Sunday, June 24, 2007

Weekend Herb Blogging #88

Astrid from Paulchen's Food Blog is our host for this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging and once again I find myself with another in-season ingredient, fresh from the farmers' market - my favourite nut, Hazelnut.

roasted hazelnuts

These are roasted hazelnuts from Erica which is a small town in Gippsland, 165 kilometres (100 miles) east of Melbourne.

Nutritionally, Hazelnuts contain Vitamins A, B6, C, E and K - Vitamin E helps stop oxidation of polyunsaturated fats. You'll also find Betaine, Choline, Folate, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavin and Thiamine along with Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium and Zinc.

One interesting thing I read was that Australia imports more than 2000 tonnes of hazelnuts a year to meet the demand by Cadbury for their hazelnut chocolate blocks. I should consider myself lucky to have garnered these local ones!

The recipe I'm making today comes from a magazine I was reading while at the hairdresser - I managed to hurriedly scribble down the recipe but I'm not sure which magazine it came from. The original recipe is for walnuts so I have made a couple of minor changes since I'm using hazelnuts. Now, if you are on a diet, you may want to look away - I can't be held responsible ;)

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Hazelnut Doughnuts with Chocolate Sauce

250 grams self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons caster sugar
50 grams roasted hazelnuts, crushed
50 grams melted butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons milk, approximate
extra caster sugar, for rolling

Chocolate Sauce
200mls cream
50mls milk
200 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
50 grams cocoa

Make Chocolate Sauce:
Place the cream and milk in a small saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate and cocoa and whisk until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has combined. Pour into a bowl and serve with hot doughnuts.

Make the doughnuts:
Sift the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. Add the crushed hazelnuts and stir to ensure it's well mixed and the nuts are evenly distributed.

Stir the vanilla extract through the melted butter and add to the dry ingredients. Keep stirring and adding the milk, a tablespoon at a time until the mixture starts to come together. As all flours are different you may find you'll need to use more or less milk then listed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until it's glossy but no longer sticky. Roll out to about ½cm/0.2 inch thickness.

cutting

Use a cutter to stamp out into your desired shape. The photo above only shows about a third of the dough rolled out.

You can cook this in batches - store, covered in the fridge and make sure the dough comes back to room temperature before using it.

Cook the doughnuts:

Use a neutral oil to deep fry the doughnuts - I used canola. It's really important to make sure you fry at the correct temperature - too high and they will burn and not cook all the way through, too low and they will soak up the oil. I found that at around 150°C/300°F you'll get a good result. They will puff up as they cook, make sure you turn them in the oil so they are evenly browned and then drain them well on baking paper before tossing them through the caster sugar.

doughnuts

Serve them straight away with the warm chocolate sauce - just dunk and enjoy!

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30 comments

  1. Oh you are cruel! I must have gained 2kg just reading that! What a wonderful temptation :)

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  2. Truffle is right - I will feast only using my eyes. :-)

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  3. AnonymousJune 24, 2007

    OMG! Those look and sound amazing :O

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  4. Haalo, I am not on a diet so I wish I could just come over and have some. And I don't normally eat donuts - these sound and look reaaally tempting!

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  5. AnonymousJune 24, 2007

    wow...great recipe...great pics...thanks for sharing

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  6. I'm just now realizing that I didn't know that type of nuts were called hazelnuts. I do love them too, and always pick them out of the mixed nuts, along with the pecans. The doughnuts sound great, and I'm in San Francisco right now, so I'm (temporarily) abandoning my diet.

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  7. yum yum yum
    I like those very much.
    thanks for joining in!

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  8. AnonymousJune 24, 2007

    I join the rest in also say, "Yum, yum, yum!"

    Paz

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  9. AnonymousJune 24, 2007

    Mmmmm...I think I gained 5 pounds just reading this! Love your photos!

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  10. Haalo! This is wonderful!

    I will be on a diet for 2 weeks just to make these! ;)

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  11. Thanks Truffle - it would make a nice treat on a cold winters day

    You have great self-control Cindy!

    Thanks Sarina!

    Hi Nora - I have some with your name of it, it's the chocolate sauce that makes them truly decadent.

    Thanks Dilip!

    Hope you're enjoying your time in San Francisco Kalyn and sampling it's many delights - I've always known these as hazelnuts but have read they are also called filberts.

    Thanks Astrid for hosting!

    Thanks Paz!

    Thanks Nicole - they do need a warning sign ;)

    Thanks Anh - 2 weeks is such a small sacrifice to make

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  12. I don't have a sweet tooth, but even I am drooling at these.

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  13. Those heart-shaped doughnuts are way too adorable!!

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  14. Hazelnut and chocolate has got to be one of my all-time favorite combinations! They use hazelnuts so much more in Europe than here in the states, and I wish it wasn't so. I shall have to try these decadent donuts asap!

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  15. I need to ditch my diet just by looking at these!

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  16. Haalo, I am on a diet, sweetie - and right now you are the meanest person alive (in my opinion). ;-)

    The doughnuts look so beautiful and the chocolate sauce is just decadent. :)

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  17. AnonymousJune 25, 2007

    OMG! One of these and I have to do a diet the next two years, but they look sooo good!

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  18. They look so deliciously adorable Haalo! I think you've just made me crave donuts.

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  19. Oh my lord! i utterly concur with all the comments, how evilly & adorably delicious do these donuts look!

    oh and how good are locally grown hazelnuts? i never previously liked hazelnuts (i know sacrilege, given how versatile they are for desserts) until i bought a bag of locally harvested one that were the most sweetest and juiciest i ever tasted!

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  20. I love this!! It looks easy enough to try this weekend.

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  21. Thanks Trig!

    Thanks Pille - I think the shape makes them a bit special

    Thanks Amanda - they are such a great partnership and if I need a quick fix, it's hard to go past Ferrero Rocher or Baci.

    Angie - I'll keep some warm just for you ;)

    Thanks Patricia - I'll try to make something less evil next time ;)

    Thanks Ulrike - I think the trouble is stopping at just one ;)

    Thanks Ilingc!

    Thanks SL - they are so good that it's perfectly satisfying just to eat them in their natural state.

    Thanks Jaden - I hope you enjoy them!

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  22. AnonymousJune 26, 2007

    Absolutely gorgeous little doughnuts! I've never even considered adding a flavouring to my doughnut dough, I must bear it in mind next time!

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  23. Thanks Ellie - a plain doughnut with the chocolate sauce would be just as good.

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  24. Hi Haalo,

    Just to let you know that I tried it out this morning and it was simply wonderful. Thanks for sharing this.

    Edith

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  25. Thanks Edith - so glad you enjoyed them!

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  26. just one question. Why eggs aren't required in this recipe? =)

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  27. Hi Piglet - I can only assume that eggs are not used to keep the dough as light as possible. I'm not sure why you'd want to add eggs to this dough.

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  28. I can just imagine myself on the couch in front of the TV with these and double espresso. I'm squeezing my thighs with joy!

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  29. That sounds perfect to me Mari !

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  30. Those look gorgeous (found you via DMBLGiT!) I love the use of the heart cutout.

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