Homemade Dark Chocolate Nutella. Yum!

Mmmm nutella... That's about all that I can say.

Before going dairy-free, I really only ever ate Nutella when we would make crêpes.  Which was maybe only twice a year.  But now that I can't actually have Nutella, there is something that makes it that much more exciting to have found a Nutella that I can eat.  Belgian hazelnut chocolates have always been my favourite, and this is as close as you can get without flying to Belgium.

This recipe was sent to me by a dear friend of mine in France.  I basically sat back and let her do all of the work, testing multiple variations of homemade Nutella until she found one that she felt was up to par.  That's where I stepped in and decided to make some myself.  The original recipe can be found here.

Jérôme took the kids outside this weekend to splash in the water on the street as he emptied the pool.

Superman rocking a bathing suit
and rain boots

 

And to dig for endless worms:

 
And play some street hockey:
 

And ball:

Just like two years ago, it was warm enough to be out in short sleeves and much too nice to be cleaning up the leaves. 

The kids had a blast and stayed outside for hours.  Leaving me all alone inside for a short while to whip up some delicious Nutella.  Poor Chloé loves this so much that she pretty much has a temper tantrum every time that I put it away.  But if I just let her go at it, I think she'd eat the entire jar in one sitting.  Right off of the spoon!  It truly is that good.

150g whole hazelnuts
100g dark chocolate
1/2 C icing sugar (or a bit less if you find Nutella too sweet)
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. hazelnut oil (or other flavourless oil - I used canola)

1.  Roast the hazelnuts in the oven at 400 degrees Farenheit for 8 minutes or until they are fragrant.  Alternatively, you can roast them for a couple of minutes in a pan. 

2.  Peel the skin off of the hazelnuts.  (The original blogger, Lucie, said she got blisters on her fingers doing this, but the skins slipped right off of mine). Don't fret if some of the skins stay on ;)

 
3.  In a food processor, mix the hazelnuts until you obtain a purée with a texture similar to peanut butter.

 
Lucie mentioned that this took a lot of patience.  She processed her hazelnuts in the food processor for approximately 20 minutes and then used a mortar and pestle to finish the job off.  I used my brand new VITAMIX!!!! and mine was like peanut butter within a few short minutes.

4.  Melt the chocolate mixed with a bit of soy milk on the stove, stirring constantly.  We used some of that delicious dark chocolate we brought home from France for this :)))
 

 

 

5.  Add the remaining ingredients and process in the food processor.  Add more soy milk, if desired, until you have reached the consistency you want.

Enjoy!!  Keep in the fridge, due to the added milk and just take out a few minutes before you want to eat it so that it is easier to spread.  That is, if you don't just eat it right off the spoon ;)  

Chocolate Truffles

A quick post tonight as I still have a million and one things to get done.  But I wanted to share this recipe while there is still time (as if!) to make these.  Trust me - they're worth finding the time to make.  Though I didn't find the time to make any myself this year.  This is another post that I never actually posted last year ;)

Back in my old life when I actually had some time, we used to make these for friends and family over the holidays every year.  And I have had many, many friends request a batch of these well in advance.  That's how good they are.  And they're amazingly simple to make. 

The most important thing to have excellent results is to use quality chocolate.  We always use dark, dark chocolate (probably at least 70%).  We typically use chocolate that we bring home from France, so I can't share a specific brand with you.  But we have, on occasion, bought some of the dark chocolate bars at Costco and had good results with that.

Believe it or not, these are actually freezer-friendly.  I wouldn't necessarily freeze them before giving them out as gifts, but we have often frozen post-Christmas left-overs and eaten them over the following months (in other words, a frozen one every time I opened the freezer!). 

The recipe below is for plain ol' chocolate truffles.  We have, however, been known to spike them with some Baileys or Amarula from time to time ;) 

1 C 35% cream
8 oz. (approximately 240g) chopped dark chocolate
1/3 C butter at room temperature
cocoa powder

1.  In a saucepan, gently heat the cream (without bringing it to a boil) and incorporate the chopped chocolate.  Stir until melted, taking care to not let the chocolate burn.

