Homemade Hazelnut Spread - World Nutella Day

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Information about World Nutella Day can be found here.

The last recipe in this week's chocolate extravaganza comes on World Nutella Day. Nutella is the brand name of a sweet hazelnut-based spread made by the same folks who distribute the Ferrero Roche chocolates that are so popular during the holiday season. Their spread is based on gianduja, a sweet chocolate and hazelnut confection that was developed centuries ago in Turin, Italy. Gianduja is used in candy making and to flavor milk and other beverages. Many people use it as they would peanut butter and spread it on bread or toast for snacks. I don't think many would debate how delicious the spread is. There are many who would debate how healthy it is for you. Good or bad, it's here to stay and the lucky folks at Ferrero are probably delighted that their brand name is now generically used to identify most hazelnut spreads available to consumers. That's brand recognition at its best. Gianduja, which contains just four ingredients, is simple to make now that we have food processors and blenders at our disposal. Anyone who has easy access to hazelnuts or filberts can make this in a matter of minutes. I am fortunate to live in the state of Oregon where one of the major export crops is hazelnuts. That means I have a ready and relatively inexpensive source of nuts with which to make the spread. So, sometimes I do. I thought you'd enjoy seeing how it's made. Here's the recipe for the homemade version of Nutella.

Homemade Hazelnut Spread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped toasted hazelnuts (filberts)
3/4 cup to 1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/8 to 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:
Place hazelnuts in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until nuts start to clump together in a ball. This will take some time (about five minutes), so be patient. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and process again for 2 to 3 minutes, until mixture turns dark and ingredients are well combined. Now, slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spread. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 weeks. Yield: 2 cups.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Nutella Scones - I'll Have What She's Having
Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Cups - Barbara Bakes
Nutella Crepes - A Little Bit of Everything
Nutella Pop Tarts - Piece of Cake
Nutella Fudge - Annie Bakes
Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes - Playing House
French Yogurt Cake with Nutella - Stacey Snacks

Perfect Chocolate Cake

Calgary Herald "Food Porn Friday" Featured Recipe





From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...My Chicago homies, at least those of a certain age, will remember Dressel's Whipped Cream Cake. It was an uncommonly good dessert and one of the first quality cakes to appear in the freezer cases of local markets. It was, for good reason, enormously popular, and I'm not ashamed to admit that, frozen or not, it appeared more than once on my dinner table. I loved it and had it several times a year, but when we moved from Chicago to the East Coast, I learned that it was a regional product that had never made it to markets outside the Midwest. It was soon clear that if I wanted a whipped cream cake, I'd have to make it for myself. Fortunately, McCall's Cookbook came to my rescue with a recipe for what they called The Perfect Chocolate Cake. It was pretty aptly named. The cake was light and rich and made with cocoa, whipped cream and lots of chocolate. Purists could do away with the lovely chocolate icing and frost the layers with plain or cocoa flavored whipped cream and have a cake very much like the one that came from Dressel's bakery. I normally make this cake with whipped cream frosting, but the McCall's cake is so lovely I thought you'd like to see the cake the way its developers envisioned it. The cake is uncommonly good, and those of you who try it, will know how it got its name. Here's the recipe.

Perfect Chocolate Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite Courtesy of The New McCall's Cookbook

Ingredients:
Cake
1 cup unsifted unsweetened cocoa
2 cups boiling water
2-3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter or regular margarine, softened
2-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Filling
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
1/4 cup unsifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
1 package (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup light cream
1 cup butter or regular margarine
2-1/2 cups unsifted confectioner's sugar

Directions:
1) To make the cake: In medium bowl, combine cocoa with boiling water, mixing with wire whisk until smooth. Cool completely. Sift flour with soda, salt, and baking powder. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease three 9 by 1-1/2 inch layer cake pans. Line with parchment paper. Grease paper and lightly flour pans. Set aside. In large bowl of electric mixer at high speed beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, scraping bowl occasionally, until light, about 5 minutes. At low speed, beat in flour mixture (in fourths), alternately with cocoa mixture (in thirds), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Do not overbeat. Divide evenly into pans; smooth top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Carefully loosen sides with spatula; remove from pans; cool on racks.
2) To make filling: Whip cream with sugar and vanilla; refrigerate.
3) To make frosting: In medium saucepan, combine chocolate pieces, cream, butter; stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from heat. With whisk, blend in 2-1/2 cups confectioners; sugar. In bowl set over ice, beat until it holds shape.
4) To assemble and frost cake: On plate, place a layer, top side down; spread with half of cream. Place second layer, top side down; spread with rest of cream. Place third layer, top side up. With spatula, frost sides first, covering whipped cream; use rest of frosting on top, swirling decoratively. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. To cut, use a thin edged sharp knife; slice with a sawing motion. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Cook's Note: The cake should be refrigerated, but to prevent the frosting from cracking when cut, let the cake sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before slicing.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Chocolate Oatmeal Cake - Taste of Home
Chocolate Overdose Cake - Confections of a Foodie Bride
The Best Chocolate Cake, Ever - Courtney's Sweets
Espresso Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Frosting - Life's a Feast
Chocolate Cake with Coconut Icing - Chow and Chatter
Mexican Milk Chocolate cake - Sugar Plum
Mom's Chocolate Cake - Cookie Madness
Chocolate Guinness Stout Cake - The Recipe Girl

