HAZelnuttY days of summer

I know Nutella has a cult following; there is even a World Nutella Day where people from various blogs post recipes and celebrate its existence. Even still, I had tried the concoction only once several years ago to my Grandma Sue's prodding and I don't think I was impressed. What was I thinking?! Actually, I know what I was thinking. Every time I passed the stuff in the grocery store, I thought "this stuff actually looks delicious and will probably have to go on my 'too dangerous to buy' list." Knowing this, I still had to buy some to attempt to make something for the Nutella loving grandmother above.

Below are two recipes. The first is adapted from a recipe that is labeled as a "dense cupcake" with complaints of being on the dry side. I really like the concept of a self-frosting cupcake so I tweaked some things that I feel made it a bit more moist. The other recipe is something I concocted to please my grandma's taste buds. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the latter because I brought them to NY while we were crashing there for the beer weekend and the equation of food + my family = instantaneous evaporation. A 9 x 13-inch pan was eaten in two days. Basically, if you have a nice layer of Nutella sandwiched between brown sugary shortbread, you're in the clear.

Self-Frosting Hazelnut Muffcakes

adapted from Baking Bites
Yield: 12

INGREDIENTS
10 T unsalted butter, softened
1/4 C white sugar
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
2 T milk
1 1/4 C all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 C hazelnuts, toasted
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2-3/4 C Nutella

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
1. Process or blend hazelnuts to a nut flour. Do not over process or it will become a paste.
2. Distribute a teaspoon of the nut flour evenly among the paper liners for a crumbly bottom to the cupcakes. This will total 1/4 C of the nut flour.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs, milk and vanilla.
5. Stir in flour, remaining 1/2 C hazelnut flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains. Keep in mind that the batter will be more thick than usual cake batter.
6. Fill each muffin liner 3/4 full with the batter.
7. Top each cake with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of 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.

Nutrition:337cal, 20g fat,146mg sod, 34g carb, 23g sugar, 1g fiber, 5g protein

Hazelnut Layer Bars

Yield: 24 bars

INGREDIENTS
1 C hazelnuts
1 jar Nutella
1/2 t vanilla
1 C unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 C brown sugar
2 C flour

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil.
1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla.
2. Grind hazelnuts to a nut flour in a food processor or blender.  Mix flour with hazelnuts and add to butter mixture.
3. Spread half of the mixture on the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 15-20 min.
4. Remove from oven and spread Nutella over the base layer.
5. Drop spoonfuls of remaining batter over Nutella, trying to cover as much as possible without pulling up the dough.  Bake for another 15 min. at 350 degrees F.

Nutrition: 237cal, 14g fat, 6mg sod, 56g carb, 26g sugar, 1g fiber, 2.5g protein

cadbury creme compulsion

As mentioned earlier, I love all things Cadbury® Egg.  In fact, I have been known to obsess over the things and cannot keep more than one at a time in my possession because I will most definitely eat all I have in a sitting.  I seriously think I am missing the "I'm full" sensation and need to voluntarily shut myself off.  It's terrible because I have a hard time with self control.  Especially with sugary confections wrapped in foil and harboring a surprise of any kind of "creme."  So, sadly, I have not had a real Cadbury® Egg yet this season because I have been baking so heavily.  I have to cut back somehow!

These are "muffcakes" because after searching for the Cadbury® Egg cupcake and finding two recipes, I preferred the one that is not cloyingly sweet and more dense to hold the sugary little egg jewels.  I didn't want just plain vanilla but something that the milk chocolate wouldn't get lost in.  I felt a citrus would do well.  I like orange and chocolate but I think lemon would also be a good contender for this.  Lime is always great with coconut so that is also an option.  I decided to top them with the chocolate batter to resemble dirt and then wanted the toasted coconut to be like a little nest.  You can plop a Peep on top for super Easter cuteness.  I made some homemade peeps and while it was fun, I need to speed up my piping because my marshmallow began to gel too quickly and I wasted quite a bit of sugar.

Now I must do some conditioning for the egg hunt that I am still forced to participate in even though I'm 25 and married. 

