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 ;)  

Homemade Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream

My kids are obsessed with ice cream these days.  Which is kind of funny, given that they can't actually eat real ice cream, due to their dairy sensitivities.  It all started a few weeks back, when I found these gluten-free ice cream cones (note: although we all like the sugar cones, none of us much cared for the gf cups, which just had an odd cardboard-like texture...).  I picked up a box of these cones alongside a carton of coconut ice cream as a treat for the kids when I discovered the cones.  A few weeks prior, Logan had been on the verge of tears, telling me about how all of the kids in daycare had gotten an ice cream cone while he had had a popsicle instead.

Little did I know that this was going to start a mad obsession with ice cream...  So we have been making various sorts of homemade "ice creams" lately.  Hopefully, I will get a chance to post a few more before summer is out.  Esspecially the particularly delicious mango version we made last week.

Our latest creation was based on an ice cream that Jérôme's grandmother used to make for him as a child.  She would crush fresh-picked strawberries with a fork, then add some crême fraîche and sugar and then freeze until ready.  Simple.as.that.

Since we are dairy-free, we used a soy cream substitute:

And I puréed the strawberries in the KitchenAid, since my kids are so particular with textures.  

 

This recipe only takes minutes to make and is delicious.  The kids have enjoyed it several times this week.  As have I.  Our neighbour's one year old son also got to enjoy a cone with us.     

 

 

 

  
3 pints fresh picked strawberries
1 carton Belsoy cooking cream or equivalent amount of crême fraîche or cream
1/2 C sugar, or to taste

1.  Mix all ingredients in the food processor.  For a more textured ice cream, crush strawberries with a fork and then mix in remaining ingredients.

 2.  Place ingredients in an ice cream maker, or freeze until ready to serve.

Difficulty level: easy

Easter Egg Nest Cupcakes

I wanted to quickly share some Easter cupcakes that we had a chance to make during our crazy stay at Tremblant. Logan picked this recipe out of the Bulk Barn flyer a few weeks ago.  Like mother, like son, I guess ;)

Before I get to the recipe though, I just wanted to thank everyone for the outpouring of love I have received since my last post.  I have received many supportive phone calls and e-mails.  None of which I believe I have returned yet (though I will!).  I also wanted to give special thanks to Antonia, who was sweet enough to surprise me with a beautiful arrangement of flowers delivered to my door this afternoon:

Nothing better to brighten my day :)  Your kindness is more touching than I can put into words.

Also, I wanted to give a shout out to Anonymous, whose encouraging comment, "Sometimes, the achievement is not that you got anything done, but that you simply keep going" has been graved into my mind forever.  This is going to be my mantra when the going gets tough, as it has been this past little while.

I just wanted to touch base and say that, despite the desperation in my last post, we are managing.  I am intensely frustrated with our system that provides no help to families until things are so crucial that they are almost unsalvageable.  I do not at all feel that we are at that point.  But I also don't want to get there.  And as time goes on, I can see that our ability to cope with the everyday stressors of raising our little monkeys is diminishing.  I want help before I get to the place of being a mom who screams at her kids all day long, no matter what they do.  That is not who I am as a person and it is not the relationship I want to have with my little guys.  And I just want help to manage everything so that I do not turn into that type of a mom for them.

We are surviving and we do what we need to do to get by.  As my close friend, who dropped by unannounced the other day, saw, our house is often a complete disaster.  We eat hot dogs or plain pasta when we need to.  I barely post any recipes anymore (mostly because I don't even have time to cook) and I blog more to deal with the stress of what we are living these days.  So things are still somewhat manageable, even if they are intensely stressful.  I felt I needed to comment on this because I was surprised at how many people contacted me after my last post - I don't think anyone needs to be particularly worried about us.  Though thank you for your love, concern and support.

Now let's get on to some delicious Easter cupcakes.  Made from a box, of course, because my life these days leaves no time to make homemade gf cupcakes.  If you have a bit more time than I do, and aren't gf, I highly recommend my chocolate sour cream bundt cake instead.  Or for those who are gf and want a healthy option, my chocolate black bean cupcakes.

