Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This confection is private stock, served only to BFF's or shared with my daughters as we sip pear brandy and talk late into the night. While not quite as good as the Ferrero Rocher chocolates after which they're patterned, I must say, with all due modesty and a drum roll or two, that these are PDG. They are also embarrassingly easy to assemble and for that reason I make them throughout the year. The truffles take about 30 minutes to prepare, but the chocolate mixture used to form them must be chilled before they can be shaped, so, despite ease of preparation, you'll have to build wait time into your game plan. I found the recipe on the Taste of Home website several years ago and I've made no changes to it, save for altering the time the chocolate must be refrigerated. I've found that the overnight chill suggested in the recipe produces an unworkable mass that must sit for an hour before the truffles can be shaped. A three hour chill is all that's really need. I am currently using milk chocolate candy bars to make these, but come the first of the year I want to make these using Nutella. I like the thought of triple hazelnut truffles. I hope you'll give these a try. They really are delicious. Here's the recipe.

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Debra Pedrazzi and Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55-oz. each)
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
24 whole hazelnuts
1 cup very finely chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cocoa; set aside. In a saucepan, melt candy bars and butter. Add the cream and reserved cocoa mixture. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until mixture is thickened and smooth. Pour into an 8-in. square dish. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours or overnight.
2) Using a melon baller or spoon, shape candy into 1-in. balls; press a hazelnut into each. Reshape balls and roll in ground hazelnuts. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator. Yield: 2 dozen.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Easy and Festive Peppermint Bark Candy - Sugar and Spice
Candy Cane Fudge - What's Cookin Chicago?
Dark Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Cups - Verses from My Kitchen
Honey Cream Caramels - Eat Good 4 Life
Peanut Butter Fudge - Brown Eyed Baker
Chocolate Covered Toffee - Petit Foodie
Rocky Road Fudge Candy - Baking and Boys
Easy Chocolate Turtles - Culinary Cory

Autumn Date and Hazelnut Bread

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The hazelnut harvest is underway here in Oregon. Every fall, stores and farm stands greet us with bins that are brimming with this meaty treasure. They are an important part of the local economy and I use them whenever I can. A local grower actually sells his hazelnuts chopped, roasted and ready for the freezer. It gets even better. If you have the foresight to ask, he also mill the nuts to a fine powder that's perfect for flourless baking. The downside to all this is there is no excuse for not baking cakes and breads that require hazelnuts. I love this particular quick bread. The recipe was developed by Susan Loomis for the French Farmhouse Cookbook and it is the only version of date nut bread that I still make today. It's wonderful for church gatherings or coffees where you have to provide something a little sweet. The bread is extremely easy to make , but if you want the best of flavors let it age for at least a day before slicing. I actually wait 2 days before cutting mine. The crust is what keeps me coming back to this recipe. It is soft and buttery and the loaf has a remarkable aroma that I find irresistable. If you haven't made this bread I hope you'll give it a try. There will be no regrets. Here's the recipe.

Autumn Date and Hazelnut Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Susan Loomis

Ingredients:
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
11-1/2 (eleven and one-half) tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla or hazelnut extract
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and coarsely chopped
1 cup dates, pitted and coarsely chopped

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together on a piece of waxed paper.
3) In bowl of an electric mixer, blend butter and sugar until mixture is light and pale yellow. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla or hazelnut extract. Turn mixer to low speed and add the flour, mixing just until combined. Add hazelnuts and dates and mix to distribute through batter.
4) Scrape batter into prepared pan, rapping it sharply on a hard surface to release any air bubbles in batter. Bake in center of oven until the loaf has puffed and a knife inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
5) Remove pan from oven and immediately remove it from pan. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf - 8 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Mango Nut Bread - Chef in You
Fruit and Nut Loaf - Anja's Food 4 Thought
Chocolate and Hazelnut Bread - Chef in You
Cherry and Almond Scones - The English Kitchen
Medjool Date and Walnut Bread - Closet Cooking
Date Nut Spice Bread - Brown Eyed Baker
Three Savory Quick Breads - One Perfect Bite

Chocolate-Hazelnut Track Bread - Blue Monday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This easy to make quick bread is a perfect accompaniment to coffee and it makes a lovely addition to a breakfast or brunch table. It's a perfect example of what James Beard called a "track" bread. In his parlance, any bread that had a traceable filling was called a track bread. While his cookbooks have numerous example of them, all delicious I might add, today's recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine. This bread is filled with hazelnuts and chocolate and it really is quite lovely. I chose it because of its hazelnut track. Hazelnuts are also called filberts but the extension services here in the Willamette Valley prefer to call them hazelnuts. While Oregon produces 98 percent of the hazelnuts grown in the United States, that amounts to only 3 percent of the world's supply. That means that Turkey, Spain and Italy are actually the world's major suppliers. Hazelnuts are not widely popular in the United State. They are more expensive then other nuts and they have a reputation for being difficult to skin. Actually, it's not all that difficult to rid them of their pesky covering. The traditional method involves roasting the hazelnuts for about 10 minutes in a moderately hot oven. The nuts are then wrapped in a clean towel and rubbed until most of the skin comes off. A newer, easier method suggests boiling the nuts for 4 minutes in a quart of water to which 1/4 cup baking soda has been added. The nuts are them rinsed in cold water which will cause the skins to pop off. Once the skins are removed, the hazelnuts are roasted until they are lightly brown. Then there is my way. I pay a premium and buy my hazelnuts already skinned. Truth be told, I've been known to buy them already chopped as well. I really like this bread and I think you will too. Here's the recipe.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Track Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
Topping:
1/3 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
2) In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Batter will be thick.
3) Spoon half of batter into prepared loaf pan. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle two-thirds of topping over batter. Top with remaining batter. Sprinkle with remaining topping; press down lightly.
4) Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices).

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Chocolate and Hazelnut Pie with Vanilla Cream - One Perfect Bite
Bavarian Hazelnut Cake - One Perfect Bite
Chocolate Babka - One Perfect Bite

This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday