Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

First and foremost, I have to say Happy VEGAN MOFO everyone! I have been mega busy lately but I hope to get a few more things up here before the end of the month. I have been on a real kick lately making all sorts of loaf type desserts...it all started with the never ending supply of my Spiced Banana Bread. Then I started making pumpkin bread variations on it. It was only a matter of time before my dessert journey ended here....homemade Nutella and pound cake. That's right folks....Nutella swirled into pound cake. And the result...heavenly! Sometimes, you just have to take risks to get great desserts, right?

Also, I think I am secretly trying to come up with some awesome desserts because Chris' birthday is on Thanksgiving this year!!! Crazy! That means double desserts. I am going to be in a food coma for a long time after next Thursday.

Nutella

2 c. hazelnuts, toasted and mostly shelled

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 c. powdered sugar

3 tbsp vegtable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c. water

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Pound Cake

3/4 c blended silken tofu
1 c. sugar
1/3 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tbsp corn starch
2 c flour

To start, you will want to begin with the nutella. Toast the hazelnuts in a 350 degree oven for about 12- 15 minutes. Using a kitchen towel, scoop about maybe 1/2 c or so of the hazelnuts, and use the towel to rub off as much of the skins as you can. If you have some skin left on the nuts, it will be okay, you just want as much off as you can get. Repeat for the remaining hazelnuts.

When all the hazelnuts are done, place in a food processor and blend until it gets to be almost like peanut butter like consistency. This will take several minutes of blending/pulsing to achieve. First, it will be kind of like bread crumbs, and slowly the natural oils will come out of the nuts and make it into a sticky, peanut butter type paste.

When you have the right texture, add your powdered sugar, cocoa powder and oil. Pulse and blend until everything is combined. You might have to stop several times to scrape the sides down. Everything will probably get very thick at this point.

Next, the trick to get this more of a smooth consistency, I transfered everything to my KitchenAid mixer. While you are mixing and fluffing the nutella, add a 1/4 c. of water at a time until you have a smooth, more spreadable mixture. For mine, I ended up using 1/2 c. of water.

Now, set up a double boiler and melt 4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate. When the chocolate is close to being all the way melted, take the bowl off of the double boiler and continue to stir until no pieces of chocolate remain. Add to your nutella spread, and mix until everything is smooth and combined.

Note: This makes about 2 c. worth of nutella, and for the cake, you will likely only use a little over a cup. But hey, this means nutella for breakfast, for lunch, for snacks! Anytime!

Okay, onto the cake. I know that just making the nutella was a lot of work, but the cake goes quickly and you will have almost a whole hour to rest up while it is in the oven. So, let's get this cake going!

Take your silken tofu and blend in your food processor. This will make sure there are no lumps, and it should almost resemble the consistency of yogurt. Take the blended tofu, add your sugar, oil and vanilla, ,mix until everything comes together to a nice, smooth batter. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and corn starch. Then add your flour, one cup at a time. Mix for a couple of minutes, the batter should be fairly thick in consistency.

Now for the fun part! Take a 9x5 inch loaf pan and spread about 1/3 of the batter as the bottom layer. Then take the nutella and spread a layer on top of the batter. Since the nutella is a lot thicker than the batter, I found that spooning out small amounts of nutella and dotting it across the batter works best. Then take the back of the spoon and spread it out as best as possible. Take about 1/3 of the batter and spread over the nutella. Repeat the nutella layer. Then pour over the rest of the batter on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick/knife comes out clean when poked in the center.

Now eat cake! With nutella on top! And maybe ice cream if you have any around!

Vegan Caramels (with Chocolate)

So, after a bit of a break spending time visiting my family in New York, I am back and ready to do some serious cooking, baking and experimenting. I got a really super informative and awesome candy making book from C and it got me really excited at the prospect of using new/interesting ideas and techniques and translating them into tasty, vegan versions.

The first thing I tackled, just to get my feet wet in the candy making arena, was caramel. I found that coconut milk turned out to be a super substitute for the heavy cream/sweetened condensed milk ingredients. Also, not until reading this book did I know all of the nuances and different types of caramels. I decided to go with the ooey, gooey delicious caramel that I knew and loved. And apparently, the texture of your caramels depend on what temperature you raise your mixture to, so it is pretty darned important that if you want to venture this way, you get yourself a good candy thermometer. I have the kind that clips onto the side of my pot and I can peek at the temp without fussing around and having a free hand to keep it in place. Ok, ok....onto the good stuff....

What you'll need for the caramels:
2/3 c. brown rice syrup
1/2 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. Earth Balance (or your fav. butter substitute)
1/8 tsp. salt

To coat with chocolate:
8 oz semi sweet chocolate

Also, before you proceed, you will need parchment paper of sorts, OR if you are awesome, you have discovered the secret of the Silpat mats, which I used to pour my caramel mixture onto. This thing (Silpat) is amazing, and the caramel was a true test of its non-stickness. So be prepared or proceed with caution!

