…Posts Tagged ‘Giada’…

Best Cookies Ever

So my new favorite Giada cookie is her hazelnut chocolate chip cookie…

…because it’s got HEATH BARS in it!! (my favorite!) Oh, so good. I followed her recipe but only added 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup. Heath bar chips are hard to find around these parts so I’ve resorted to buying a bag of individually wrapped Heath bars and chopping those up. Yes, it kills me every time I make it because of all the waste I’m generating.

I made this recipe since I had some hazelnuts leftover from my Lemon Hazelnut Tiramisu recipe. Boy, does that Giada lady LOVE hazelnuts…

I also love this recipe because it makes at least 70 cookies so there’s lots to share! It’s always a crowd pleaser so I highly recommend making these for a party. They are relatively easy, too, as long as you buy the hazelnuts without the skin on it. Just toast them in a dry skillet and then chop.

Sweet Pea Hummus

This is a super quick, easy, and healthy recipe that is inspired by Giada’s Pea Pesto Crostini. It’s great for entertaining on the fly because you can always just keep a bag of frozen peas in your freezer and the rest of the ingredients are all from your spice cabinet. Score!

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked peas (read instructions on bag)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (maybe more if you want a looser hummus)
1 teaspoon salt
a sprinkle of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (feel free to omit if you don’t like heat)

Directions:

Put in blender or food processor and process until you get a spread-able consistency (about a minute and a half).

I think I ended up adding a touch more salt after it was done, so feel free to add and subtract spices. The peas are the main event, here, so you really can’t go wrong. I would also suggest adding some cumin for some smokiness

You can put it on crostini OR you can spread some on a slice of bread and add thinly sliced parmesan cheese and toast it until the cheese melts. Yum…

It’s healthy, so don’t feel bad about the cheese.

Lemon Hazelnut Tiramisu

I hope to never see another hazelnut in my life. Just kidding. I love you, hazelnut. You are just so high-maintenance. Even more than me. Which is almost impossible.

For New Years, I went to Kim’s apartment to celebrate and gorge myself on surf and turf. Yum. I like going to Kim’s place on Saturday nights and eating gourmet meals. I even keep a pair of stretchy pants there in emergency situations (ie: eating too much – which happens more often than it should…). You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.

Anyway, I wanted to make some special to ring in the new year so I went straight for a Giada recipe. I’ve been wanting to make her Lemon Hazelnut Tiramisu for a while now and figured this was the perfect occasion. I also had a lot of ladyfingers in my pantry so this went right along with my cleaning out the pantry project. It also called for a healthy amount of Frangelico, which made it even better Who doesn’t love a boozy dessert??

I went to Fairway and pondered for a while over whether I should get the blanched hazelnuts or the hazelnuts with skins on it. I went with the latter, because it was $2 a pound cheaper and BOY DID I REGRET IT. Definitely one of my biggest regrets of 2011. I spent almost an hour peeling the skins off. According to Giada, you can toast them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes and when they’ve cooled slighty, you can roll them between your hands and they will theoretically skin themselves.

Not…really. However, I made another Giada dessert that required hazelnuts (recipe coming eventually) and this time, I toasted them for 12 minutes and then wrapped them immediately in a dish towel and rubbed them. I would say, I got 80% of them skinned, as opposed to 65% percent using the original method. All of this to say, if you have the option of getting already skinned hazelnuts, GET THEM. The $2 extra is worth the hassle and 30 minutes, trying to toast and skin them.

Here’s the Frangelico. If I didn’t cut off the picture, you would see that the bottle is in the shape of a monk. Awesome.

He and Mrs. Butterworth should become friends. Yum.

I obviously have a lot left over, so I plan on putting it in my hot chocolates. I will let you know how that goes

And here are the hazelnuts that took me forever to deal with.

Oh, I guess I should post the recipe…

Ingredients:

Lemon Syrup:

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar

Tiramisu:

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 (15-ounce) container mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup hazelnut liqueur (recommended: Frangelico)
• 48 soft or hard ladyfinger cookies
• 1 cup lightly chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts
• 1 lemon, zested

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine lemon juice, water, and sugar over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Take the pan off heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, cream together remaining sugar and mascarpone cheese for 30 seconds, using an electric mixer.

Whip your heavy cream is another large bowl until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Continue to whip until it holds soft peaks.

Add a third of the whip cream mixture into the cheese mixture. Then, using a rubber spatula, fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Set aside.

So here’s where I stopped documenting the process because you have to get your hands dirty and I didn’t want sticky syrup all over my camera. (it’s already encrusted with flour – ick) But it’s straight-forward

Place the Frangelico in a shallow bowl. Dip a 1/3 of the ladyfingers in the syrup and line a 13x9x2 inch serving dish or any other hefty dish with them. Spoon any leftover Frangelico on top.

Spread a 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture over the cookies and top with 1/3 the hazelnuts. Pour the lemon syrup in a shallow bowl (you can use the Frangelico bowl). Dip another 1/3 of the lady fingers in this mixture and place on top of the hazelnut layer. Add the cream mixture and hazelnut layer.

Repeat one more time  with lemon syrup-dipped ladyfingers. If you have leftover lemon syrup, pour that over the ladyfingers. Add the lemon zest on the very top layer.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight, so that the flavors really marinate. Supposedly, you’re supposed to remove the tiramisu from the fridge an hour before serving but I don’t have that kind of patience.

It’s light and refreshing and a perfect summer dish. The hazelnuts add a different texture but I think that if you don’t want to spend the time and money preparing the hazelnuts, it would be good without

I especially love that this is a make-ahead dish that can feed quite a few people. It’ll make a comeback in the summer for sure.

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