Triple-Chocolate Cheese Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is not the best cheesecake you'll ever taste, but it certainly is delicious and very easy to make. If you entertain a lot, you'll want to keep this recipe in your dessert roster. The entire cake is made in the bowl of a food processor and it's ready for the oven in less than 30 minutes. It takes about 2 hours to bake and needs to be chilled for at least 6 hours before it is topped with a lovely ganache and served. The cake is quite handsome and it looks like a lot of effort went into its creation. Only you will know that not to be true. The name of the recipe is somewhat misleading. The cake does not use three types of chocolate, but its crust, filling and topping all contain chocolate and that's what gives the cheesecake its triple chocolate name. One of the nice features of this cake is that it doesn't crack. That has to do with the way it is baked and released from the pan. It bakes in a hot oven for an hour, sits in a cold oven for an hour and when it's removed for final cooling, a sharp knife is used to release the sides of the cake from the springform pan. The cake forms a well or depression as it bakes and that is perfect for holding the ganache topping. The cake was developed by Martha Stewart and her recipe is foolproof. I think those of you who try this cheesecake will really enjoy it. Here's the recipe.

Triple-Chocolate Cheese Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Crust
1 package (9 ounces) chocolate wafer cookies
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
4 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions:
1) To make crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Assemble a 9-inch springform pan with raised side of the bottom facing down. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse to moisten. Transfer to prepared pan, and press crumbs firmly and evenly into bottom. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 10 minutes, and set aside.
2) To make filling: Wipe out bowl and blade of food processor. Add cream cheese, sugar, and salt; blend until smooth. With motor running, add eggs, then sour cream, and finally chocolate; blend filling until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Pour filling onto crust, and bake just until set, 1 hour. Turn oven off, and let cheesecake sit 1 hour in oven, without opening (this helps prevent cracking. Run a thin knife around the edge of pan to help prevent cracking; leave in pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Cover loosely and refrigerate, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
3) To prepare chocolate ganache: In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat, and add chocolate. Stir until melted, then set aside until thickened, 2 to 5 minutes. Unmold cheesecake. Spread ganache in center of cheesecake; let set before serving. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Perfect Cheesecake - Simply Recipes
Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake - My Recipe Finds Online
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake - Carries Sweet Life
Strawberry Cheesecake Entremet - Barbara Bakes
Gorgonzola Cheesecake with Vanilla Pear Compote - Closet Cooking
No Bake Chocolate Chocolate Cheesecake Pie - $10 Buck Dinners

Dark Chocolate Shortbread

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I first made this shortbread for a friend who enjoyed afternoon tea. She also loved chocolate and challenged friends who baked to make a chocolate shortbread that would be good enough to serve at a tea she was planning as a fundraiser. Now, I must admit, the only reason I agreed to participate in the challenge was that I already had a recipe that I knew worked and I was more than happy to share it with others. The recipe originally came from Gourmet magazine and it can now be found on Epicurious, which seems to have become the repository for all of Gourmet's published recipes. If you decide to make these cookies you might want to review the comments about the recipe which you can find here. I've made this shortbread at least ten times without incident, so I thought I'd share a few things I've learned with you. Some folks have problems with the cookies spreading as they cook. I chill my dough in the freezer on thin baking sheets for 30 minutes before baking. I let it sit, for 5 minutes or so, at room temperature before docking the formed cookie dough and baking the discs. I've never had a problem with the dough spreading as it bakes. As silly as it may seem, I also make sure that the disks I bake are exactly 6 inches in diameter and religiously follow baking and cooling instructions that are given in the recipe. Again, I've had no problems. This is a lovely shortbread and I know you'll really enjoy it if I can get you to try it. It is very easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Shortbread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Gourmet magazine

Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions
1) Blend butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with a fork until combined well. Sift flour and cocoa into butter mixture and blend with fork just until mixture forms a soft dough.
2) Divide dough in half and pat out with floured fingertips into 2 (6- to 6 1/2-inch) rounds on an ungreased large baking sheet. Chill dough, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.
3) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. while dough chills.
4) Prick dough all over with fork and bake shortbread disks in middle of oven until centers are dry when touched and edges are slightly darker, about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack 10 minutes, then cut each shortbread into 8 wedges with a large heavy knife. Transfer to rack to cool. Yield: 16 coookies.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Chocolate Toffee Shortbread Bars - Annie's Eats
Shortbread Berry Tarts - Sydney's Kitchen
Shortbread Toffee Bars - Karista's Kitchen
Shortbread Lemon Tart - Sweet Sensations
Buttery Lavender Shortbread - The Purple Foodie
Millionaires Shortbread - Delicious Dishings