Cadbury® Egg Muffcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
creamsicle muffin
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temp.
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 C light vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 T orange juice
1-2 tsp orange zest
1 dozen Mini Cadbury® Creme Eggs

chocolate cupcake top via Cupcake Bakeshop's recipe
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 C + 3 T flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp (a dash) of baking soda
1/4 C milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder

orange frosting
2 T unsalted butter
1 C confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. orange zest
1 T orange juice
1/2 T cream
6 T unsweetened coconut shavings, toasted (don't kill yourself if you can't find them, just buy regular angel flake)
1 dozen chick Peeps (optional)


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard-sized cupcake pan with liners.
toasted coconut
1. Spread unsweetened coconut shavings out over a cookie sheet and put in the 350 degree F oven.
2. Bake for 4 min or until you start to smell coconut. It browns very quickly so keep an eye on it.
3. Remove and stir around to evenly brown the bits. Let cool before frosting.

creamsicle muffin
1. Mix flour and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
2. Beat together sugar and butter.
3. Add egg, vanilla yogurt and orange juice until thoroughly mixed.
4. Slowly add in flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in orange zest.
5. Distribute batter evenly into a dozen liners. Drop a Mini Egg into the center of each.

chocolate cupcake top
1. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk to combine.
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
4. Alternate adding milk and dry ingredients to the butter mixture until fully combined.
5. Evenly distribute batter over tops of muffin batter.
6. Bake for 15 min. Let cool before frosting (the tops will flatten slightly, you want a flat surface for plopping a Peep!)

orange frosting
1. Beat butter until soft.
2. Add confectioner's sugar, cream and orange juice until smooth.
3. Stir in orange zest.
4. Frost and dip tops into a bowl of toasted coconut.
5. Place a Peep on top if you desire

Nutrition: 393 cal, 18g fat, 83mg sod, 56g carb, 39g sugar, 1g fiber, 5g protein

banana + peanut butter cups = lurve

 It has been a long weekend (I love spending more than eight hours in a chair taking exams!) and a relatively busy week with my new foray into the world of education. I have learned that my fashion sense is equivalent to that of a third grader thanks to myriad compliments I received on my cupcake hat at recess. I have repeatedly been told that because of my sartorial choices I will grow up to be either a crazy cat lady or an art teacher so let's hope for the latter.  Anyway, due to the running around, we ate little or ate out and apparently the groceries suffered. I hate wasting food and enjoy picking an ingredient and forming a recipe around it, hence the bananas.

OK, the subject title may be harsh. I do enjoy banana bread and have a couple of great recipes but let's take those overripe bananas and put them to creative use, shall we? After perusing the internets, I found banana bread pudding (a recipe I have in my fave cookbook that I will try SOMEDAY), Elvis-style with peanut butter and bacon (I already have a future plan for that mixture) and Bananas Foster reincarnated into bar cookies. The Bananas Foster in regular or newfangled form will be attempted, too, but I didn't feel like having the people at the liquor store question my need to buy multiple nips of rum. They always look at me like I have two heads and I should be buying large quantities of alcohol. SORRY, I prefer my rum in baked goods. I apologize for the digression. I decided to go with something portable because I want to get this stuff out there! I tweaked a great banana bread recipe and added Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups. You cannot go wrong with the banana, peanut butter, chocolate combo. I will say that I wanted to use the new dark chocolate cups but I can only find them at Tar-jay (wonderful add-ins in their candy aisle!) and I was trying to be efficient for once and shop in one place.

On to the comfort food!  The lighting isn't so hot but I think you get the gist.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Bites

Yield: 40 bites

INGREDIENTS
1/4 C unsalted butter (melted)
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 small bananas (around 300g)
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 6oz container of vanilla or banana light yogurt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini cupcake pan. Unwrap candies. Combine melted butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well. Take half of the bananas and mash and add them to the mixture. Slice the other half and set aside. Combine flour and baking soda and add to the mix. Fold in yogurt and sliced bananas. Distribute batter (about a heaping tablespoon per section) evenly into the pan. Push a peanut butter cup firmly into each section, top up. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow bites to cool to room temp. until removal.  *After some testing, I think these are best when eaten frozen or heated up a little.*

Nutrition: 99 cal, 4g fat, 65mg sodium, 16g carb, 11g sugar, 2g protein