Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato

For our three days in Florence, Italy, it was clear that an afternoon gelato was what all the cool kids (and adults) were doing. Who was I to go against the tide? I had the same combo every day: bacio e stracciatella, or chocolate hazelnut and chocolate chip. Now that we are back home, I am craving my favorite: bacio. Lucky for me, I only need to turn as far as the Food Network and Giada De Laurentiis to bring back that wonderful experience.

Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato
Source: Giada De Laurentiis
Makes about 4 cups, adaptations in italics

2 cups 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 can fat free sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
2 teaspoon hazelnut liquor (Frangelico)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crushed, for garnish

Directions
In a saucepan combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whip the egg yolks using an electric mixer until the eggs have become thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk. Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir. Add this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard mixture through the strainer. Stir in the vanilla, liquor, and hazelnut spread until it dissolves. Chill mixture completely before pouring into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze. To serve, scoop gelato into serving bowls and top with hazelnuts.

Cinnamon Nutella Cake Bites

Nutella holds a special place in my heart. I've made nutella cupcakes, ice cream, and muffins, all with great success. For an upcoming (after?) holiday party, I decided to take them in a new direction - cake bites! I was inspired to create them after seeing strawberry vanilla cake bites in my google reader. What could be better than nutella with cinnamon cake, enrobed in more chocolate?? YUM! (Admittedly, I'm still stuck on the cinnamon nutella ice cream combination.)


I decorated the tops with thinned royal icing so people could tell the difference between the two. I love the flavor combination of the strawberry vanilla, but toyed with the recipe and ultimately think it would be better as written (see my note with the recipe). The cinnamon nutella bites were SO good, but I really didn't expect anything less! Can you really go wrong there? I think not. I even snuck some chopped hazelnuts into the center.





Cinnamon Nutella Cake Bites
Cake recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Makes approximately 30 cake bites (1 tablespoon size)

- 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup nutella
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, or about 30 whole
- 12-14 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan, and line bottom with parchment or wax paper. Place pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, the remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, the baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture, and whisk gently until you have a homogenous batter. Now, using the whisk or rubber spatula, fold in the butter with a light touch until the butter is absorbed. You'll have a smooth satiny batter. Scrape the batter into the pan. Smooth the top. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until cake is puffed and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. A thin knife inserted into the middle will come out clean. Transfer cake to a cooling rack, and let it rest for 15 minutes before unmolding it onto another rack. Peel off the paper, and cool to room temperature.

Once fully cooled, break up the cake into a large bowl. Add the nutella and mix thoroughly. Shape into tablespoon sized balls, press 1 whole hazelnut or a few hazelnut pieces into the center of the ball, and reshape to close up the cake ball. Place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to firm up the cake bites. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, or in a microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Dip the chilled cake bites in the chocolate and thoroughly coat. Set cake bates on parchment line cookie sheets, and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to set the chocolate coating.





Strawberry Vanilla Cake Bites
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook, as seen at Joy the Baker
Makes: approximately 30 cake bites (tablespoon size)
I thought the cake/preserves mixture was too dry, so I added a little extra preserves. Once completed, I thought they were too wet. Next time I'll stick to the recipe!

For the Cake:
~1 cup cake flour
~1 teaspoon baking powder
~1/4 teaspoon salt
~1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
~1/2 cup sugar
~1 egg plus 1 egg white, at room temperature
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~1/3 cup whole milk

For the Strawberry Binding:
~1/3 cup strawberry preserves
~2 heaping Tablespoons of marshmallow creme

14 ounces milk chocolate for dipping.

To Prepare the Cake:
Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour one 8-inch round baking pan, knocking out excess flour. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer, on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla, and beat until thoroughly blended, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed and add flour mixture and milk, alternately in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and mix until batter is just smooth, do not overmix. Batter will seem loose.

Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cake will still be pale in color, not golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan on a rack, then invert on a rack to cool completely. While Cake cools, mix together the strawberry preserves and marshmallow creme.

