse until nuts are ground. Then add the coconut oil and agave nectar. Pulse again until thoroughly incorporated. The mixture should hold together when pressed.
  2. Press mixture into a pie dish, taking care to press up the sides.
  3. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove and allow to completely cool.

  1. Once crust is cool, start on the filling. Place avocados, lime juice and agave nectar into a food processor and process until completely smooth. Spoon into pie crust. Refrigerate at least two hours to allow the avocado cream to set.
  2. Garnish with fruit just before serving.

(Makes 1 pie)

My pie plate is 9 1/2 inches. I think anything in the 8-10 range should work.

The crust doesn’t actually need to be baked. Baking adds a toasted flavor. If you decide not to bake, refrigerate the crust before filling to help the crust set. If you are going to bake, watch the crust carefully. Nuts burn much more easily than regular pie dough. Light browning is what you are looking for.

You could add a little gelatin or agar agar to the avocado cream to achieve a firmer set. I pondered this, but that was adding extra work so I skipped it in the end.

Check back at She Let Them Eat Cake at the end of the month to see all the Springtime Brunch recipes.

This recipe is also making an appearance in Seasonal Sundays,  Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Real Food Weekly and Full Plate Thursday.

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