3/4 C unsalted butter (Earth balance for a dairy-free alternative)
4-6 C icing sugar, sifted
6 tbsp. milk (almond milk for a dairy-free alternative)
1 /2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 /2 C sweetened coconut flakes
Easter coloured jelly beans or Mini-Eggs
food colouring
cupcakes

1.  Using a mixer, beat the butter until creamy.  Add 2 C of icing sugar and beat at low speed until mixed.  Gradually increase the speed of the mixer until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.

2.  Add the milk and the vanilla and beat.  Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until the icing is creamy and has a thick enough consistency to pipe, adding more icing sugar or milk, if necessary.  Add food colouring to the icing, if desired.

3.  Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes using a star shaped decorating tip. 

Mine totally flattened... I'm having such a hard time figuring out the right icing
consistency with this dairy-free butter!!  Good thing the coconut hid the icing ;)

4.  In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut flakes and food colouring (separate into several batches if you want to do different colours). 

5.  Sprinkle the coconut on top of the icing on the cupcakes.
 

6.  Place jelly beans or Mini eggs on the coconut flakes and enjoy.

Someone was more than dying to get into these as soon as they were ready.
 

After a first bite, he wasn't all too sure about the texture of the coconut.

But I guess the sweetness of the icing was enough to convince him to take a tentative second bite.

And from that point on, he was sold :)

Difficulty level: easy

Happy Easter everyone!
 

Happy Valentine's Day: Healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

When I first thought of Valentine's Day (albeit only 3 days ago), I had visions of making my kids heart-shaped pink pancakes for breakfast accompanied by skewers of various heart shaped fruits... 
of a wonderful, romantic, homemade dinner for my husband and I... and of delicious cupcakes for dessert, topped with heart-shaped fondant toppers.

And then reality hit.  My life is way too busy for all of this crap!

The thing is that this is what I LOVE to do.  In an ideal world, this is part of how we would have celebrated Valentine's Day today.  But my kids were none the wiser this morning, as they happily sipped their smoothies before leaving for daycare. 

There will be other years for this kind of craziness when my life isn't quite so crazy in and of itself ;)

The only thing from my above list that I managed to accomplish (sort of) was the cupcakes - without the fondant toppers. I ended up settling on some heart shaped candies that we happened to have here, instead.   

I found the recipe for this chocolate cake on youtube.  It is naturally gluten and dairy free and I loved the idea of sneaking some black beans into chocolate cake for my kids for some hidden protein and fiber.  Now, you're probably thinking that black beans in chocolate cake sounds disgusting.  I swear, you can't even taste them!!

This recipe is overall quite healthy.  It won't win any awards for being the absolute best chocolate cake you've ever tasted in your life.  It's not quite on part with the rich chocolate sour cream bundt cake that Katie made us for dessert on Valentine's Day last year.  However, this is healthy enough that it could be a regular indulgence. It is not very sweet tasting in and of itself.  But I found that after adding the icing, it had just the perfect sweetness.  Not that super sweet taste that many cakes have.

I got the recipe for the buttercream icing here.  To make it dairy (but not soy) free, I used Earth balance instead of butter.  However, I found that I had to add a ton more icing sugar than the recipe called for to get it stiff enough to pipe.  Maybe it is because the Earth balance has a different texture than real butter??  I also used some of the real vanilla we bought in Tahiti instead of the vanilla extract. Yum!

Healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed1 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 egg

 
Blend in food processor or blender until smooth.

 
Mix in:

1/2 C sugar (I used coconut sugar, but regular sugar would be just fine too)
6 tbsp. olive oil or butter

 
Place 4 eggs in a mixing bowl

and beat for 3-4 minutes on high until they are fluffy.

Add the following to the beaten eggs, along with the black bean mixture and stir only until mixed:

6 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Pour batter into muffin tins.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 300 degrees Farenheit. 

I have superstar aim with my batter pouring ;)

Frost with buttercream icing and dust with coloured sugar.  Decorate with candies, if desired.
 

Enjoy!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

What Valentine's Day treats did you indulge in today?  Do you have any Valentine's traditions that you enjoy as a family?

Difficulty level: easy-moderate

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.

Note: because of the black beans in the recipe, these tend to dry out quickly, so keep them in a tightly sealed container.  If you don't frost yours (and you will regret it!), place plastic seal directly on the surface of the cupcakes to help keep them fresh longer.