2.  Add the butter and mix well until the butter is melted.

3.  Cover and refrigerate for approximately 4 hours or until the consistency of the mixture is firm enough to be able to form truffles - if not, just eat it directly out of the saucepan with a spoon ;).  

4.  Dust your hands with cocoa powder and scoop a teaspoon sized amount of the mixture into your hands.  Roll until you have formed a ball.  Continue to do same until you have used all of the chocolate mixture.  Keep coating your hands with cocoa, as needed, along the way.  

5.  Roll the truffles in cocoa until fully coated.

6.  Eat.  Stop eating before you get sick.

Options for garnish:

• grilled coconut flakes with five spice powder
• cocoa and five spice powder
• cocoa and ground cardamom
• chopped pistachios
• ground hazelnuts 
• etc, etc, etc...  

Variation:  For mint chocolate truffles, add 1/2 C of chopped fresh mint to the cream.  Bring to a boil and let infuse for approximately one hour at room temperature.  Bring to a boil again and pass through a strainer to remove the mint.  Wait until the cream has cooled somewhat and continue with the rest of the recipe.

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

For a soy and/or nut-free version, just be sure to read the label on your chocolate (use a brand such as Enjoy Life).

Authentic Cauliflower Cheese Soufflé

I have to admit that I am not the soufflé maker in our household.  Rather, it is my husband, Jérôme, who is the master soufflé chef.  In fact, so much so that he received a wonderful soufflé dish from our friends Brandi and Gilles for his 40th birthday.  Which he raced home and made a soufflé in the very next day.

Although Logan is turning into a master eater - he ate lasagna for dinner tonight and even asked for more!!! - there was a looooooooong period during which soufflé was one of the only foods he would eat.  Alternately with mom's mac and cheese.  Plus a few random things, like yogurt and crackers.  So Jérôme was making soufflés constantly for awhile there.

We tended to make them with cauliflower because Logan couldn't tell there were vegetables hidden in there.  But we also occasionally made a broccoli or zucchini soufflé instead (see bottom of post).  To simplify my life, I would steam the entire head of cauliflower or broccoli at once and freeze it in Ziploc bags in little soufflé-like portions.  This way, we could whip up a soufflé at a moment's notice when we had nothing left for Logan to eat. 

The vegetables need to be really well cooked for this recipe so that they will mash well and blend smoothly into the texture of the soufflé.  So you want to steam them well beyond how you would normally cook them if you were just going to eat them with dinner.  To save time, I steam them in the microwave, by placing cut pieces of cauliflower into a bowl with a bit of water and covering the bowl with a plate.  I then just keep checking the vegetables until they are super soft.  Then mash them as much as possible with a fork or potato masher.

Sadly, there is no soufflé eating going on in our household these days, now that we are gluten- and dairy-free.  Though I'm thinking that I may have to try to dream up a recipe that meets these criteria for Chloé, as she's getting to an age where she's old enough to start (hopefully!) enjoying these kinds of things. 

Soufflés sound really tricky.  People are terrified to make them.  But they're actually not as difficult as they seem.  You just need to beat the egg whites really well and be super gentle folding them into the other ingredients (no whipping!).  Another trick for success is to not prepare this in advance. The egg whites will begin to fall and your soufflé will not be a success.  Steps 3 and on need to be done just prior to putting this in the oven.

4 eggs, separated
béchamel sauce 
1 C mashed cauliflower or broccoli
1 Cgrated cheese (preferably Swiss, but any kind you like works)
butter

1.  Prepare a béchamel sauce, following the instructions in this post here.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

2.  Mix the steamed, mashed cauliflower and grated cheese into the béchamel sauce.
  
3.  Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside.  Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks, such as this:

4.  Mix the egg yolks into the béchamel sauce, one by one, being sure they are well incorporated.

5.  Using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the béchamel.  This is what makes the soufflé rise.  If you are impatient and just stir everything together, you will not end up with a soufflé.  This is exactly why Jérôme is our soufflé maker around here - he has much more patience than I do!

For those who have no experience folding in egg whites, here's a video demonstrating the proper technique:

 
(omg I wish I could eat those lemon pancakes!!  I'd be making them tomorrow morning!)
 
