homemade nutella omfg

This was bound to happen eventually.

Anybody who has spent five minutes talking to me knows how much I love Nutella. Seriously. The Ferrero company should compensate me for being a one-woman PR campaign for them-- & such compensation should of course be in the form of multiple jars of Nutella.
Ferrero definitely needs my help. First I think they should rename their delectable chocolate-hazelnut spread. Only the 'nut' part of Nutella is relevant in any way-- I think they could pick a way more descriptive name to push more product. Like, call it what it is-- Spreadable Heaven? Sex in a Jar? (Tagline should read, "better than Midol!") I mean seriously. This stuff is way too good to be legal.

I first discovered this European "spread" a few years ago. It instantly became my favorite thing to spread on toast (sorry, peanut butter). I quickly went from a simple slather-on-toast to putting Nutella into any and every dessert recipe I could think of (see recipes for my hand-made pop-tarts and a Nutella swirled bunt cake). Last summer on my 23rd birthday, I adamantly demanded that NOBODY make me a birthday cake, that I HAD to make it myself, because it HAS to have Nutella in it. Yeah, it's like that with me. Nothing comes between me and my Nutella.

Lately I've been in a bit of a 'food rut', just making my same old trusty stand-bys, haven't really had time to tackle anything new. I was perusing FoodGawker.com when my friend Dago posted a link on my Facebook wall that read, "DEEP FRIED NUTELLA". It was all downhill from there. I'm not a huge fan of fried things, but reading the recipe did get my mouth watering for some Nutella. I checked my pantry-- my jar of Nutella had been totally scraped clean. I was out. I started to get sweaty and panic.

And then I got a brilliant idea- instead of buying a new jar, I could fulfill my craving for Nutella and my desire to make something new in the kitchen-- I would make my own Nutella. Yes. Its like my two favorite worlds colliding. Why hadn't I thought of this sooner?? After all, the American version of Nutella is made differently than it's more respectable European counterpart. Instead of sugar, its high fructose corn syrup. It's loaded with palm oil to keep the texture smooth, and enough preservatives that it needs no refrigeration. (Also, a handful of hazelnuts is pricier than a huge jar of Nutella, which makes you sort of wonder how they get it so cheap...) I hate to knock my favorite thing in the world, but these are hard facts to ignore. So I set out to make a (slightly) healthier, homemade version of Nutella. I found a dozen recipes, no two were alike in any way. It's one of those really flexible recipes, and can be tweaked to your taste.

The biggest "complaint" I found on the food blogosphere about homemade Nutella (yeah some idiots actually had complaints....) was that the smooth texture was difficult to replicate. Well, this is a total non-issue to me. I have strange tastes-- I like my toast burnt, my cereal dry... and apparently, I loooove Nutella with a little bit of grit. This was so good, I'm not sure that I'll ever go back to the packaged stuff.

***Side note: I learned something today. Evaporated milk is just regular milk with a lot of the water taken out, and it's about 60% the amount of the milk it was made from. So if you ever don't have milk, like me, a can of evaporated milk with an equal part of water can substitute just fine.
******Side side note: I learned also that something exists called "powdered milk". Weeeirrrdd... At first I couldn't find it at H-E-B, then I noticed it on the bottom-most shelf of the baking isle. The entire can was printed in spanish, but COINCIDENTALLY (or not...?) the powdered milk was manufactured by Ferrero!



Ingredients

1.5 c whole milk
2/3 c powdered milk
1.5 c raw hazelnuts
1 c dark chocolate chips
1 c milk chocolate chips
1 tbsp honey/agave nectar


This is a surprisingly quick and easy recipe to make. You need a good food processor-- if yours is a small one, cut the recipe in half.

1. Place hazelnuts on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Toast them suckers for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees, until they are brown and fragrant.

2. This step is optional (Skip it if you like grit). Place the toasted hazelnuts in a tea cloth and rub them around until their dark brown skins come off. This is easier the longer they are toasted.

3. Throw the hazelnuts in the food processor and grind until it makes a peanut butter-like consistency. At first it will just be chopped hazelnuts, then grains of hazelnut... but keep on processing until it is thick and wet looking and all sticking together.

4. Place the milk and powdered milk in a saucepan on the stove and heat until hot (but don't boil it). Gradually toss in the chocolate chips and whisk constantly until smooth.

5. Add the chocolate-milk mixture to the food processor and mix that shit up. It will be a lot runnier than actual Nutella but keep in mind that is because it is VERY hot. It will become spreadable once it cools off.

