Here are some other delicious hazelnutty goods I made as well...
I really like making nut butters. I think it's just the coolest thing ever. The first one I made was macadamian nut butter and oh my god was it a dream. Not only did it butterize super fast, but it was wonderfully naturally sweet and overall insanely delicious. I bragged about it nonstop even though the boy so kindly reminded me that I didn't actually do anything, as I hadn't added anything to it at all. Details.
Hazelnuts I've found are a bit more bitter than the macadamian nuts were or something. Well, not bitter, but not naturally sweet in any way. That said, the hazelnut butter before I added anything else to it was still quite nice, so you might want to try it with just the hazelnuts, or with the hazelnuts and a bit of coconut oil for a creamier butter. But, if you want to be fancy like me:
chocolate hazelnut butter (wow, I've gotten so creative with my names...)
1c hazenuts
1 tbsp agave
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp raw cacao powder
pinch sea salt (optional. Meaning I didn't add any but I hear you're supposed to?)
in a food processor, blend (process? what's the right word here?) the hazelnuts until smooth. It took a long time, so I took a blending break every once in a while to scrap down the sides and scrap up the butter that was forming on the bottom.
part butter, part hazelnut meal, part MAN! Well, not really that last bit, but it just flowed so nicely...
I also didn't want it to get too hot in order to keep it raw, so breaks were good. We have this awesome laser temperature reader that I love to use while uncooking, and that I'm pretty sure the boy is regretting introducing me to for that reason, and I checked the temperature when it had all become butter, which I felt was probably the hottest point, and it was 101-102F (Funny, I've always been a centigrade girl until I got into the whole raw thing. Also funny is how I can only do sewing measurements in non metric and have a lot of trouble getting my head around metric, but I can only do distances and speeds in metric...)
After it was butterized, I added in the rest of the ingredients and processed till well mixed. You might want to add in the coconut oil near the beginning to help it get going faster.
Sadly, as I don't eat bread I have a lot of trouble figuring out what to do with my delicious and delectable nut butters. The macadamian one I ended up giving to my parents, who loved it. I plan to give some to my father in law as well. I'm sort of trying to get back into rice cakes for the sole purpose of eating nut butters, but the attempt isn't even really at the halfhearted level as of yet... I like the idea of eating them on a banana...But I'm not quite there yet either, as knowing my bananas will surely go bad before I'm in the mood for them, I try to freeze them almost immediately upon purchase.
So what I ended up coming upon as like the bestest idea ever in all times was the following!!
Hazelnut Buttercup Milkshake
1 c hazelnut milk
3 tbsp chocolate hazelnut butter
1.5 frozen banana
blend until creamy smooth. ENJOY!!! You most definitely will. It's all nice and creamy like a milkshake, but also doubles as a nutritious snack, breakfast or dessert!
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jd