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Showing posts with the label Almonds

Gluten free almond shortbread biscuits - Biscottini al burro e mandorla senza glutine

Ingredients: 100 g ground almonds 100 g sugar 100 g butter (at room temperature) 50 g rice flour plus some for dusting candied cherries (optional) Mix all the ingredients and make into a dough, then make some small balls, walnut size, roll them in rice flour (otherwise you will get some flat biscuits when they bake in the oven) and place them on a oven tray lined with baking paper. If you like add a piece of candied cherry on top. Bake at 160 ° for about 20 minutes, but check the oven often as they can bake quickly (depending on size). Let them cool down completely and then enjoy. They keep well in a container, but if you want to store them for longer bake them a few minutes more. And now the flowers from my garden (old photos, most of these flowers have gone now...) Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Cioccolatini ripeni alla crema di pistacchio e mandorla- Chocolates filled with pistachio and almond cream

I have already made these using hazelnut ( see recipe here ), once again you just need two ingredients: dark chocolate and pistachio or almond cream from   Italian Foodies . Step 1 Melt the chocolate at  bain Marie  and line the chocolate moulds (I used silicone moulds). For each mould you will probably need about 1 or 2 tsp of chocolate, let it run to cover the bottom and sides of the moulds and then place the mould in the fridge IMMEDIATELY so that the chocolate sets quickly (you don't want it to roll down the sides and just fill the bottom of the moulds). Use only half of the chocolate, leave the rest in the bowl and keep warm (so it won't solidify).  Step 2 After 15 or 20 remove the moulds from the fridge and fill with the nut paste, then cover with the remaining melted chocolate. Refrigerate. Step 3 Before serving remove from ridge, tip the chocolates out of the moulds and serve. Better to store in the fridge if it is a hot day...

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Baked zucchini, Lemon basmati and lentils, Instant hummus and Almond dukka

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds Slice, peel and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika, garlic and crushed cumin seeds. Roast until tender. Toast a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds the oven and sprinkle on the pumpkin medallions before serving. In addition I had the last zucchini in the garden, not quite a marrow but quite big, so I sliced it and baked it too: Baked zucchini Wash and slice lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake. That all! To serve I added some basmati and lentils Lemon basmati and lentils Wash and cook the basmati with a small pinch of salt, open a can of lentils, drain from the water and pour the lentils on top of the rice during the last five minutes of cooking. Turn off the heat, add two tbsp of lemon juice and stir. And to top some instant hummus with almond dukka: Instant hummus Open a can of chickpeas, drain and keep half of its water. Blend the ch...

Raw, vegan, sugar free and gluten free chocolate truffles

Yes these are raw, vegan, sugar free and gluten free chocolate truffles, but what's more they are made using only 4 Fair Trade ingredients: Trade Aid Palestinian almonds, Trade Aid cinnamon, Trade Aid Madjoul dates, and Trade Aid baking cocoa,  plus one local ingredient, Hazelz hazelnut flour from Canterbury. There is no sugar, no dairy product, and no need for cooking.  I like using Fair Trade products because they are in line with the  Slow Food  principles of Good, Clean and Fair food. And with my philosophy. Furthermore the quality is really good! Take the Medjoul dates for example, they are so sweet and delicious, they can substitute sugar in many preparations. The baking cocoa is so good that you don't need to use it just for baking, it is perfect for puddings and hot chocolate too. The Palestinian almonds are different from my favourite Italian almonds, but they are quite unique, a bit spicy in fact. The cinnamon really aromatic, you need just a...

Raw, vegan and gluten free sweet for Christmas? Homemade marzipan!!

Marzipan is the perfect sweet for the Holiday Season, and this is RAW, VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE, so it seems to cover most of the current food trends :-). Click  here  to see the recipe and step by step images (including how to use apricot kernels). Note that for colouring this time I didn't use berry juice but  Fresh As  raspberry powder, and also quite a bit of spiraling powder for a darker green hue. The nuts on top are optional, of course. I am entering this recipe for Sweet NZ #40, to enter your November Recipe  click here . Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Vegan chocolate-hazelnut spread and Vegan chocolate brownie

This didn't start as a brownie, it started as a vegan chocolate-hazelnut spread. I had some hazelnuts to roast, and after doing that I decided to use a few for a nutella like spread, but vegan... and more chocolaty :-).  Vegan chocolate-hazelnut spread 5 tbps roasted hazelnuts (remove all skin too!) 3 tbps rice bran oil 100 gr dark chocolate (72% and dairy free) 50 ml hot water Blend the hazelnuts and oil with an immersion blender until you get a cream. In the meantime melt the chocolate with hot water at bain-marie (nothing bad will happen, just keep stirring!). Mix everything together. If the hazelnuts are not fresh or oily enough you may need a bit more oil. But my problem is that when I have a chocolate spread I don't spread it, I eat it all with a spoon! Too dangerous, I had to make something with it. What about a Vegan chocolate slice, a bit like a Vegan chocolate brownie... Vegan chocolate brownie 6 tbsp of ...

