Nutella Pancakes Are Just the Beginning

There are two BIG things coming up fast this week.

Another major snowstorm, predicted for Wednesday. (Please, spare me.)
And World Nutella Day on Saturday.

The combination of these two events has made me decide that this week should be all-Nutella here at Mignardise.
Because I believe that enough Nutella can cure cabin fever.
It can give me my son the energy needed for marathon shoveling.
And of course there's nothing better than baking while the snow piles up outside.

Let's begin at the beginning. Breakfast!
Of course you could spread a little Nutella on your toast and call it a day. But that wouldn't make much of a blog post would it?
So let's have pancakes. Nutella pancakes. With caramelized bananas. And maple syrup.
Send Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth out to shovel the driveway. They're not invited to this party.

Nutella Pancakes
adapted from Inn Cuisine

2 eggs

1/2 cup Nutella

1 1/2 cups milk

1 Tbsp. cooking oil

 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 heaping Tbsp. cocoa powder

2 tsps. baking powder

2 Tbsps. butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 bananas, sliced

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup chopped hazelnut, toasted (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and Nutella until smooth. Add milk and oil, whisking until well combined. In a large bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mix well until most lumps are gone. Allow batter to rest.

While batter is resting, heat a skillet over medium heat. Melt butter in skillet, then add sugar. Stir constantly until mixture becomes lightly browned (watch carefully and don't let it burn). Add bananas and cook until softened and throughly coated with sugar mixture. Add maple syrup. Let it warm briefly, then remove from heat.
Drop pancake batter onto hot griddle. When bubbles appear (2-3 minutes), flip pancakes and cook another minute. Serve with caramelized bananas, toasted hazelnuts (if using) and pan syrup. Pass more syrup if desired.

Come back tomorrow for more Nutella!

Garlicky Tortellini Soup, in Celebration of National Soup Month

There are few things more soothing than soup.

When your tummy is sick, or your nose is stuffy it's time for soup.

If your teeth hurt, you can still eat soup.

And when your heart is broken, soup might be just the thing to help it mend.

Of course you could argue that ice cream could do all the same things.

But this January and this is Maine and we prefer soup at this moment.

In fact, January is National Soup Month. So before the month is out, let's make some soup!

You could try my favorite lentil soup. For something more exotic, make the Coconut Curry Chicken Soup. And I promise a bowl of this creamy chicken soup will be good for whatever ails you.

Our soup special today is Tortellini. The amount of garlic will kill off any lurking cold germs and the spinach will give you the strength of Popeye. You can use any kind of tortellini you like, or even some mini-ravioli. Fresh or dried, meat or cheese filled. I do find that dried holds up better in the broth than fresh.

This soup is fast,  wicked easy and you might even already have all the ingredients at home. Which is a very nice thing if you live in one of the areas of the country in the deep freeze and you have no desire to leave your cozy home. 

Garlicky Tortellini Soup with Spinach

from Fine Cooking

2 Tbsps. unsalted butter

6-8 cloves garlic, chopped

4 cups lower sodium chicken broth (or homemade if you have it)

6 oz. fresh, dried or frozen tortellini

14 oz. can diced tomatoes, with their liquid

10 oz. bag of baby spinach

8-10 basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant,  about

2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook halfway, (about 5 minutes for frozen or dried, less for fresh). Add the tomatoes with their liquid and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until tortellini is tender.

Stir in the spinach and basil and cook until just wilted, 1-2 minutes. Add freshly ground pepper to taste.

Serve sprinkled generously with grated cheese.

Have ice cream for dessert.

On a sweeter note...World Nutella Day is coming soon! I'm taking suggestions. What kind of Nutella recipe would you like to see on Mignardise ? 

Baking Up a Storm: Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another snow storm, another chance to flex my baking muscles.
Before a storm such as this, most people like to stock up on the essentials - milk, batteries, candles, canned goods, wine.
My pre-storm necessities include brown sugar, eggs, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and lots of butter. Having the essentials on hand means I can have some flexibility.
If I'm feeling like brownies, no problem.
Cookies? I'm ready.
Cake? If that's what I want.

