The first time Cassie and I made the spread together was quite the father-daughter bonding experience. The original recipe published in America's Test Kitchen's D.I.Y. Cookbook has you roast raw hazelnuts and then, when they're cool enough to handle, shake them "vigorously" between two bowls to remove the skins. The accompanying text warns that you should try and remove as much of the skins as possible or they'll make the spread taste bitter. So Cassie and I took turns shaking like mad for the better part of 45 minutes. By then, the remaining nuts were being reduced to dust but the pesky skins were hanging on for dear life. So we proceeded with the recipe and made the spread, which tasted just fine.
The good folks at America's Test Kitchen must have figured out that the shaking method is not an ideal way to remove hazelnut skins so when they republished the recipe a few years later in Cook's Illustrated, they had a new method for removing the skins. This time, they said to boil the nuts for a few minutes in water laced with a lot of baking soda (6 tablespoons for 1 quart of water), then transfer the nuts to an ice bath before slipping the skins off. You can actually see this method in action in this video of Alice Medrich making hazelnut biscotti with Julia Child. And it works well. The skins really do slip right off. But it's still a pain in the neck and liable to cut into my AS Roma-watching time on the weekend.
So the next time I was in Trader Joe's and saw Dry Roasted & Unsalted Oregon Hazelnuts, I took a flyer. Here is what 8 ounces of Trader Joe's dry-roasted hazelnuts look like:
Only about two-thirds of the skins are off (I didn't count them individually), but I was willing to risk some bitterness in order to watch Totti and the other ragazzi play. And I may not have a very sophisticated palate, but it tasted just fine to me, and all the rest of you, too. So now I can make faux Nutella in about 10 minutes and still feel better about Cassie's breakfast choices.
Hazelnut Cocoa Spread
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated #132 (Jan/Feb 2015) & America's Test Kitchen Kids
Hazelnut oil is pricey but one can makes about 17 batches of spread. You can also substitute walnut or canola oil.
8 ounces (2 cups) Trader Joe’s Dry Roasted & Unsalted Oregon Hazelnuts
4 ounces (1 cup) confectioners' sugar
1 ounce (⅓ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) hazelnut oil (see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
1. Weigh the hazelnuts into a small bowl, then transfer them to a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until the nuts release their oil and a smooth, loose paste forms, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
2. While the hazelnuts are processing, weigh the sugar and cocoa powder into the small bowl. Add to the hazelnut paste along with the rest of the ingredients. Process until the mixture becomes glossy and spreadable, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed.
3. Transfer the spread to a two-cup container with a tight-fitting lid. The spread can be stored at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 1 month. The spread will become stiffer if you refrigerate it. Makes about 1½ cups.
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| Granola cooled in the baking sheet |
No-Stir Chocolate Granola
Time from start to finish: 42 minutes to removal from the oven (using the standard banking instructions in step 3)
This is the perfect recipe to make using your kitchen scale. Weigh the ingredients into the same bowl one after another, stir them all together, and you’re done. If you omit the coconut, use an additional 67 grams (⅔ cup) of rolled oats.
120 grams (6 tablespoons) real maple syrup; or 80 grams (4 tablespoons) maple syrup + 40 grams (2 tablespoons) honey
50 grams (¼ cup) brown sugar or coconut sugar (⅜ cup)
70 grams (⅓ cup) oil, such as olive, sunflower, or melted coconut
2 teaspoons (8 grams) vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine salt
400 grams (4 cups) rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds (120 grams) and/or raw pecans (100 grams), chopped coarse; or slivered almonds (half a bag of Trader Joe’s slivered almonds is 115 grams and will get you two batches of granola)
60 grams (1½ cups) unsweetened coconut chips (preferably) or unsweetened coconut flakes (see note)
60 grams (½ cup) sunflower seeds
50–75 grams bittersweet chocolate (to taste), chopped coarse (4–6 squares of Trader Joe’s Pound Plus 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate)
130 grams (~1 cup) dried cherries, raisins, or other fruit, or a combination (optional)
1. Heat the oven to 300°F. Spray an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, sugar, oil, vanilla, and salt. Weigh in the oats, nuts, coconut, and sunflower seeds, and stir with a silicone spatula until everything is thoroughly coated.
3. Press the mixture into the baking sheet with the spatula or a potato masher. Bake until the granola is lightly browned (but see step 5 below), about 30 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and cool completely, still in the baking sheet. When cool, remove the granola from the baking sheet with a relatively stiff turner/spatula and break into whatever size pieces you like (I like some big chunks). Transfer to an airtight container or plastic bag, and mix in the chocolate and the dried fruit, if using. Store for up to a month. With all the add-ins, this makes about 1 kilogram/2¼ pounds of granola. (NB: You would pay about $24 for this much of a similar granola of this quality at the City Market or online.)
5. If you don’t think you’ll eat all of the granola within a week, you may want to dry it more thoroughly to keep it from getting soft over long storage. To do so, bake until a little bit shy of the brownness you like (check at 25 minutes or so). Then leave the granola in the oven, turn the oven off, and crack it open a few inches (a folded potholder or two work well for this job). When the oven is just lukewarm, about 20 minutes or so, shut the oven door and allow everything to cool completely. Just be sure not to turn the oven on for another baking project before you take the granola out!
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