In a medium-large pot, set to medium heat and combine all of the ingredients listed above. Stir to melt/incorporate all of the ingredients. Clip on your thermometer and keep an eye on the temperature. Keep stirring your mixture constantly so it does not burn, as you will have this come to a boil. It might even look like a crazy, bubbly mess. Cook until the temperature of the caramel reaches 240F degrees (115C). Pour onto your Silpat mat, or your pan lined with parchment paper. Cool at room temperature until it is firm.

I was anxious to start on covering them with chocolate and gave it a try a few hours later. BAD IDEA! Like the good book says, it is better to wait at least 24 hours before attempting to cut the caramel, and I, like an amateur, tried anyways. However, I tried again the next day and although the caramel was still soft, it was not as sticky as the day before.

So, this caramel was pretty darn good on its own. However, if you wish to turn them into little nuggets of deliciousness, shape your caramel into 1" logs and put them in the freezer while you temper your chocolate. Then, they should stay formed like the shapes in the picture below. Again, speaking from experience, the caramel as is, is far to soft and delicate and the heated chocolate will melt the caramels and they will turn into weird (albeit still yummy), flat discs.


I found using a fork to hold the caramels, and a spoon to pour over the chocolate worked best for me. Place on parchment paper, saran wrap or another sort of non-stick surface and let cool. If you are in a fancy mood, after your chocolates have hardened, dip your spoon in the chocolate and in a fast, zig zag motion, swing the spoon over your chocolate covered caramels. This adds a pretty, decorative finish to your candies. I also used some sea salts of half of my chocolates, cause I like 'em like that!


And then, make more...Those are my plans, anyways!

Nuss-Ecken (Hazelnut Triangle Bars)

After a few very failed experiments, I received a perfectly timed letter from my Oma in Germany, along with this recipe for Nuss-Ecken! I was so happy because I needed something to make that wouldn't turn out disasterously. The original recipe from my Oma uses butter and eggs, but hey, those things are easy enough to change!


This is a traditional Germany cookie/bar/pastry and my Oma would make them throughout the year, but around the holidays, these Nuss-Ecken were a staple (along with about 20 other cookies). Not only were these one of my favs because they tasted so darned good, but when I was little, I just loved helping my Oma out in the kitchen and being able to coat them with chocolate...it just seemed so awesome and fancy through the eyes of a 7 year old me! And to my surprise, I still like making them on my own now.

What you'll need for the dough:
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. vegan sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg equivalents of Ener-G (can sub w/ ground flax seed)
5/8 c. Earth Balance or your fav. butter substitute

In the middle:
apricot preserve (about 400ml)

On top:
1 c. Earth Balance
1 c. vegan sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. water
3 c. ground Hazelnuts
1 c. chopped Hazelnuts
7-8 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate

Start by baking the bottom layer of the bar, add your butter and sugar to your mixing bowl and mix until it is creamed together. Add and mix to incorporate your egg substitute, vanilla and baking powder. Then cup by cup, slowly add your flour and mix until the flour is well combined into the dough, which should be very smooth and does not stick to the side of your bowl. To make rolling out the dough a bit easier, wrap the dough in saran wrap or parchment paper and let chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Take the dough out, and either grease a 11x13 in. baking sheet or line it with parchment paper or a fancy shmancy Silpat mat. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to fit the sixe of the pan. It should be a fairly thin layer, maybe about a 1/4 in thick or so. Then grab your apricot preserves and spread a nice, even layer across your dough. It doesn't have to be a thick layer, just enough to cover the dough evenly.

Now to make the topping! To make the ground hazelnuts, I put about 1 c. hazelnuts at a time into my food processor and pulsed many times to get them ground up with some fairly small pieces chopped up. Do this a total of 3 times, or until you have just about 3 c. of ground hazelnuts. Next, chop 1 c. of hazelnuts into a rough chop, but making sure not to leave really huge pieces or whole hazelnuts. I found my mezzaluna worked really well for this part. Add those to your bowl of ground hazelnuts.

Next, melt your butter, sugar, vanilla and water in a pan and let cook until all of your sugar is melted and well combined. Take your pan off the burner, and add your hazelnut mixture to this and combine until everything is well incorporated and coated evenly. Spread this mixture over your dough and apricot layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees or until the sugary hazelnut mixture is a nice, caramelized golden brown color. Take out and let cool for a few minutes to let everything set. Take a knife and go around the edges of the pan to make sure non of the sides and stuck to the pan if you greased the pan. Cut into 2 1/2 - 3 in squares and then carefully cut each square in half to make the triangles.


Let the Nuss-Ecken cool completely before melting your chocolate, otherwise they might want to fall apart if this is done right away. Once cooled, temper your baking chocolate and use a spoon to coat half of the triangles, or any other way your heart desires.

Eat. Share with friends. Be happy and repeat!