Spinach and Sambuca Sweet Frangipane Tart

Yes this is different! Just try it! But don't think that is something completely new! Where I come from in Italy they make a tart called Erbazzone Dolce, filled with spinach, ricotta, almond and flavored with an aniseed liqueur called Sassolino. Here in NZ it is difficult to find Sassolino so I use Sambuca. If you like the recipe for Erbazzone Dolce you can find it in  Sweet As , or it was recorded on Radio New Zealand (ages ago, when I was interviewed by Kim Hill on  Saturday Morning),  and the recipe is also on the Radio NZ website  here .  But the time instead of making Erbazzone Dolce I made a Spinach Frangipane: For the base: - 200g plain flour - 100g  butter, soft - 100g sugar - 1 egg  - tbsp sambuca Mix together and then spread (I couldn't be bothered rolling it, I spread it with fingers) into a 23 cm round baking tin  lined with baking paper.  The MT Challenge said that for the frangipane fi...

How to make gluten free almond and chocolate fingers

For these I used 200 g of almonds and 5 apricot kernels (enough to give the almonds a more distinctive flavour). If you like to know more about apricot kernels click  here . I blanched everything in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then I removed the skins. I placed the blanched almonds (and the blanched apricot kernels) in the food processor with 100 g of icing sugar. I processed the nuts but not into a 'flour', more like into a coarse mixture, like a crumble mixture. I stirred in one egg white (not need to beat it first, these are not amaretti biscuits), and then I shaped the 'fingers' with wet hands. More than baking, these biscuits need to 'dry', so I placed them in the fan oven at 180°C for 5 minutes, then I turned the oven off and let them dry until they were cold. To finished I melted some dark chocolate (72%) and dipped one side of the biscuits into it. Once the chocolate had set the 'fingers' were ready. P...

almond, sesame, cumin, smoked paprika, and fennel dukka

Yep more almonds, but for something savoury today. I love dukka, and I wander why I don't make it more often, but as I still have lots of almonds no excuse! My base recipe is in my book Savour , yet the beauty with dukka is that it can be personalized each time, and it is always good. For this one I toasted 100 g of almonds (not blanched) in the oven for 10 minutes, then I added one tbsp of sesame seed, one tsp of cumin seeds and half tsp of fennel seeds and put everything back into the oven for 4-5 more minutes. All in the food processor, and then grind until fine but still a little chunky. At the end I added some smoked paprika and some salt. Dukka can be used as a rub, a topping (great on hummus) and as a dip. And it can be made with a variety of nuts, seeds and spices. The best way to eat it, for me, is to use it with bread: dip some bread in extra virgin olive oil first... And then in the dukka!. Quite addictive, and the perfect party food. It lasts a few days in a sealed tin ...

How to make Calissons

A few years ago a French girlfriend gave me some Calissons for Xmas. It was love at first bite, and I always wanted to make them myself. I looked around on the net, as you do, but I didn’t find a recipe I liked, or a recipe that made me think of that taste… one blog had a recipe with apricot jam among the ingredients, but I was sure I didn’t taste apricot jam in those Calissons from Aix en Provence! So I got out my copy of the Laorusse Gastronomique, a good French tome, not very precise when it comes to describe Italian food, but for French food… well, it is my best reference. There was not a recipe, only indications that they are made with 40% blanched almonds, and 60% crystallized fruit (melon with a little orange), mixed with sugar syrup and a little orange flower water. I blanched some almonds, like for the marzipan , and used my usual mixture of candied melon/papaya. I had some orange blossom water, very strong, so I decided not to add candied citrus peel. I used 80 g of almonds ...

Home Made Marzipan Fruit

It is raining in Auckland today, but the bush looks happy and green, and the water tank is filling nicely (yes, we drink rain water!). It is also the last day of school for my daughter, holiday mood in the air, Xmas trees alight. The boy is already home, with a friend who is staying for a sleep over. They are playing with lego: domestic bliss for me! Yesterday I posted about making your own marzipan, and today I'll show you my little fruit. For the marzipan recipe click here , and for the colours I used some spirulina powder dissolved in hot water, and some juice from berries. Shape the fruit with your fingers, you can either colour the marzipan before, or you can paint it later using a small brush, or opt for a combination of the two for a stronger colour. For the stalks I used the smallest cloves that I could find, but this is because I made some miniature fruit! I like miniatures, in a past life I am sure that I belonged to a Jane Austen world where ladies painted miniatures a...