When cake is completely cool, crumble into a large mixing bowl. Add the strawberry mixture and mix together with hands This will be messy. Mix until the cake and preserves are thoroughly incorporated.

Shape cake mixture into 1 inch balls or squares by pressing the cake mixture together with your fingers and rolling in the palms of your hand. Place the shaped cake bites on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Once all the bites have been rolled, cover and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Melt milk chocolate in the microwave, or over a double boiler. Dip chilled cake bites into the melted chocolate and place back onto the baking sheet. Once all balls are dipped, place in the fridge for 20 minutes to harden the chocolate.

Eat to the Beat: Nutella Ice Cream

Your love is better than ice cream
Better than anything else that I've tried
And your love is better than ice cream
Everyone here know how to fight
...
Your love is better than chocolate
Better than anything else that I've tried
Oh love is better than chocolate
Everyone here knows how to cry
This song from Sarah McLachlan was always one of my favorites... namely because I could live off of ice cream, it is my absolute favorite food! The song embodied what I was looking for in a relationship... a love that was better than ice cream. Naturally, I believe I found that in my husband, and this is a timely post as we are nearing our first anniversary!


Still, I wanted to create an ice cream that would be pretty hard to beat... so for this installment of Eat to the Beat, I give you Cinnamon Nutella Ice Cream!
Well, I've just taken it out of the ice cream maker. Oh my. Oh my! This is roll-your-eyes-back-into-your-head good. (gosh, now I feel like a yogurt commercial!) The cinnamon ice cream ALONE is fantastic, but add the nutella and toffee chips... wow. Just wow! Yeah, I could, um, spend more time making coherent sentences but the pull of another bite is too strong and I'm going to give in. Just trust me and make it!



Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan

Cinnamon Nutella Ice Cream with Hazelnut Toffee Chips
Base ice cream recipe adapted from Doc Wilson, see my note on adjusting fat content here.
If you don't like cinnamon, feel free to omit it, it will still be fabulous!

~4 oz milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole is fine)
~8 oz heavy cream
~16 oz fat free half and half
~1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
~1 cinnamon stick
~3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/4 cup eggbeaters
~3 tbsp brown sugar
~3 tbsp sugar
~7 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk
~1 cup hazelnut toffee (recipe follows)
~1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, half-and-half, cream, vanilla, cinnamon stick and ground cinnamon. Whisk occasionally. When the cream mixture reaches a fast simmer (do not boil), remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

Whisk together the egg beaters, sugars, and sweetened condensed milk. Add the cream mixture by straining to catch cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Chill a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight. Freeze according to ice cream maker directions. In the last 5 minutes of freezing, add hazelnut toffee chips. Place 1/2 of ice cream in container. Add 1/4 cup nutella and swirl gently with a spatula. Add remaining 1/2 of ice cream, and swirl in remaining 1/4 cup of nutella. Mine behaved almost like that magic shell ice cream topping, it started to freeze up and break into bits rather than make a proper swirl, but I am still happy with it! Place in the freezer to cure.

Hazelnut Toffee from About.com

~1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
~1/2 cup granulated sugar
~1 tbsp water
~1.5 tsp light corn syrup
~1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
~3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set it aside. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the sugar. Once the sugar is mixed in, add the water and corn syrup and stir until well-incorporated.

Place the pan back on the heat and insert a candy thermometer. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the candy reaches 290 degrees. Watch it carefully near the end, as it can easily burn at high temperatures. Once the candy reaches 290 degrees, remove it from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon and the chopped nuts, and immediately pour the candy onto the prepared baking sheet. Tilt the sheet several times to spread the candy in a thin layer. Allow the toffee to sit at room temperature until it is completely cool.

Place the chocolate chips in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after every minute to avoid overheating. Spoon half of the melted chocolate on top of the toffee, and spread it in a thin, even layer over the top. Place the toffee in the refrigerator to set the chocolate for about 15 minutes. Remove the toffee from the refrigerator and lift it from the baking sheet. Flip the toffee over so that the chocolate side is now resting on the bottom of the baking sheet. Spoon the remaining melted chocolate over the top of the toffee and spread it evenly. (If necessary, re-warm the chocolate briefly so that it is spreadable).

