Dark Chocolate Nutella

• 7 oz. (1 2/3 c.) hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
• 9 oz. dark chocolate
• 1, 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• A pinch of sea salt (Not necessary)
• Evaporated milk - Room temperature

1. Once your hazelnuts have been toasted, skinned, and cooled, toss them in your food processor and process them until they turn into a paste that resembles peanut butter. This will take a while, and may require you to stop and scrape the sides of your bowl a time or two.

2. While that’s all being taken care of, melt your chocolate in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth and shiny. Add to that your sweetened condensed milk and sea salt, if desired, and mix thoroughly. Then mix in your hazelnut butter.

3. At this point, the mixture will be quite thick. That’s where the evaporated milk comes in. Stir in milk, a little at a time until you get the consistency you like, then add a bit more, because it will thicken more as it cools. Use about 12 oz. can of evaporated milk.

4. While it’s still warm, pour into airtight containers. Once cool, you should store it in the fridge and remove it a couple of minutes before you want to spread it so it has a chance to soften up.

Found the recipe here

Enjoy guys!

Mint Strawberry Iced Tea

Just something really simple to make for a nice refreshing drink at home. I usually stick to water at home but on days when I don’t feel like water I tend to drink tea or juice. Something I really love is strawberry tea and I love fresh strawberry tea. So this recipe will take no time at all and all you need is:

• Mint leaves
• 1/3 Cup of Sugar
• Fresh punnet of Strawberries
• Ice
• Water

It’s so simple I’m not even going to bother writing steps. All you need to do is fill a pot up with water and pour your sugar into it. Place on the stove at medium heat.

While that’s heating up, slice up your strawberries. Don’t slice them too thick or too thin. After 5 minutes of heating up the water and sugar, place your strawberries into the pot and let it heat up in the water. By now the sugar should have dissolved into the water, yum  yum! Rip up some mint leaves and throw them in as well.

Let the yummy mix come to a boil and quickly remove the pot from the stove. Pour into a jug or whatever container you want to keep the tea in and let it cool before placing in the refrigerator to chill. Keep in mind that if you’re using a plastic container, don’t pour the tea in until it’s cooled or you risk your container melting.

Serve with ice when the tea’s chilled and ready to drink!

Enjoy!

Mango and Watermelon Cocktail

I’m a huge fan of fruity cocktails and I don’t know about most people but I prefer it when I can’t taste the alcohol. I have nothing against alcohol but I just don’t fancy the taste of it very much. Back a few years my mother took a course in cocktail making though I was always more of a bucket cocktail maker, I just used whatever I thought would taste nice together instead of making traditional cocktails.

So this cocktail is my own creation (It probably won’t turn out looking like the picture but it’s the closest I could find). The recipe makes plenty for a big jug.
 

• 1 Carton of Mango juice or cordial - I prefer a strong and nice tasting mango juice
• 1 Mango
• 1/4 of a Watermelon - Or a half if you’re feeling greedy
• 1/4 cup of Sugar
• 1 lime
• 1/4 cup of Water
• 1/4 cup of Vodka

1. Start off by dicing the mango and watermelon into small pieces and either juice it up in a blender or if you’re feeling like more of a chunky thick cocktail you can mash it all up with a fork.

2. Mix together the mango and watermelon juice along with the whole carton of mango juice, water and add in 2 tablespoons of sugar. Pour the mix into a pot and add in plenty of lime slices. Bring to a boil and let it simmer on medium heat for around 10 minutes. This will help the lime flavor really set into the drink.

3. Now remove the mix from the stove and pour into a big glass jug. Remember to remove the lime slices. If you want a smooth drink, sift it through a sieve while pouring into the jug. Leave it to cool before placing it into the refrigerator to chill. Before placing it into the fridge however, add in some fresh lime slices.

4. Once the concoction is chilled, pour the amount you want into a cocktail shaker along with the vodka and shake until well mixed.

5. Crush some ice up (make sure it’s crushed very well) and scoop a generous amount into a glass. Finally, pour the shaken cocktail into the glass, over the ice and serve.

You can also rim the glass with sugar if desired. Or if you’re feeling fancy, cut some watermelon slices and place them on the rim of the glasses.

Enjoy!!

Strawberry Macarons

I did some digging and found a recipe for some delicious Strawberry Macarons. I’m actually not a huge fan of Macarons, I more like looking at them… but I am a huge fan of strawberry.

Anyhow you’ll want:

• 1 Cup Almond Flour
• 1 Cup confectioner’s sugar - Normal sugar is fine in my opinion
• 2 egg whites - leave them in an open container overnight in the fridge or 2-3 hours at room temperature before using
• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp of strawberry essence
• 1-2 drops pink food coloring - Natural would be best

1. So you can use a food processor, blender or just your mighty strong arms to mix together the almond flour, confectioner’s sugar. Do note that if you’re using a food processor or blender it will come out finely ground and much smoother than if you’re using your strength. A way you could make it more finely ground if not using any electronic equipment is to crush the ingredients up very well first before mixing.
Now sift the mixture around 4 times.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they foam. Again something electronic would make it considerably easier.

Gradually add the granulated sugar little by little until all the sugar is dissolved. Keep beating the egg whites until it’s thick and glossy. Then stir in the strawberry essence and food coloring. 

3. Add in about half of the almond mixture to the egg white mixture. Start stirring as you add in more of the almond mixture until you get a thick, glossy, grainy mixture.

When you tilt the bowl, the mixture should slowly slide down the sides or when scooped up, the mixture It should fall in a thick ribbon that holds its shape on the surface of the mixture for a second or two, and then slowly “melts” back into the bowl.

4. Grab a pasty bag fitted with a round tip and fill with the mixture, and pipe 1 inch circles, 2 centimeters apart on lined baking trays.

Allow the macarons to set a bit at room temperature for 2-3 hours. This is the most important part in order to achieve a smooth top and ruffled bottom.

5. Set your oven to 250°C and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Keep checking because you don’t want them to turn brown.

6. When they’re done, let them cool completely on the baking sheets. Gently twist each cookie half to release it from the baking sheet. Fill cookies with strawberry cream or anything else to your preference.

Strawberry Margaritas

Found an awesome recipe for Strawberry Margaritas. Simple and it looks amazing. I decided to change it up a bit for how I would make it because I’m not a huge fan of tequila because of the strong taste. You can find the original recipe here: Strawberry Margaritas 

You’ll need:

• 2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 Cup of Water
• 2 Tbsp Vodka
• 2 juiced limes
• Ice
• Fresh punnet of Strawberries

1. Combine the frozen strawberries, sugar and water in a small pot and place it on medium heat. Bring the concoction to a simmer and continue cooking on low heat for approx. 30 minutes until the strawberries break down and the mixture is left thick. Remove the mixture from the stove and pour it into a container to refrigerate until nicely chilled.

2. Once the mix is chilled, add about 1/3 cup of the strawberry syrup into a cocktail shaker (however much you want according to your own tastes). Chuck in the vodka now too along with the lime juice and ice.

3. Shake the mix well and pour into glasses and rim them with sugar and serve with fresh strawberries.

Enjoy guys!

Watermelon and Kiwi Sparkling Wine Sorbet

Here are two different types of sorbet I found. My Mum’s visiting Auckland soon so I thought I’d gather a few sorbet recipes/dessert recipes seeing as she loves that kind of stuff. No doubt you guys will too!

For the Watermelon Sorbet, you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 cups Sparkling Wine (also known as Proseco)
• A tiny bit more than 1/4 cup of Agave Nectar
• 2 cups of fresh Watermelon juice - you can drain it through a sieve if wanted
• 3 Basil leaves - cut or whole

1. Mix the sparkling wine and agave nectar in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until it comes to a boil and stir for 2-3 minutes. Leave it to cool for a few minutes.

2. Once the mix is cooled, add the watermelon juice and basil leaves and give it a good stir. Now either place it in the freezer for a few hours (2-3) and pour the mix into an ice cream maker or place it in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes. Similar to my Vanilla Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

For the Kiwifruit Sorbet you’ll need:

• 2 cups sparkling wine
• A bit more than a 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 cups of fresh Kiwifruit juice - again it’s optional to run it through a sieve

Combine the sparkling wine and agave nectar in a saucepan once again and heat it over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Again stir for 2-3 minutes and then let cool.

Now add the kiwifruit juice and the remaining steps are the same as the watermelon sorbet instructions.

(via gastrogirl)

Snow White dessert at Sushi Room

- Small vanilla ice cream scoops wrapped in Mochi, served covered in Strawberry and Chocolate Coffee Sauce and Macha powder

Grape and Champagne Sorbet

This is a must make!

You’ll need:

• 550g black seedless grapes (Well I guess you can do with seeds but the seeds do taste pretty bad)
•  1 glass of champagne 
• 1/2 Cup Sugar

1. Place the grapes, champagne and sugar in a saucepan and place it on medium heat. Wait for it to boil then let the mix simmer on low heat for around 10 minutes. During this time the skins of the grapes should be floating off.

2. Now drain the mix with a sieve and then press all the grapes with a spoon or fork to so all the juice inside is squeezed out.

3. At this point, you can either leave the mixture to cool in the fridge and then pour into an ice cream maker if you have one

or

You can place the mix directly into the freezer and take it out for a stir every 30 minutes. Similar to my recipe of making Vanilla Strawberry Ice Cream

Now you can serve! 

Pancakes Served with Strawberries

I made this a while back, aha the shape of some of them are terrible! But fresh strawberries are a lovely to eat pancakes with. These are just normal pancakes, nothing unusual about them.

If you don’t know how to make them then refer to my blueberry pancake post I made a few posts back. Link is here: Blueberry Pancakes

Try it out and enjoy!

I think everyone knows how we begin making our pancake mix and if you really don’t well it’s simple and easy. Basically nearly everything goes into one mixing bowl.

1. So go ahead now and add your flour, eggs, sugar, and strawberry essence all into one mixing bowl and start mixing away until the mix is smooth.

2. Now put half of your blueberries into a bowl and save the other half for serving. You’ll want to either cut up the blueberries in the bowl into even smaller pieces or smoosh them up with something like a fork or be manly and crush them with the might of your hands (beware of mess). Once your done, add all the blueberries and what blueberry juice you might have extracted into your pancake mix and just give the whole thing a good stir so the blueberries are all mixed in.

3. Turn your stove onto a medium heat and wait for about a minute for your pan to heat up then get a butter knife and scrap some butter onto it and drop the butter smack bang in the middle of the pan. Don’t spread the butter around and with a large soup or serving spoon, pour a generous scoop into the middle of the pan, on top of the butter.

4. You’ll notice how the mix will automatically spread nicely with the butter into a relatively good shape.

With a turner, nudge at the sides of the pancake to test how much the underside as cooked and if it’s ready to flip. Flip it when it’s possible and when no mix comes out of the centre of the pancake after you jab it with a fork, then it’s done.

Repeat until you’re done with all your mix and now you’re ready to serve your pancakes.

Serve with fresh blueberries on the side and enjoy! 

Parents sent me a photo at a restaurant called Sweethearts. I’m extremely jealous.

Crème Brûlée French Toasts

So this is what you’re going to need to make around 6-8 pieces

• Bread loaf - preferably reasonably thickly sliced
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup of heavy cream
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of Strawberry Essence
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence

1. Start off by whisking the milk, cream, eggs, sugar, salt and essences together until smooth.

2. Now preheat the oven to around 300°C and while you’re waiting for the oven to warm up, get your bread and start soaking it in your custard mix. I usually take a large shallow bowl or even a plate that sinks down in the middle and pour some of the mix into that bowl/plate and place one slice of bread in it at a time. Let it soak for a few seconds then turn the slice of bread over and let the other side soak.

3. Once you’re done with one slice, place it on a lined oven tray. You might want to get a turner or something that you can use to easily transfer the dipped slices to the oven tray with, without breaking the bread.

Repeat this for as many slices as you are planning to make and when you’re done with the bread slices, pour the remaining custard mix over the top of the slices now on the oven tray evenly. 

4. Place the tray back into the oven and let the bread bake for around 30-35 minutes. You’ll know when the breads ready by grabbing a fork and poking it into the centre of a piece of bread and twisting slightly. If no liquid custard rises from the toast then it’s done but 35-40 max should definitely cook the toast, care not to burn it!

Keep the toast in the oven for now to retain the warmth.

5. Now for the caramelized topping.

Pour about 1 1/2 cups of sugar into a saucepan and stir consistently at moderate heat. Don’t pour in any liquids. You’ll start to notice the sugar melting and soon start to turn a light honey colour and this is when you should turn the heat down considerably so you don’t burn it because the stuff is a pain to clean up if that happens.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and grab a big spoon, the biggest you can find in the house and take a spoonful and pour it evenly over one slice of toast, covering the top completely. Continue until all the slices are covered with the sugar.

The caramelized sugar will harden very fast so as soon as you’re done with the last piece you should be able to serve your toast already!

I didn’t use a lot of caramelized sugar in mine but that’s cause I didn’t want to break my boyfriends teeth, though I’m sure it would look much nicer with the whole tops covered.

Serve your toast with some berries and enjoy! 

I miss this type of Japanese candy so much!! They’re were soooooo yum!!!

(via ffoodd-deactivated20120802)