Nutella Rocky Road Tart

*Sorry teddy grahams, you are cute and tasty but you'll be cookie crumbs soon!

Oh my my-I've really done it this time! I asked for a vote and the vote was nearly unanimous, I needed to make something with Nutella. I wish I had words for how tasty this little one is. There is something extraordinary that comes with the meeting of Nutella and chocolate ganache that makes mouths happy. When the recipe states "whisk in the Nutella and pour over tart shell," after you have done that do yourself a favor and pause and lick the whisk and the bowl clean, you'll be glad you did.

OK, enough with the praises! Seriously, this recipe came together quite quickly, it was very easy, and is sure to impress. The original recipe calls for a 14"x4" tart pan, sort of a rectangular shape. I used a 9"tart round tart pan, but I suppose you could easily substitute an 8" or 9" pie pan/plate or even a 9"x9" square pan. There's no excuse now-try this.

Nutella Rocky Road Tart (From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Chocolate Teddy Grahams)

6 Tbsp melted butter

Filling:

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup mini marshmallows, divided

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, divided

Directions for the crust:

*Spray your cooking vessel with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl mix together your cookie crumbs and melted butter so that it forms the consistency of wet sand. I used a food processor as I had to crush my little teddy grahams, so I added the butter directly to the food processor after they were made into crumbs.

Dump the crumbs into your pan and use either your fingers or the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup to press the crumbs down and up the sides of your pan forming a full crust. Using the center rack in your oven, bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Directions for filling:

Place the chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Once that happens, pour the cream over the chocolate chips and let sit undisturbed for two whole minutes. After that, whisk until the two are incorporated. Whisk in the Nutella and the resulting mixture should be smooth and glossy.

Assembling the tart:

Place half of the marshmallows and walnuts in the tart shell. Pour the chocolate mixture over the tart shell, covering the marshmallows and walnuts. Once that is complete, top with remaining marshmallows and walnuts.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Cut and serve. This dessert is very rich, so servings should be a little smaller, serves about 10.

Lemon Almond Tart

Lemon Almond Tart (from Cooking Light)

1/2 cup blanched almonds
3 tablespoons brown sugar
36 vanilla wafers
1/4 cup butter, melted
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) jar lemon curd (homemade preferably)
3 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine first 3 ingredients in a food processor; process until finely ground. With motor on, drizzle butter through food chute; process until blended. Press about 1/4 cup crumbs into the bottom and up sides of each of 9" tart pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until toasted. Cool.

Preheat broiler.

Spoon curd evenly into crust. Place egg whites and salt in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Combine granulated sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a thermometer registers 250°. Pour hot syrup in a thin stream over egg whites, beating until stiff peaks form. Spread egg white mixture over tart. Broil 30 seconds or until lightly browned.

Lemon Curd or Lemon Bar Spread?

This is lovely, I have never really had lemon curd before. I always thought it sounded good, I do like lemon, I've heard it's good with shortbread, english muffins, scones etc. But the term 'curd' didn't sound very good (unless you are referring to a cheese curd, then we can talk!) I've seen lemon curd at the store in the jams and jelly section. But, seeing this recipe, I thought I would give it a cheery go. It was easy and quick to prepare, it did involve a bit of patience with the stirring, but you will be well rewarded.

The best was I can sum up lemon curd is likening it to a perfect delicous tasty lemon bar spread. WAIT-thats it, maybe I could change the name, but the UK might not like that. According to Wiki, the people of the UK also refer to it as 'lemon cheese.' I'll take lemon curd thank you.

Lemon Curd (source: Cooking Light)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 medium lemons)-must use FRESH, no bottled stuff here!
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium, heavy saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in juice and eggs; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add butter and lemon rind, stirring gently until butter melts.

Spoon mixture into a medium bowl; cool. Cover and chill at least 6 hours or overnight (mixture will thicken as it cools).

Hazelnut Biscotti

Each Holiday season comes around and I have to make biscotti's! They are great to bring to work, or to a friends house for coffee or tea. They are especially nice because they are a nice option that isn't super sugary sweet, with all of the cookies and bars out and about that wonderful time of the year. Katie Lee Joel once described that biscotti's are named so because they are twice cooked (bi- meaning two.) She stood them up and baked them once after slicing to eliminate the extra cook time. That way the hot air in the oven could circulate to both sides. She gave rosemary biscotti's out as wedding favors when she married rockstar Billy Joel. Rosemary has many historic symbolic ties to weddings, among them is the belief that the herb represents fidelity and remembrance (and other as seen here.) However, in the summer of 2009, Katie and Billy split.

Hazlenut Biscotti's (adapted from Tyler Florence, Food Network)

1 1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

*semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the hazelnuts out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the the nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from oven.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, gradually add eggs, sugar, and almond extract; mix until creamed. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dough until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the nuts until evenly distributed.

Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll each half into a log, each 12 inches long by about 1 inch tall. Place the logs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let the logs cool for five minutes, and then move them to a cutting board. Slice each log on a diagonal into 12-14 one inch thick pieces. Put the biscottis back onto the baking sheet and bake five minutes, remove from oven and flip, baking the the other side up for five minutes as well. Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

For an added treat, melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips over a double boiler and dip the bottom half of each biscotti in the chocolate and let dry until hard on the parchment paper.

***Note: the flavors in this biscotti are interchangeable. If you choose to you can use a different nut, or none at all. You can use dried fruit, or seasonings and spices. Whatever you want to add is up to you :)

Smoky Beef and Bacon Chili

So for Christmas my dear husband gave me my very first piece of LeCreuset cookware, it was the 7 quart dutch oven in Dune! I love it, I have had that on my Christmas list for what seems like forever! Now I was determined to find a recipe to christen my new cookware with, he suggested Chili! Call me crazy but I have never made a chili!

I searched and searched for what looked like a good chili recipe, I wanted something a little spicy, kind of smoky, some beans (but not a lot.) This version has BACON in it, and I knew that was the one for us. Use a good thick cut smoky bacon for this, not the breakfast type stuff if you can, it will make a difference!

I've always imagined that making chili involved a HUGE pot that made enough chili to feed a small army, but I was kind of surprised that this made a reasonable amount, easily managed by just the two of us.

Smoky Beef and Bacon Chili (from Sunset Recipe Collection)

2 slices thick-cut bacon, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I used a 'meatloaf mix' from the butcher...veal, pork, and beef)
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder (I opted for Penzeys Chili 9000 blend, it was awesome!)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 teaspoon to 1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
About 1 tsp. salt
1 can (14.5 oz.) crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 cup beer-pale ale worked well for me
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 can (14.5 oz.) pinto beans, drained
Sour cream, sliced scallions, and/or grated cheddar for topping

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, cook bacon, stirring until it just begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add onion, lower heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4 to 7 minutes. Uncover pan, stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute.

Increase heat to medium-high and add ground beef; break it up with a wooden spoon and stir gently until it loses its raw color, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in spices and 1 tsp. salt and cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, beer, and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover partially, and cook 30 minutes.

Add beans and cook 10 minutes, uncovered. Season to taste with additional salt. Serve warm, with toppings on the side.

Caramel Apple Caramel Corn

I thought for the holiday season I would shake it up a bit and try my hand at something that wasn't a cookie, but still sweet. I had been eyeing up this post ever since I saw it back in the fall. The other day I actually found the Lyles Golden Syrup in the store. As like most I'm sure, I had never heard of such syrup. It seemed to add a lovely buttery, caramely taste to the recipe. If you cannot find it you can substitute light corn syrup, but look for it if you can. There are other uses for it, like drizzled on pancakes, an English muffin, or even frozen yogurt.

Caramel Apple Caramel Corn (From Culinary Concoctions)

2-3 bags plain, not buttered, microwave popcorn.

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

1/2 cup Lyle's golden syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 oz bag of caramels, unwrapped and each piece quartered

12 oz dried apples, chopped into bite sized pieces

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Divide the popped corn between two large bowls. Divide dried apple pieces between the two bowls, as well as the caramel pieces.

In a large heavy bottomed saucepan bring together the sugars, syrup, salt, and butter to a full boil over high heat, stirring often. Add vanilla extract and baking soda and stir vigorously. The mixture will bubble up a bit with the addition of baking soda, but that's OK.

Divide the caramel mixture between the two bowls of popcorn, apple pieces and caramels. Stir thoroughly. Move the popcorn to the two prepared baking sheets and bake in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes. The caramel pieces will melt a bit, but will firm up when cooled.

"Sandies"

I think the original, or correct name for these cookies are "Russian Tea Cookies." However, growing up my brother and I have known these as sandies. I've altered these a little from growing up, but now my husband Brian loves these! For a final touch, I have a sugar glitter that I sprinkle on afterwards for a pretty little snow ball effect (sugar glitter found at Michaels Craft Store)

"Sandies"

3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup confectioner sugar

2 Tablespoons almond extract

1/4 cup water

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together shortening, butter, and confectioner's sugar. Once complete add extracts, flour, water, and walnuts. Stir to combine.

Roll into 1 inch balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Quickly and carefully move to a cooling rack with parchment or wax paper underneath for easy cleanup. Either gently roll the cookie in a bowl of confectioner's sugar while the cookie is slightly warm. Or using a sifter, dust the tops of the cookie generously with the confectioners sugar.

Cool on the racks. For a nice touch use the sugar glitter for a pretty effect.