Refrigerate the toffee again to set the chocolate. Once set, break the candy into small pieces with your hands. Store the toffee in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in a cool room.

Tasty Tools: Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins

My husband loves bananas. But for the past few months, I've brought them home green (because he likes them way before the first appearance of a brown spot) and they have hung on our lovely banana holder until they are almost covered in brown spots. As a result, I have about 8 bananas in the freezer right now. This morning I had SEVEN dark brown bananas, and refused to put all of them in the freezer.

So I went off in search of a recipe that could use the most bananas at one time. My google reader had a number of offerings, but they only used 2 bananas, as most, and I wouldn't have enough of the other ingredients to double the recipe. I came across a recipe from Giada for Banana Muffins that used 4 bananas for 18 muffins, and decided to run with it. I knew I wanted to add a few things, switch a few things, and subtract a few things... so off I went. Then came a stroke of genius... as I went to the pantry to grab the peanut butter, I saw....


the jar of nutella! Screw the mini chocolate chips that I had in mind - these muffins were getting a heart of nutella! With this addition, I think these muffins really push that fine line between a muffin and a cupcake. Maybe they are mupcakes?

As I got going, I also realized these would be perfect for April's Tasty Tools Event, which highlights scoops of all kinds. I used a mini ice cream scoop (no idea what the technical term is) to deliver two heaping scoops of batter per muffin, surrounding a heart of nutella. These come together so easily, which is an added bonus!
These were sooooo delicious, but a teensy bit drier than I'd like. That probably has to do with the extra 1/2 cup of dry ingredients I added. Below I have tweaked the recipe to use less flour so it won't be quite as dry. But seriously - YUM - what a nice treat!

Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins
Yield: 23.5 muffins (had I not been lazy, I'd have picked a bit from the others to make it a whole 24)

~1.5 cups all-purpose flour
~1 cup whole wheat flour
~1 teaspoon baking soda
~1 teaspoon salt
~1/2 teaspoon baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
~1/4 cup wheat germ
~1/4 cup ground flax seed
~3/4 cup sugar
~1/2 cup sour cream
~1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
~1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
~3 large eggs
~1 tablespoon vanilla extract
~4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
~Nutella, about 6 Tbsp, enough for 3/4 tsp per muffin

1. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or spray with baking spray such as Baker's Joy. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, wheat germ and ground flax seed in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, applesauce, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

3. Fill the bottom of each muffin cup with one heaping scoop of batter and spread with the back of the scoop to cover the bottom. Drop about 3/4 tsp of nutella onto the center of each cup. Follow with another heaping scoop of batter, making sure to surround the heart of nutella with batter. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached (but maybe a little streak of nutella!), about 20-25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins are great warm, but if they are saved for later, a few seconds in the microwave should bring back the the warm gooey heart.

Nutritional Information (...ready?): Calories - 176; Total Fat - 6.1 g; Sat. Fat - 1.7 g; Cholesterol - 30 mg; Sodium - 158 mg; Carbohydrates -27g; Fiber - 2g; Sugar - 10 g; Protein - 4.6 g.

First... a layer of batter

Second... a heart of nutella

Then... a second layer of batter

Fresh out of the oven, with nicely risen tops

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Nutella Cupcakes

W-o-w. I'd heard people talking about Nutella before, and how amazing it is, but when faced with such fanaticism for something, I tend to be turned off to it (HP included!). Well, The Nest/What's Cooking also has its legions of Nutella fans, but after actually seeing things made with this stuff, I decided it was time to give in and just try it.

My first adventure in Nutella Land (aside from, of course, eating it off a spoon) was Nutella Cupcakes, from ladymcbth on What's Cooking.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

• 10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted ap flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don't worry if the batter doesn't look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you're not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12.