6.  Butter a soufflé dish.  If you don't have a specific soufflé dish, any deep, round, relatively non-stick dish will do.  Buttering the dish well is extremely important, as the soufflé needs to be able to slide its way up the side of the dish as it rises. 

7.  Cook at 425 degrees Farenheit for approximately 30 minutes - we always find it takes a fair bit longer, but it will depend on your oven.  The most important part of making a soufflé, egg white folding aside, is to not open the oven door while it is cooking.  At all.  Not even a peek!  Use your oven light.  Otherwise, your soufflé will fall.  You will know that your soufflé is cooked when the top is nice and browned:

8.  Serve immediately upon taking out of the oven.  Even a successful soufflé will fall once it is taken out of the oven.  If you have company over, you want to have everyone sitting at the table before you've even taken this out of the oven.

 

Enjoy :) This goes super well with a spinach salad or with Brandi's salad.

Although it is not quite as delicious as when it comes right out of the oven, we did freeze this soufflé in Logan-sized portions to pull out over time as we needed them for him and it worked well for us. I didn't ever try it, so I'm not sure if it tastes quite as good after being frozen as it does straight out of the oven, but it's at least good enough for a kid ;)

Variation: You can replace the cauliflower with either steamed mashed broccoli or with grated zucchini, cooked in a pan.  We also sometimes put a bit of cubed ham in ours.  Or at least, we did, pre-picky eaters ;)

Difficulty level: moderate to difficult 

Camille's Authentic Tarte Tatin

As with everything else in my life these days, I am so behind in my blogging.  I currently have 31 recipes in my draft folder, plus tons of ideas for other posts I haven't even gotten around to starting.  Plus, I still need to get around to transferring my photos to the new blog so that I can get that finalized and up and running.  Ahhhh life with two monkeys ;)

As its name suggests, this recipe is French in origin.  And it's one of Jérôme's favourite desserts.  Camille made this for us when she came to visit two years ago.  It was the first time I had had it and I also loved it.  Following her departure, I tried in vain to reproduce it a few times.  But none of the recipes I found did Camille's tart justice - or perhaps it was that I just hadn't mastered the technique??

As defined by Wikipedia, "tarte tatin is an upside-down tart in which the fruit (usually apples) are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked".  Mmm...  It turns out that Josiane had given me a whole tarte tatin cookbook awhile back.  So my new mission is to make a blueberry tarte tatin with some delicious fresh blueberries when I have a chance.  And a rhubarb one.  And a banana one.  And a banana chocolate chip one.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Camille made us two of these during her visit.  One of which has already sadly disappeared (of course, its whereabouts are completely unknown).  The other is tucked safely in the freezer.  For the time being at least ;)

Being a French recipe, it is in grams, so you'll need to get out your food scale for this one - which I know you've purchased, having been tempted by other French recipes here on my blog ;) 

Camille said this is typically made with Golden Delicious apples.  She made ours with Red Delicious and it was wonderful.  If you use another variety, just be sure that it is a type that will hold its shape with cooking so that you don't end up with applesauce.

1/2 C sugar
4 1/2 very large (Costco-sized) apples (I think you'd need maybe 7-8 regular sized apples - enough to fill the entire pan)
70g butter
pie pastry (traditionally with puff pastry, but you can try it with any kind of pastry you have - Camille brought us one from France!!)

You will also need a pan that can go both on the stove and in the oven for this recipe.  We used a pie plate for one of the pies and one of our Le Creuset pans for the other.

1.  Peel and core apples and cut into quarters.  Set aside.

2.  Melt butter in the pan. Sprinkle sugar over the entire pan and do not stir (you can mix it just slightly, but barely).

3.  Place the apples on top of the butter/sugar mixture in a circle formation.  Be sure the squeeze the apples tightly together. 

4.  Cook on medium heat until the butter/sugar mixture has caramelized.  You will know that this has happened when the mixture takes on a rich brown colour.

This is what the butter mixture will look like as it starts to cook:

And this is what it will look like when the sugar has caramelized and you can take it off of the stove:

Do not stir anything while it is cooking.
 
5.  Place the pie pastry on top of the apples, tucking in the edges.  Cut a small vent into the centre of the pie.  Place a piece of parchment paper inside the vent to prevent it from closing while cooking.

