Pictures of making Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

I made another batch with Jessica last night, so I decided I should document the process of the nuts being ground.. just for fun!

These are the blanched roasted hazelnuts after just a short moment in the food processor:


After about a minute longer:


Another minute:


Yet another minute:


Finished Hazelnut butter:


The cream and sugar before I heated it and added it to the hazelnuts and chocolate:


The finished product! So shiny when it's warm, it loses the gloss as it cools.


BFN

Home made pressies

This year finances have been particularly tight, so I decided instead of buying things for my friends that they didn't need/want I'd MAKE them things they didn't need/want!

I have trouble getting over to my sewing school to buy a bunch of lovely fabric to make tote bags, so I went through my stores at home, and found I have tons of smaller pieces of fabric, none large enough to make an entire tote, but large enough to make these: Marcel 7997 from BurdaStyle.com.

So far I've cut out enough to make 11 (10 for gifts, one for Loui), tonight I will start sewing them all together. I'm using a pretty thick interfacing in all of them, to help block the light. I haven't yet decided if I will sew on ribbons (probably too girly) or sew on elastic. Will have to play it by ear!

Yesterday I bought some cute little jars from the Container Store. Bought the fixings to make some hazelnut chocolate spread! It was very fast to make, and it tasted heavenly. Loui was very upset to find out I had made just enough to fill all the jars, and there was nothing left for him!
I copied the recipe from angry chicken, here it is:
1/3 cup Hazelnuts (blanched, peeled and toasted)
3 oz chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (half what the original recipe called for)

After toasting the hazelnuts, I put them in my itty bitty food processor and held down the button for an incredibly long time (felt like it anyhow!). I think it was about 5 minutes, first the hazelnuts turned to pieces, then dust, then slowly a runny nutty butter. It wasn't completely smooth, still tiny chunks in it but my finger got tired so I moved onto the next part. I put all the chocolate in the food processor and pulsed til it had blended completely with the nuts leaving a smooth chocolatey nutty happiness.
In my saucepan I put the cream, sugar, vanilla and salt, and heated it until almost boiling (it was hot when I stuck my finger in it). I then poured the cream mixture into the processor, and blended until it was smooth.
That's it! I poured it into the little jars, waited for it to cool (went to dance class) put it in the fridge.

Since this recipe has cream in it, it won't last very long, hence also the use of the very small jars. I'd say you'd get about 3 uses out of one jar. I was thinking of making up a little ingredient list, possibly even the entire recipe on a card to include with the jars. Perhaps some serving suggestions? Not sure, have to think of something soon!

I'll post some pictures tonight of the jars of goodness, and my masks as they are being sewn.

BFN

Pastries Pr0n

My resolve to post less about food isn't going so well! Tonight there is a party at my dance school called "Naughty and Nice". For this party I was assigned the task of bringing "Naughty Pastries".
After some googling yesterday, I settled on visiting a local store called "Pastries by Edie" today to see if they were going to have pastries naughty enough. They do. I bought a whole box of them. They are so gorgeous, that I took photo's of a couple of them. if you can imagine, I have an assortment box full of these, all different and all just too lovely to eat! They come in mini and regular, so I bought a box full of mini's, thinking they'd be easier to eat standing up as little bites.

I have no idea what flavors these are, but aren't they lovely to look at!




I'll let you know how they taste after I pluck up the courage to destroy one.

BFN

The itty bitty potted Christmas Tree

I finally took a picture! It's much nicer in person.. as usual the dark apartment doesn't make it easy to take a nice picture, even with the lights on the tree turned on. No contrast.. oh well!



Yes.. it's sitting on the ironing board.. small apartment remember?

BFN

Dancing pressure to Foxtrot or not

I had a rather interesting discussion with my dance instructor last night during my lesson. Sam is really keen for me to add more dances to my program, and I am not interested. I LIKE dancing a lot, but there is a ton to think about while you're dancing, that isn't just the steps you need to take.
My argument against adding new dances is my memory. While I consider I have a fairly average memory, I am definitely better at learning patterns than most. This means the footwork isn't a problem, I see it once, and i can do it. The problem lies in that WHILE I am doing said footwork, I need to be doing something with my arms (mostly that's for swing), my posture, in waltz there is the rise and fall, pointing toes, and much more. Basically I'd rather "master" the dances already in my program (Waltz, Tango, Merengue, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing and Viennese Waltz) before moving onto doing more.
The argument Sam gave me to pick up more is "it's more fun". While I enjoy dancing, and it's certainly fun for me, I really don't want the stress! Another point Sam made was that of all his students, he pushes the ones that he likes dancing with. I wasn't sure if this was just something he says to all his students (he's very sweet.. so that's possible) or if he really thinks I should go for it.
Every time I complain about having not enough space in my brain to retain so much.. he points out that I won the Merengue at Match Comp, against all levels, not just people in my grade. I still think they made some sort of mistake in awarding me that first... but that's a whole other thing.

In the end, I love Foxtrot and it's not in my program. I won a first place at Match Comp dancing Foxtrot, and that's with only a couple beginner classes under my belt. I was considering dropping east coast swing instead of adding a new one. I like East Coast, but I find it quite difficult, especially when it's super fast, and my partner is doing a lot of improvisation. At least with West Coast Swing I can improvise on my own!

For Christmas bonuses for the dance teachers, they are holding a "two for one" day, on the Sunday right before Christmas. I've booked myself at 9.30am (I know crazy huh?) and 10:15am with Sam and Terra respectively. The students pay in cash, directly to their instructors. I think it's a great way to show our appreciation to our teachers, and get some extra lessons to boot!

Trader Joes had some small potted Christmas Trees for sale. Usually I dig out our tiny plastic one, but I was craving the smell of pine this year. It's totally worth it. It's tiny enough so it can sit on the cabinet that's below where the TV hangs on the wall. I took a picture, but then saved it to my home computer. Will upload laters.

In the meantime, I really love this photo Loui took of my dancing at Match Comp, and am thinking of getting a print of it to hang on the wall. Tell me what you think?

Stuffed with stuffing

My task for Thanksgiving at my friend Heather and Luke's house was to bring stuffing. I've made plenty of regular stuffings before, sausage, bread, pretty simple. This time I searched around to try and find something a little more interesting. I found it! Right before Thanksgiving I gave it a test run, and it was an instant favorite.

The recipe is from Epicurious.com called Country Bread Stuffing with Smoked Ham, Goat Cheese, and Dried Cherries

The only moderations I made were to reduce the amount of ham (just didn't have as much as it asked for), added a few more cherries, and used an organic whole wheat bread.

I cooked it a little longer than asked as well, so the top ended up nice and crunchy, with a lot of soft veggies underneath.

I promise my next post won't be about food! (Well.. probably).



BFN