In case of emergency open the glass: our home-made hazelnut spread and how to eat it

You might think that in these days of lock down, with long hours to fill, Matthias and I are spending our time preparing elaborated recipes from the glorious Tuscan culinary tradition: not at all!
Just like you, we are overwhelmed by a load of thoughts, ideas and worries for the future, and at the end of our brainstorming it’s lunch time, and the fridge is empty!

Thanks god, our 20 chickens take care of our well being, as we do with theirs, and the main ingredient of our meals for the last 2O days has been eggs!
Eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner, after a while we’re just looking for new and more interesting ways to dress them!

So, to find an immediate solution to a real problem (we ran out of our favourite hazelnut spread and didn’t know how to dress our crêpes), I invented this easy and super fast recipe to make the best, yummiest and healthiest hazelnut spread of the world!

You also find a quick recipe for pancakes and crêpes, that I prepare of course with our organic spelt flour!

Home made hazelnut spread

Hazelnuts are the main ingredient of a hazelnut spread it goes without saying (but it’s not that obvious if you read the list of ingredients of some of the most famous industrial ones).
I bought mine in a organic farm in Piedmont, where I was for a romantic week-end with Matthias, last November. If you can it’s definitely better to buy a bigger butch from a producer, but the most important thing is that they are well packed (they oxide quickly and loose their fragrance).

Ingredients:

Organic peeled hazelnuts 150gr
Bitter cocoa powder 2 spoons
Powder sugar 1 spoon
Coconut oil 2 spoons

you’re also going to need:
a powerful blender
… a fair amount of self control!

Preheat the oven and toast the hazelnuts for 5 minutes at 180°C.
Then let them cool down.

Put in the blender the hazelnuts and start it full speed. Add sugar, cocoa and coconut oil as well. Mix for few minutes until the consistence goes from sandy and dry, to smooth and dense.
You can move the mixture in a measuring cup and make it even finer with an immersion blender.
The consistence is more liquid than an industrial spread from the supermarket, because a thickener is often added. However you can leave the spread in the fridge and the coconut oil will harden and the spread as well!

You can store if for two weeks, but in case you think not to eat it by then (and you must tell me how you did), make less!

Breakfast with pancakes

This rich spread is perfect for breakfast!
We eat it with spelt pancakes, very easy to make and great with jam, yoghurt and fresh fruits as well!

Ingredients (serves 2):
free range eggs 2
spelt flour 60 gr circa
baking powder 8 gr
fresh milk 80 gr circa
butter, just enough

This preparation is really simple, however it’s good to take note of a couple of tips if it’s your first time!
In a bowl, or even better in a measuring cup with a spout, break the eggs. Add the flour first, as if you add the milk before, you’ll end up with lumps of flour impossible to incorporate!
Once eggs and flour are perfectly combined, add baking powder and milk little by little, until the mixture has the consistence of yoghurt.
If you use whole grain flour like me, you might need to add a splash of milk while you cook the pancakes, as this flour absorbs slower the moisture.

Heat a flat and non-stick pan. Melt in it a knob of butter, distribute it on the bottom of the pan and drain it then in the cup with the batter.

Pour the mixture in 3 different points of the pan, so that they don’t stick together. Lower the flame and wait until the bubbles created by the baking powder leave tiny holes on the surface of the cakes.

Turn them with a silicon spatula and repeat until you finish the batter.
With this recipe I make 6 pancakes, but it depends on the size you choose!

Eat them immediately, steamy and tempting! After a while they become a bit chewy!

The perfect dessert: crêpes&spread

A classic after lunch treat, or after dinner… or midnight snack… Crêpes, super easy to make, great if you can prepare them in advance (on the contrary to pancakes). I usually prepare a generous batch and store them for some days in the fridge, wrapped in film. They are a great savoury meal, with pecorino cheese and fresh chives, or sweet, with jam, sugar and a drizzle of Cointreau… of course they’re the end of the world with hazelnut spread!

Ingredients (makes circa 20 crêpes):
free range eggs 4
spelt flour 150 gr
fresh milk 200ml
seeds oil, just enough

The preparation is similar to the one of pancakes: in a measuring cup add eggs, flour and once well incorporated, milk. This time the batter should be much more liquid. Keep the milk close, you might need to add some more while you make the crepes.

Heat a flat non-stick pan, add some oil, distribute it evenly on the bottom and drain it in the cup with the batter. With a piece of paper towel, wipe the pan. Keep that piece of paper and wipe the pan every time, between one crepe and the next (trick of the trade).

Pour a little bit of batter on the pan and spread it evenly. After a few seconds the border start to shrivel up. Pick the border with your fingers and turn the crepe: be carful, it burns!

Wait a few seconds more. It’s ready to be transferred on a plate. Layer the crepes one over the other as they are cooked: don’t worry they don’t stick to each other.
They’re very good served cold as well, but you can warm them up, placing them on the same pan you cook them in, one by one, before filling them.

We hope this little ideas will bright your days of isolation from the world!
With love from the hills
BUON APPETITO!