6. Pour your heaven into a jar and refrigerate. Enjoy!!

Sugar Cookies!

I'm not sharing the recipe I used because it was FAR from perfect. It was a great attempt though, and my grandmas sure appreciated them. One is christian, the other a Jew, so I was forced to go with the innocuous "snowflake" design which only evokes thoughts of winter. Ain't they pretty?
Definitely keeping sugar cookies on my list of things to perfect. Expect to see another post on this soon...

Blood Orange Jello Shots

So I've realised there is an unintentional theme running on this blog. Most the foods I make, are my childhood favorites, with some healthier, grown-up revisions. This one is definitely no exception! We all loved jello as a kid-- I mean, it jiggles & it wiggles and Bill Cosby had a funny voice to go along with it. Here, you'll see I added some, ahem, very grown-up additions, and also a little bit of flair.

It basically goes like this: jello shots in tiny plastic cups= trashy. Jello shots in orange slices= awesome AND eco-friendly.





Use MORE jello than the recipe calls for. Instead of a single-serve box (3oz) gelatin, I used more like 4 oz. You don't want to exactly double it, but if you don't put a bit extra Jello mix, the final product will be a bit gooey and not as firm. The flavor doesn't matter- use whatever color you want.

Follow the recipe on the box, first adding jello to 1 cup boiling water, then stirring in 1 cup freezing vodka. (I used Grey Goose).

Pour the mixture into halved oranges. (The trickiest part is emptying out the orange and keeping the peel in a sphere. Helpful hint= use a grapefruit spoon.)

To keep them from spilling, I set the orange cups in a muffin pan so they would stay upright while chilling in the fridge.

AFTER they are done cooling for 4-6 hours (but preferably overnight), you can take a knife to the excess orange peel, then cut the half into quarters or thirds.

Easy! Delicious! Drunkenness!!

THE Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

... & I'm VERY picky with chocolate chip cookies!

They were probably the first thing I learned to bake "from scratch"-- following the ingredient list on the back of a bag of TollHouse milk chocolate chips. This is just a variation of those same ingredients (minus any baking powder), yet the ratio makes a much more perfect cookie.

Perfect, to me means they get that good molasses flavor, and turn out slightly crispy on the outside yet still soft in the middle.

These are the perfect cookies.

ingredients:

1 cup flour
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff)
1 egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips




1. whisk together dry ingredients in small bowl; set aside.

2. cream butter for two minutes. add sugars and cream until well blended. add vanilla and egg.

3. slowly blend whisked flour mixture into the butter mixture.

4. stir in chocolate chips, refrigerate for half an hour.

5. place in rounded balls on parchment paper or a well greased cookie sheet.

6. bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutella Swirled Bundt Cake

Interesting note!
When, at my parents lakehouse, I decided to make a bundt cake, my mom told me her bundt pan was the AUTHENTIC bundt, and she showed me the engraving on the bottom that said "Nordic Ware". Sure enough she was right! Nordic Ware trademarked the bundt in 1950. Read all about the history of this interesting-shaped cake here.

So, I chose to do a nutella swirl cake for two reasons:

1. I LOVE nutella, duhhh.
2. I have never "swirled" a cake before

For the cake recipe, I used the tried-and-true "Basic Yellow Cake" recipe from Martha Stewart (the "other" Martha, as my mom is a Martha, too.) The recipe can be found here. Her recipe calls for one 8-inch cake (about 3 cups of batter). To fit my authentic bundt pan, I doubled her recipe, but if your pan is bigger or smaller, you should adjust accordingly. I will print the recipe doubled as I executed it.



Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
2 2/3 cups cake flour (not self rising)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk




1. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Add Vanilla.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt
3. Add flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture in small, alternating increments


The Nutella Batter
4. Take 1 cup nutella, blend with one egg
5. Add about 1/3 or slightly less of the cake batter to the nutella mixture and blend



6. Now that you have two batters, marble them together in the bundt pan by layering them and swirling with a knife.
7. Bake at 350 for about an hour
8. Dust with confectioners sugar or, if you really want to go all the way, a thin layer of nutella :-D !!

Hand Made Pop-Tarts

Pop tarts were a favorite of mine as a kid. I used to eat them even if I didn't prefer the pastry's specific flavor- I would just eat the crust off of it all around. But have you ever looked at the ingredient list? If not, know this: it includes bleached, processed flour with tons of preservatives and flavor "enhancers". Also, the box says they are "made with real fruit" (which I suppose isn't a lie) and yet a closer examination of the label reveals that the "real fruit" content is really "less than 2%". Not to mention all the added high fructose corn syrup-- yikes!!! Read a nutrition label and ingredient list here, from the Kellog website directly. Now, this isn't to say that my home-made pop tarts are necessarily a health food (as I have always viewed any pastry as a dessert rather than a breakfast) but at least they are void of all of this American, corporate, factory-made bullshit. Plus, they are way, way yummier.

