Nutella Mug Cake

I never knew mug cakes have been made and blogged about for over 3 years already. Time to join; better late than never.

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The Daring Bakers: Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

vanilla panna cotta and Florentine cookies

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

All the recipes are here.

Thanks MissMallory for coming up with this delightful challenge. I love having the panna cotta and Florentine cookies together, the contrasting textures of smooth, creamy, and crunchy are just perfect. I made the vanilla panna cotta and topped it with slightly bitter orange gelée, orange slices, and a drizzle of caramel sauce. For the Florentine cookies, I made some into milk chocolate filled sandwiches, drizzled some with chocolate, and rolled a few into cigar shape which is not an easy thing to do because they set pretty quickly. I bake 2 at a time in the toaster oven and use a small offset spatula to lift and guide the still warm and very fragile cookies onto the handle of a wooden spoon resting across the cookie sheet over the 2 cookies.

vanilla panna cotta with a layer of blood orange gelée

milk chocolate filled Florentine cookie sandwixhes

drizzled with milk chocolate

I use a one-tablespoon cookie/ice cream scoop for even-sized cookies

And I couldn't resist making a panna cotta with my favorite Nutella. I crushed the cookies that broke and scattered them on the plate. The crumbs add a crunch to the creamy panna cotta.

Nutella Panna Cotta, rolled Florentine cookie and crumbs, a sliver of hazelnut brittle

Nutella Panna Cotta
1½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin powder
water
1 ounce finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup Nutella
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

• In a medium bowl, whisk gelatin with 4 tablespoons cold water.
  
• Place chopped chocolate in another medium bowl.
  
• In a large bowl, combine Nutella and salt.
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring cream to a boil. Pour half the cream over gelatin mixture and whisk gently to combine; stir in vanilla. Pour remaining cream over chopped chocolate; whisk until smooth. Combine the two mixtures and whisk well.
• Pour a third of the gelatin-chocolate mixture over Nutella; beat using an electric mixer on low speed until a smooth paste forms. Pour in remaining mixture and milk; beat until fully combined.
• Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into six lightly oiled ramekins. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator until set, about six hours or overnight.
  

Weekend Herb Blogging: Green Tomatoes And Apples Hazelnut Crisp

A week ago strong winds broke a branch of one of my tomato plants bearing a few green tomatoes. Since there wasn't enough to fry I sliced them and together with two granny smith apples I made them into a fruit crisp. The flavor combination of slightly tart apples, sweetish tomatoes, and hazelnuts is amazing, very very yummy.

These green [yellow variety] tomatoes are surprisingly sweet and there isn't a hint of tartness. Being a tomato fiend (I love to snack on tomatoes since I was a small child) I could eat them regularly straight from the bush or in desserts.

sweet and crunchy green (yellow) tomatoes

Green Tomatoes And Apples Hazelnut Crisp
2 Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced
2 medium green tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar, more if you prefer it sweeter
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
¼ cup all purpose flour
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ cup cold salted butter, diced
1 cup roasted hazelnuts
2 - 3 tablespoons Nutella

• In a small bowl mix the apples and tomatoes, drizzle with lemon juice. In another small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and lemon rind, then sprinkle all over the fruits. Toss mixture gently to coat fruits. Transfer into a baking dish. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 20 minutes.
  
• Prepare the topping while the fruits are baking: In a food processor, pulse together the flour, brown sugar, and butter. Add the hazelnuts and process until nuts are chopped fine. Refrigerate until needed. Sprinkle evenly on top of fruits and bake for another 15 minutes or until nicely browned and crisp. Remove from oven and let rest for 2 minutes.
  
• Spoon Nutella in a disposable icing bag and pipe thin strips on top of crisp. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  

I'm submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging which is being hosted this week by Dhanggit. For more info on how to join this weekly event visit Haalo's blog.

Hazelnut Spread

chocolate hazelnut spread and honey hazelnut spread

I am one of the [probably] thousands of people who can't live without a jar or two of Nutella sitting in the pantry. In April of this year when I made Nutella Zebra Cheesecake, I found out to my dismay that someone in my house played a joke by leaving the walls of the Nutella jar intact while the jar is almost empty save for maybe a quarter cup making it look like the jar was still full. Not. Funny. I drove to the nearest grocery store but curses, they also ran out of Nutella! I had to make my own chocolate hazelnut spread with the hazelnut paste I had which I mixed with finely chopped milk chocolate. I bought 2 large jars of Nutella as soon as I had the chance to go to the bigger store.

should include strawberries, sliced apples, pears, spoon

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
1 cup blanched and toasted hazelnuts
½ cup milk chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons superfine sugar, optional
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, optional

• In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts until liquidy. Add the chocolate and process until smooth. Taste and add sugar if desired. Add oil if preferred.

And for more intense hazelnut flavor try
Honey Hazelnut Spread
1 cup blanched and toasted hazelnuts
½ cup mild honey

• In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts until liquidy. Add the honey and blend until smooth and spreadable.