6.  Cook at approximately 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then lower to 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.  Camille swears that you don't have to check if the apples are cooked.

7.  To take the pie out of the pan, let the pie cool a bit, but not completely (or otherwise the caramel will harden and everything will be stuck in the pan).  If the pie has completely cooled, you will need to heat it up a bit again to be able to get it out of the pan.  If you turn the pan just upside down, the caramel will all drip out.  You want to take it out by turning it upside down in a circular motion.  And, of course, place a large plate over the crust before unmolding.

Camille mentioned that she suspects that restaurants do a double layering of apples to be sure there are no gaps between the apples when cooked.  I'm sure that just makes it doubly delicious.

Difficulty level: difficult for a novice.  Though easier for someone who has experience baking.

Yogurt, Yogurt, YOGURT!!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a little bit of a yogurt obsession. Have for years... and years... and years. Goes hand in hand with my smoothie obsession.  In fact, one of my very first posts was about making homemade yogurt.

Now, I know what you're thinking. It's perhaps a little bit crazy to write an entire blog post about yogurt.  But if you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that crazy should maybe have been my middle name...

I'm not sure I can even really convey how much I love yogurt.  It also turned out to be one of Logan's early favourite foods.  As I mentioned in this post, for awhile, I had to hide every time I wanted to eat a yogurt when Logan was around just so that he wouldn't eat it all on me.  

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we're now in Paris.  Now, I know that when most people think of French food, they think of things like croissants, wine and cheese. Me?? Yogurt.

That's right.  Yogurt, yogurt and more yogurt. Lemon yogurt, rhubarb yogurt, passion fruit/pineapple yogurt, mango/passion fruit yogurt, dark chocolate yogurt (yes! you read that right), chocolate mint yogurt, vanilla like-we-don't-have-in-Canada yogurt.  And the list goes on. 

Too good... Bonne Maman rhubarb yogurt.
One of my MANY favourites. 

more of a cream dessert than yogurt, but delicious!

can't wait to try these passion fruit/pineapple yogurts

Never mind all of the other yogurt-like products that they sell over here that, for whatever reason, we don't have at home.  Such as fromage blanc/fromage frais, which is similar to quark cheese at home, but comes in all sorts of delicious flavours in France, including whipped varieties, and petits suisses, a richer form of fromage blanc, mostly for kids (who are we kidding here???).  We just picked up some delicious fromage blanc fresh from the farm while visiting Jérôme's grandmother in l'Allier.

The yogurt selection over here opens up a whole new world of yogurt obsession for me. Teresa may well remember this from when she joined us on a trip to Paris, in which she whole-heartedly participated in lengthy discussions in the yogurt aisles, as we tried to decide what to purchase. I've been whispering to my yogurt-loving Logan for weeks now how much he was going to love France, if only for the yogurt.  Even though I'm pretty sure he didn't even get much of what I was saying.  And man, does he love it...

Here's a shot of the loot that we brought home from today's trip to the grocery store alone:

And I was restraining myself!

Oh My French Goodness!!

We had a wonderful day full of deliciousness today here in Paris.  It is 9:30 pm here as I type this and I am still full from lunch.  In fact, now that we're back at Karim and Assia's, everyone else is at the dinner table while I type this.  

Jérôme's mom's cousin invited us over for lunch today.  And he's a fantastic cook!

We started the day with a train ride out to their house.  Which Logan adored, even though it doesn't seem so in the photo.

Our meal started with a delicious salad that was so good I didn't even get a picture of it before it disappeared.

Then came the beef bourguignon.

And then a pâté aux pommes de terre (potato/cream pie). My absolute favourite, and Joel does this particularly well.

And, of course, a cheese platter.

It goes without saying that none of this would have been complete without some (aka lots of) good wine.

And delicious champagne.

Ma copine de trottoir.  Don't ask, but vodka was involved.
An awful lot of vodka. On her wedding day...

Even Chloé joined in.  I mean, she is half French, after all.

And then we most certainly had to have dessert. I mean, you can't end such a wonderful meal without having some homemade apple pie.

Wow... I feel sick just reading how much we ate this afternoon!!!!!  And yes, it was all only for lunch!

In any case, we all had a blast.

Waiting for our bus back home