Hazelnut Cupcakes

Ingredients: 250 grams butter, 250 grams sugar, 4 eggs, 250 grams flour, 1 sachet vanilla sugar, pinch of salt, baking powder, 55 grams hazelnuts, 220 grams Nutella hazelnut spread,

Number of cupcakes: 18

Preheat the oven at 160 degrees. Put in a muffin form the paper cupcakes. Mix 250 grams butter with 250 grams of sugar to creamy. Add gradually 4 eggs and mix until pale and frothy batter. Add 250 grams flour, 1 sachet vanilla sugar, pinch of salt and baking powder and mix it well. Add hazelnuts last to the batter (keep 18 hazelnuts separately). Fill the cupcakes with the 1/2 of the batter. Add to the rest of the batter a small jar Nutella hazelnut spread (220 grams) and mix it well. Put the Nutella batter in the cupcakes. Put one on each cupcake a hazelnut. Place the cupcakes about 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven. Let the cupcakes cool well. Enjoy!

Hazelnut Cookies

Ingredients: 150 grams flour, 75 grams sugar, 75 grams butter, 1 tablespoon ground hazelnuts, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 egg yolk, 18 hazelnuts,

Number of cookies: 18

Knead 150 grams flour, 75 grams sugar, 75 grams butter, 1 tablespoon ground hazelnuts and 1 tablespoon cinnamon into a cohesive dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it certainly an hour in the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll the dough into a thin piece and make cookies of it. Place the cookies on a plate lined with baking paper. Cover the cookies with a mixed yolk. Press gently in each cookie a hazelnut. Place the plate about 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let the cookies cool. Enjoy!

Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Hazelnut Butter Sauce

We had found a recipe for mushroom ravioli, but once we found out the filling was nothing more than sautéed mushrooms we were slightly disappointed. So we took it up a notch, and added our own touch using leftover ingredients in our fridge.

Let me just say, if you’re looking to indulge, or looking to impressive some important dinner guests, this is the way to do it. And it’s really not hard or time consuming at all. Granted, you could make your own pasta, but why bother when wonton wrappers work just as well.

Next time, because our hearts can’t take browned butter and hazelnut sauce every night of the week (boy, is it rich!), we’ll use the same filling but try out maybe a lighter sauce, something with white or even red wine, maybe lemon… mmmm…. we’ll have to play around with that one!

Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Hazlenut Butter Sauce

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS
1 package square wonton wrappers (your probably won’t use them all)
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 oz (ish) mixed mushrooms (we used some crimini and some porcini)
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper, to taste

For sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted, skinned, and chopped

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in skillet. Add mushrooms, and cook until most of liquid is gone (maybe 5 minutes). Push mushrooms to edge of skillet, and add shallot to center. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add tomato paste and stir until well combined. Add parsley, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and let cool.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.

Place a small spoonful of cooled filling on wonton wrapper. Brush edges lightly with water, and top with another wrapper. Carefully seal edges, pressing as much air out of the center as possible. Repeat until all of the filling is gone.

Add to boiling water 4 or 5 at a time (you don’t want them to stick together) and let cook for about 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain well. Repeat with remaining raviolis.

For sauce, heat butter in small saucepan until barely browned. Toss in hazelnuts. Drizzle over ravioli and sprinkle with parmesan.

Cupcake Madness.

I believe I may be obsessed. To me, a cupcake is the perfect treat. Not too big, not too small, just sweet enough to satisfy. One (ok ok, maybe two) cupcakes a day makes any day better. Needless to say, I’ve made many more cupcakes since that last batch. They are a great thing to experiment with, as once you get a basic recipe down, you can add all the flavorings you want and mix and match with various frostings. Up next on the menu are banana split cupcakes, we’ll be making those this afternoon. :)

Rich Chocolate Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Frosting

Simply the Vegan Almond Cupcake recipe with 1/2 cup of cocoa powder mixed in and topped with seven-minute frosting. While it makes for picturesque cupcakes, the frosting hardened to almost a meringue-like consistency after the first day. Not the best cupcake topper.

Almond Cupcakes with Marshmallow Fondant

Vegan Almond Cupcakes gone fancy. I was terrified (and intrigued) to try decorating these things like the pastry artists on the food network. I managed to find a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant, which, while extremely messy to make, was easy enough to work with, and doesn’t taste too bad either. I slathered a thin layer of the chocolate fudge frosting on the cupcake, and then positioned the fondant circle on the cupcake. Then added decorations. Despite my ambitions, I don’t think I’ll be a professional cake decorator anytime soon.

Chocolate Hazelnut Kahlua Cupcakes

These were last weeks cupcakes, and could rival the almond ones for perfection. Just don’t eat them too close to bedtime. :) And yes, these ones are vegan too! Recipe makes 12-14 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant hazelnut coffee powder
1 tablespoon kahlua

For frosting:
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup tofutti cream cheese (or regular cream cheese)
4 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate, melted
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant hazelnut coffee powder
2 teaspoons kahlua

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line pan with cupcake liners, and oil top of pan to prevent overflow from sticking.

Combine the soy milk and vinegar and stir well. Set aside, mixture will curdle.

Stir together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In separate bowl, combine soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla, coffee powder, and kahlua. Add wet ingredients to dry ones and stir until combined (don’t overmix!)

Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, beat together margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Beat in melted chocolate. Slowly add confectioners’ sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix until smooth and fluffy, then add flavorings. Dust frosted cupcakes with cocoa powder and enjoy!