To prepare hazelnuts: Boil hazelnuts in a quart of water with four tablespoons of baking soda for four minutes. Drain into a colander and rinse under cold water. Some skins will pop right off. Some nuts will need you to slip them off, and a few will take a little rubbing with paper towels. Pat the nuts dry, then roast them in the oven at 350°F until they are lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.

both are perfect with strawberries

Nutella Zebra Cheesecake

extra yummy with a sliver of hazelnut brittle

less than perfect zebra swirls

I have bookmarked the recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Swirls in my Filipino recipe collection magazine for 2 years already but was hesitant to make it because the cake is super rich and utterly bad, health wise. The crustless cheesecake recipe by Alice Medrich in Baking With Julia cookbook that has low-fat cottage cheese, Neufchâtel cream cheese, and hazelnut praline paste is a better choice. I adapted her recipe using Nutella and making the zebra swirl effect just like the Filipino recipe. I like that the cheesecake is much lighter and the Nutella is just perfect. I used the hazelnut brittle I made for the original recipe to decorate and enhance the hazelnut flavor of the cheesecake. The zebra effect is not perfect but the cheesecake is very yummy.

Nutella Zebra Cheesecake
2 cups low fat small curd cottage cheese
½ cup sugar, add more to taste
8 ounces Neufchâtel cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup Nutella, whipped
hazelnut brittle, optional

• Drain the cottage cheese for at least 1 hour.
• Butter sides of an 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spoon the drained cottage cheese into the work bowl of a food processor and process for 3 minutes until cheese is silken. Add the soft Neufchâtel cheese along with the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides a couple of times during the process. Don't overdo or you'll have a thin batter.
• Divide the batter and transfer into measuring cups with pouring spout. Stir in the Nutella in one batter, mixing very well.
• To create the zebra pattern: Pour half of the Nutella batter into the prepared pan. Then from 1 foot above the pan, slowly pour the white batter into the center of the Nutella batter. Repeat with the batter 3 times, pouring into the center of the pan, lessening the amount of batter with each pouring.
• Place the pan on a roasting pan, fill roasting pan with hot water halfway up the side of the round pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Turn off oven and leave cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes. Transfer on a wire rack, loosen cheesecake with a thin knife, and cool completely in the pan. Chill for 24 hours before slicing. Serve with hazelnut brittle if desired.

Ensaimada

I have always wanted to make the Hizon style ensaimada which resembles the original Spanish ensaimada, i.e. flat and whitish inside, not the fluffy yellow almost cake-like Goldilocks ensaimada. The Hizon ensaimada I remember was golden brown and flattened further with a hot iron or maybe spatula to caramelize the sugar topping. It was delicious, bready, sweet and perfect with hot chocolate.

In one of my Spanish cookbooks the recipe for ensaimada is leavened with baking powder and has lard, not butter. It is shaped into one gigantic coil and left to rise for 7 hours before baking. I will try that recipe next time I make ensaimadas.

Today I used a Spanish recipe I found online. I was able to make two 7-inch ensaimadas using half of the dough and the other half I made into a coffee cake loaf filled with Nutella and hazelnuts.

Update: Goldilocks-style and Spanish Majorcan recipes here

topped with butter, sugar, and grated young gouda

Nutella and hazelnuts coffee cake loaf

Here is the ensaimada recipe that uses baking powder and lard:
5 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup lard

• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs and water. Knead to form a smooth dough. Roll dough and spread the lard. Roll and fold several times until the lard is absorbed. Halve the dough (or use one dough recipe but it will be HUGE) and roll each dough as thin as possible. Roll the dough from one side like a poster. Coil the rolled dough loosely on 2 large baking sheets, cover with damp towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise for 5 - 7 hours. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven until golden brown. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing.

Hazelnut Crust Apple Tart

I love apple pie/tart/pizza with Nutella and am always looking for recipes that use both. I have a pound of ground hazelnuts in my pantry waiting to be made into something yummy. I pressed half a cup of ground hazelnuts onto one unbaked 10-inch pie shell, sprinkled 2 tablespoons sugar then layered thin apple slices, poured ¼ cup of melted butter all over, sprinkled 3 more tablespoons of sugar and baked the tart for 40 minutes. The best part is the slightly burnt caramelized pieces, and with a drizzle of Nutella, it is just divine.

A variation of this tart is using ground almonds in place of hazelnuts on the tart shell and adding a layer of almond meringue before layering the apple slices, then brushing the top with warmed apple jelly after baking, instead of drizzling Nutella.

Nutella Pizzas

I made a few dessert pizzas with fruits and Nutella. For the apples I used eastern (Philadelphia) empire apples which are perfect for pies because they are so tasty, sweet and tart and they retain their shape when cooked. I made the pizza dough and baked it the same day instead of chilling it overnight in the fridge. I used half of the dough and 5 apples, sliced into 16 pieces, then fried in 2 T butter and 2 T sugar until soft and caramelized. The other half of the dough I made into Nutella and dried blueberry pizza. Both are sooo good. Nutella is great with a lot of different fruits. We also love it on toast with sliced strawberries on top.

drizzle more Nutella on the apple pizza before serving

gust the blueberry pizza with powdered sugar, with a dollop of Nutella on the side

Pizza Dough
3 to 3½ cups bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1¼ cups very hot water

• In a bowl, mix together 1½ cups flour, sugar and yeast. Stir in the hot water and beat for 2 minutes. Add the salt and oil, then gradually add more flour. Knead for 6 minutes. Transfer to a slightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise, about 1 hour. Punch dough down, divide in half. Pat each half in 13 x 9 inch pans. Spread Nutella on both, thick or thin depending on how much you love Nutella. Arrange apple slices, slightly overlapping on top of Nutella. On the other dough, slightly press dried sweetened blueberries evenly on top (do not use fresh or frozen blueberries). Let rise for 30 - 40 minutes. Bake in a pre-heated 425°F oven for 25 minutes.