First, know that pie dough is one of the trickiest things to make! It seems so simple; it is, after all, a mixture of simply flour, butter, sugar and water! They are the most basic ingredients of baking-- but don't let that fool you! While the recipe seems easy, it's the technique that makes the difference between a hard, crunchy blanket of butter and a flakey, delicious pie crust! My favorite foodie blog, The Purple Foodie, recently posted a GREAT pie dough 101, complete with tons of very helpful hints! I highly suggest reading it if you aren't already an expert at pie dough! And even if you are- you might learn something.
So here's how I did it...



**note** This is a doubled recipe, as the original only makes one 9'inch pie crust, and I wanted to make a few more pop tarts than that. If you want, go ahead and half the recipe.


Crust (Basic Pie Dough) into Pop-Tarts!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 sticks butter
4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup ice water (more or less)
egg whites, beaten


preheat: 400 F

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour and confectioner's sugar.

2. Dice butter into cubes; If you're using a pastry smashing device (which I don't have at the moment), larger chunks are okay. If you're doing this by hand (like me!) the smaller the cubes, the better! Work butter into mixture with smasher (or hands) until it is crumbly, with the biggest chunks of butter left pea-sized.

3. Mix in the ice water with a fork a spoon at a time, until the dough sticks together but isn't too dry.

4. Refrigerate ball of dough for about an hour.

5. Take a fist-sized ball of dough. Work into a rectangle on a floured board, roll dough out. Scoop either jam, peanut butter, Nutella, chocolate pieces, apple slices, or whatever else you want onto one half of the rolled-out rectangle. Fold the dough over; crimp the sides with a fork or fingers.

6. Place pastries on parchment paper or a VERY well-greased baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg white and dust with a big of sugar if you want.

7. Bake 15-20 minutes, "or until golden brown" (ahhh num!)


Let cool and enjoy!

Faux-reos

Okay! So yesterday was a lazy Saturday and I decided to indulge my sweet tooth. There's two recipes I've been wanting to try- one for homemade oreos over at the Smitten Kitchen blog, as well as a "cookies from cake" recipe from allrecipes.com. I decided to combine the two- instead of making the chocolate cookies from scratch, I made them from a box of cake mix. The EASIEST cookies EVER, and they turned out perfectly! I used to be a huuuge oreo fan (I ate them not by the cookie but by the "sleeve") but now, I can't bring myself to eat even one. Something about the trans-fat laden animal lard in the center... throws off my appetite. Well, these are still pretty fatty and sugary but nowhere near as disturbing to think about! So indulge!



What You Need


1 box chocolate cake mix (dark chocolate is preferable)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

8 oz cream cheese
1-2 cups confectioners sugar



The cookies! First, preheat your oven! 325 degrees F. Combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a bowl and whip it up! Since the full amount of cake batter is used with fewer eggs and less oil than the actual cake would call for, the batter will be SUPER thick and sticky! Place teaspoon-sized balls of chocolate-y gooey goodness on either a VERY greased baking sheet or parchment paper. Now, unlike regular butter cookies, these will not melt into shape in the oven. Gently flatten the balls with either a greased spoon or wet fingers as they will be sticky! Then bake 10-12 minutes or until slightly firm. They will firm up when they cool off so don't overcook them! Let them cool on a baking rack.

The filling! I was initially going to make a butter icing, but that is so plain and I've done it too much. So I decided to make a cream cheese frosting, it turned out quite nicely! Blend 8 oz of cream cheese with 1-2 cups confectioners sugar, depending on how sweet (or not!) you want them. Then, put a glob in the center of one cookie and press down with another. Voila! Creamy sandwich cookie.

try not to eat them all!

Auntie Ann's Kugel

INGREDIENTS

1/2 C Butter melted, reserve 2 Tbls for topping
12 oz Extra Wide Egg Noodles, slightly undercooked
8 oz Sour Cream
1 Lb Cottage Cjeese
2Tbls Sugar (or more!)
3 Eggs Seperated
handful of Crushed Corn Flakes




1. Mix all ingredients except egg whites and corn flakes
2. Beat whites until fluffy, gently fold into mixture
3. Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish
4. Top with cornflakes and drizzle with melted butter
5. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes