Saturday, March 28, 2009

Choc Hazelnut Gelato

Phew, what a week! Here are more doggie pics and nutella-like treat as promised!!

About a week or so before my parents came to visit, my dad casually mentioned that someone he works with had given their son an ice cream maker for christmas. When they went to visit him, he had made two kinds of ice cream for them. I took this as a hint :) I knew I wanted it to be a tad richer than my first ventures, and when I saw Elra's Hazelnut Praline Gelato I knew just what I was going to make for my parents.

Dante

I tried to make my own hazelnut praline, as I already had some hazelnuts in my freezer. If you can find roasted, peeled hazelnuts, buy them. Whatever they cost. I think this is my least favorite thing to do in the kitchen. Seriously, I've done it twice now and find it so frustrating, not even half of them peel nicely.

Sampson

Back to the candy. I think my patience was lacking when I tried this step, but my sugar never really completely melted. I went ahead anyways, and ended up with some nuts that had some hardened sugar around it. When I went to grind this in my food processor, the furthest I could get it was a very fine powder. Hmmm. How to make it a paste?? I thought about adding a bit of oil, but then it hit me--melt some chocolate and mix that with the ground hazelnuts!!! (I'd be lying if I said this came quickly, I think it took a few hours, but I was doing this in steps, ahead of time) I took a small handful of bittersweet chocolate chips, melted them in the microwave, then added it to the hazelnuts to make a lovely chocolate hazelnut spread. And then I almost ate it all before it went into the ice cream. :)


Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato


Luckily I saved most of it from immediate consumption, and weighed it at 6-8oz if i remember correctly. I had 3c of milk, so used that and scaled back the cornstarch a bit. The link above has the method for actually making the ice cream. Oooh yeah, it came out fantastic, tasted just like nutella to me!! Mom thought it almost had the consistency of ice milk, which I've never tried. I thought it was nice and creamy-- awesome since it didn't have the egg yolks and heavy cream that find their way into regular ice cream. And I used fat free Lactaid milk with this, as that's what I always have on hand. (Although that may change, as I recently tried Smart Balance Lactose-free Skim milk and it might win out!)

If I did this again, I'd skip the whole candy-making step, maybe even using almond flour (which I can get pretty cheaply at trader joe's) and melted chocolate instead of the praline paste and jumping right into ice cream making!! Luckily I have one scoopful left! Who's ready for summer? :)

peek-a-boo!

38 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

DANTE!! SAMPSON!! Such cuties :-)

THAT GELATO!! Pure bliss.

The Purple Carrot said...

That gelato looks SO good!!!

Haha, and that last picture is my favorite ; )

Joanne said...

That looks impressively delicius. And I bet that almond flour would infuse it with a great flavor.

Love the doggies :P.

vanillasugarblog said...

I can't believe you did all that work! You have great patience! At least the end result was worth it. Love that last shot of the dogs.

Dewi said...

Oh my, that's why I don't make my own paste, it took forever ... very clever of you adding melted chocolate to it, I didn't even think about that.

Was your ice cream melt pretty quick? because mine always melt rapidly, but that doesn't stop me of making it often. It's the healthiest ice cream, so I don't feel that guilty to give it to my family.

Cheers,
elra

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I thiink Chocolate Hazelnut is my fave combo for gelato. I was lucky enough to get some straight from the source this summer (Italy!!)

Heather said...

AHHHH! that peekaboo picture is the cutest thing ever! and that gelato looks delicious :D

Lauren said...

Shannon, this sounds awesome! Nutella-flavored gelato, heck yesssssss :)

Unknown said...

Elra- It actually didn't! I don't know if it is the temperature of my freezer, but I found it quite hard! Maybe I cooked it too long, or didn't adjust the cornstarch appropriately?

HEAB said...

Ready for summer? Forget that, I'm ready to purchase a ticket to Boston for that last scoop! Sounds delicious. You're amazing!

healthy ashley said...

I love the dog pics!

And I'm drooling. The gelato sounds heavenly.

Anna said...

LOVE hazelnut gelato! i practically ate my weight in gelato when i went to italy in high school, so good!

Esi said...

I have heard about what a pain it is to skin hazelnuts...noted. That said, the gelato sounds awesome!! Like frozen nutella.

Emily said...

That gelato looks AMAZING! Nutella is fantastic, so I can't even imagine how good your gelato tasted!

Reeni said...

That last picture just melted my heart!!! The gelato sounds fabulous!

Astra Libris said...

Ohhhhh, your puppies are sooooo cute!!

OH my goodness, your gelato sounds incredible beyond incredible... Mmmmm...

Elina said...

Haha, that last pic is the best!
On our honeymoon in Italy I ate nutella gelato like it was my job. Some gelato places didn't get nutella, so I'd just get chocolate and hazelnut gelato. Adam thought I was hilarious because no matter where we were, I'd recreate nutella in some form. Yum!

Ricki said...

Those pups are the cutest!! Let's set up a play date w/ Elsie and Chaser. . .!!! ;)

And the gelato looks great, too, of course. Makes me wish for summer!

Anonymous said...

The puppies are adorable! The chocolate hazelnut gelato sounds amazing!

Sagan said...

That's great that it turned out so well! Good job on sticking with it even though it was frustrating :)

Kerstin said...

I love gelato, and a chocolate hazelnut combination - heaven! Great idea with the almond flour!

Annie said...

That gelato looks heavenly...
I know just what you mean about peeling hazelnuts. I made a chocolate hazelnut tart once that was totally amazing, but have never made it again because peeling the hazelnuts is pure torture!

I think the almond meal is a good idea... I almost bought it the other day at Trader Joe's. Just like you were staring at the peanut butter pretzels, I was staring at that but didn't buy it. I think I will next time though, I want to try to make some brownies with it.

Annie said...

P.s the doggies are soooo cute!

Maria said...

Oh yum! Hazelnut is my favorite!!

Anonymous said...

ahhh that gelato looks amaaaaaaaaaaaazing!! i could so use some right now.

(p.s. thanks for the injury advice!)

Anonymous said...

my goodness those puppies are adorable!

Anonymous said...

Um, I am ready for spring and summer!

Love the puppy pics!

Fit Mommy said...

Love gelato. But with you on the actual process of making. Sounds a bit frustrating.

Pam said...

Such a cute pup. The gelato looks and sounds incredible!

MacDuff said...

The doggies are SO CUTE!!!!! And that gelato is making my mouth water hard core...i'm going to have to use your method for making hazelnut spread. I crave nutella regularly.

Mark said...

That looks dangerous! :0

Rosiecat24 said...

What a trooper you are, forging ahead with your ice cream-making! Kudos to you for persistence! You know, I'm wondering if your running might serve two important purposes here: 1) it preps you not to give up when the going (or the hazelnut) gets rough and 2) it lets you melt away all those ice cream calories.

(Ice cream...melts away...har har! Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

Bridget said...

I.Want.Those.Dogs! Little Shi tzuh!!!! Everything about chocolate hazelnut ANYTHING with bananas is amazing...yummmmmmmmmm!

Pumpkin said...

Chocolate and hazelnut nut are such a great combo- I can (and do) eat Nutella straight from the jar.

Anonymous said...

your pups are simply gorgeous!! as is that gelato - all your amazing looking concoctions make me dream of owning an ice cream maker (and a freezer big enough for it, haha)

Jess said...

I had hazelnut gelato for my birthday and it was wonderful, so CHOCOLATE hazelnut gelato must be ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

Making candy is such a crazy skill. I'm not surprised you went there. You're so bold!
Honestly, though. It's so hard!
Did I tell you that in Oregon (hazelnut land) we call them filberts?

Anonymous said...

How cute are the pups?! I'll tell ya, they are SO cute :o)

Papa Tri to Cook (lol) knows what to request, and you know how to deliver! That gelato looks insanely good and I love that you talked us through the process. Yummy!

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