So what was I in the mood to bake today?
Crispy, crunchy, gooey or chewy?
Lately I've been enamored of the King Arthur Flour website and catalog. Especially since I started making bread. They have a great baking blog and loads of recipes. Perhaps I could find some inspiration there.

How's that for some inspiration?

I'm almost always a chewy cookie kind of girl. But for some reason (high tide? full moon?) I was ready and willing to try something different.
And you know what? I liked it.
These cookies remind me of the 3-pack of Peggy Lawton cookies I used to get for lunch in high school, but with more personality. Does anyone else remember those cookies? A pack of them and an apple was a balanced lunch for me in those days.

I'll never give up my first love for chewy chocolate chippers, but these crispy cookies are staying in my baking repertoire. They're quite a bit easier to make than the classic Toll House kind too. The brown sugar flavor is pronounced, and they taste as if they have way more butter than they actually do.
That's a good thing.
There's one funky ingredient, and I'm not sure why it's there.
Cider vinegar.
Whatever. It's King Arthur. They know their stuff and really, who am I to question it?

Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
from King Arthur Flour


1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsps. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. espresso powder (optional - I used it and it doesn't make the cookies taste like coffee, but gives them something subtle I liked)

3/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

16 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly grease (or line with silicone baking mats) two baking sheets.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, both sugars, vanilla, espresso powder (if using) and salt until smooth. Beat in the vinegar, egg, baking soda and  baking powder. Stir in both kinds of flour, then the chocolate chips. (At this point, I think some pecans would be awesome as well.)
The dough will appear oily and because of the quantity of chocolate chips, it won't be totally cohesive - that's ok.
Drop the dough by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the cookies are uniformly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minuted before transferring to a cooling rack.

Mmm, crunchy!

Gianduia Mousse

When a classic French dessert marries a beloved Italian confection, you get gianduia mousse.
Don't be afraid of pronouncing it.
 Just say "ghan-do-ya", with a soft "g". Then say:

Gianduia is an ethereal combination of ground hazelnuts and chocolate. You probably know it as Nutella.

(ALERT: World Nutella Day is coming up fast - February 5. Stay tuned!)

Rather than using Nutella straight from the jar, this recipe has you making your own hazelnut paste. You can do it - it's easy! So is the rest of this recipe.

The mousse was the sweet ending to our cooking group's Italian feast last Sunday. 

So before we got to dessert, we sampled swiss chard crostata, focaccia, ravioli with pear and pecorino, chicken saltimbocca, roasted green beams with pine nuts and lemon and a lovely tri-colore salad with frico. Whew.

Even after all that, it was hard to resist the mousse.

Gianduia Mousse

from Fine Cooking Real Italian

First, make the hazelnut butter. It can be made in advance and refrigerated in a sealed container for up to three months. Bring to room temperature before using.

You'll need

8 oz. hazelnuts (1 2/3 cups), toasted and skinned

1/4 cup vegetable oil

To toast and skin the hazelnuts, heat the oven to 350. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in oven until the skins are mostly split and the nuts are light golden brown and fragrant, 15-18 minutes. Watch carefully!

Put the warm hazelnuts in a clean dishtowel. Fold the towel around the hazelnuts and let them steam for at least 5 minutes. Then rub the nuts inside the towel to remove most of the skins. Don't worry if you don't get it all. Even if you just get half off, it'll be fine. Let the nuts cool completely.

Put the nuts in a food processor, add the oil and pulse a few times. Process, checking the consistency every few seconds, until the mixture looks like natural peanut butter (creamy but slightly grainy) or wet sand. It should take a minute or two.

For the mousse, you'll need

6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup hazelnut butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a 2-quart metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is completely smooth. In a separate small sauce pan, heat 1/2 cup of the cream to just below the boiling point. