hazelnut truffles

i got this basic recipe from the food network website. its from the barefoot contessa show. it seems so fancy but it so easy! anyway, its pretty basic with lots of room for making up your own flavors. i made this recipe and then i made some with a couple tablespoons of orange juice concentrate and macadamia nuts. they were yummy. so many possibilities!

1 cup hazelnuts

3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate

3.5 oz semisweet chocolate

1/2 cup cream

1 1/2 tablespoon hazlenut liquor (i used coffee liquor because that was all i had)

1 tablespoon prepared coffee

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

preheat oven top 325 degrees. chop nuts and roast 10 minutes, more if they have skins. put aside chop chocolate and pit in the top of a double broiler or a bowl on top of a pot of water on the stove. heat cream and chocolate together until the chocolate melts and mixes with the cream. whisk in liquor, coffee, and vanilla. cover and chill 45 minutes - an hour or until pliable but firm enough to scoop. scoop 2 teaspoons at a time to make dollops on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper. refrigerate 15 minutes or long enough to firm up enough to roll into balls. let set in the fridge overnight. ( i rolled mine in a mixture of cacao and sugar. coconut, cacao nibs, or powdered sugar would be good too)

citrus cheesecake

this recipe was taken from the back of a "florida crystals" sugar bag. its not exactly traditional food, or very healthy, you can make it the best it can be by using all organic ingredients, substituting sucanat or maybe even honey if your up for experimenting. its still cheesecake, but
let me warn you - it might be the best cheesecake you've ever had, not to mention the fact that its so gorgeous baked in the tangelo skins. im not a big fan of deserts without chocolate in them but i'd take this over chocolate cheesecake on most days (probably anyway).

10 tangelos, cut off tops, hollow out, and reserve segments, keep the tops for zest. be So careful doing this, if they rip the cheesecake will leak out the sides!)

cheesecake:
3- 8oz packs cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup florida crystals organic cane sugar (i used less than this, about 3/4 cup)
3 eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons half and half (i used whole cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon tangelo zest
1/2 cup chopped tangelo segments (im just now realizing that i missed this part of the recipe but i can imagine it would be totally awesome!)

topping:
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon florida crystals demerara cane sugar

blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth. add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. stir in half and half, vanilla, and zests until smooth. gently fold in segments. place the hollowed out skins into a baking dish. fill each with cheesecake batter. (mine totally overflowed, so i suggest not filing them all the way.)blend the macadamia nuts and sugar and sprinkle over top of each cheesecake. bake at 320 degrees for 15 minutes. cover loosely with foil and then bake 20-25 minutes more or until a toothpick comes out clean. remove and cool to room temp. cover and refrigerate until cold. garnish with remaining segments before serving.

wow, thats the first real recipe ive written here ;)

candied nuts

yummy!!!

1 cup crispy nuts
1/4 cup honey
butter
salt

heat a frying pan a little above medium heat. (i put mine on 5 and i always use a cast iron pan) let it heat up while and then add a couple tablespoon of butter. once its melted and bubbly add the nuts and mix them in the butter to coat and lightly toast them. once the nuts are all hot add the honey - be careful it will bubble up and get really crazy. hot sugar seems to be one of the hottest of hot things! its sticks to you and really burns. let it bubble and do its thing while constantly stirring so its doesnt burn or stick. add about a half teaspoon of salt. it has to be bubbling tho so turn it up if its not. this is what will make the honey end up hard and candy-like in the end. keep it going for about 5 minutes. then turn off the heat and let it cool right in the pan. at this point you could add other ingredients that you didnt want to cook like shredded coconut or dried fruit. once its cooled it will become hard/chewy.

butter pecan ice cream

this came out SO good!!!

i've been saving up a bunch of recipes to post here. i made this a while ago and it was awesome! i finally got a hold of a consistent amount of raw cream so i did a lot of experimenting (and tasting!) with ice cream. i found that raw cacao for chocolate ice cream just doesnt cut it for me . . . i tried mixing it in all different ways and it just wont get that super dark chocolateness that regular cocoa gets. it comes out ok, but is light in color and not as flavorful no matter how much i put in.

i also found that even though raw egg yolks are good for you it really improves the texture of the ice cream to cook them into a custard with a little part of the milk/cream. keep the heat pretty low though. and dont add the rest of the milk/cream till it cools.

butter pecan ice cream:

2 1/2 cups cream

1 1/4 cups whole milk

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups chopped candied pecans

take a little bit of the milk/cream, about a half cup, and heat it up on medium low heat. mix the yolks up in a separate bowl. once the milk is hot, temper the eggs so they wont scramble. pour a little hot milk into the eggs and stir to warm them up and get them used to the high temp. after tempering you can whisk it all together on the stove and continue to cook till it thickens. 5 minutes should do it.

let the milk and egg mixture cool and then add the rest of the ingredients except the nuts. chill in the fridge overnight or for several hours. put in an ice cream machine or in the freezer and churn by hand every half hour for a few hours.

fruity frozen yogurt

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another super easy recipe! we had some frozen yogurt tubes at a friends house and my kids loved it. it reminded me to make some popsicles. they came out so good with lots of fruit and way less sugar than store bought versions. i have made them with yogurt but today i used kefir and it tasted the same. ive done cherry strawberry and cherry rasberry. its probably best to use one sweet fruit with one thats not as sweet. the cherries are very sweet so the went well with the tangy strawberries and rasberries.

in a blender put about 2 cups plain yogurt or kefir and 1 cup fruit (i used frozen fruit)
pour into popsicle molds! thats it

today i made to much so i put some in a container for ice creamish frozen yogurt. i dont have any room in the freezer for the ice cream maker so i just mixed it every once in a while and it came out nice and creamy!

raw chocolate strawberry pie

i made up this recipe for a potluck. it came out ok. it tasted awsome, and looked good before i cut it, but it was really hard to cut. i dont know, maybe i should have let it defrost more before i cut it. i whipped the cream thinking it would make it fluffy instead of frozen solid. i think maybe i got too much milk with the cream when i skimmed it bc it didnt get fluffy like whipped cream should. any suggestions would be apreciated!

crust:

1 1/2 c coconut (flaked,no sugar added)

1 1/2 c crispy almonds (soaking nuts with salt neutralizes the phytic acid)

1/2 c ground raw cacao nibs (i used a coffee grinder)

2 Tbsp cold pressed coconut oil

2 Tbsp raw agave (wow, i went to find an article about agave and found out that theres a big debate about whether it can really be raw. i use madhava. you could use honey also)

pinch of salt

put the dry stuff in the food processor until it turns into a coarse meal. you dont want it to turn into butter. add the coconut oil and agave. process till it starts to stick together.

press into a pie plate and put in the freezer.

filling:

4 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 c raw cacao powder

4 Tbsp raw agave

1 1/2 c raw cream whipped

2 c strawberries, cut up into slices plus some for garnish

melt the coconut oil on super low. just enough to melt it. mix in cacao and agave till theres no lumps. fold in whipped cream and strawberries. pour into crust and freeze till its hard enough to stay together but easy to cut!

all raw ice cream

ive been wanting to try this for a long time. and it came out pretty good! here in new hampshire farmers can sell their milk to who ever they want even if its not pasturized. in many states this is not possible and you have to use loopholes to get raw milk. so we found a great family here with two beautiful gernsey cows who sell the milk that they cant use. we got our first batch last week and it was SO good. the cream is so yellow right now with all the spring growth and gurnseys also produce extra yellow cream.
i think that raw milk, raw eggs, cacao, and raw local honey are all such healthful foods - why not put them together! i havent found any raw cream yet and didnt want to skim my milk but if you have some substitute 1 1/2 c with the milk. it will make it much creamier and more like regular ice cream. the all whole milk version came out damn good though.


RAW CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM:

3 3/4 c whole raw milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 c cacao powder (chocolate that has not been roasted)
1/2 c - 3/4 c raw honey (i used 1/2 c and it was fine. if you tend to like things sweeter add more)
(1 tsp vanilla extract - optional. are vanilla beans roasted? i dont know. oh well its only a teaspoon!)

blend in the blender till the honey is all mixed in. i then put it into my ice cream maker for churning. if you dont have one you could just put it in the freezer and mix it up every once in a while. the more you mix the creamier it will be but you do want it to stay cold too.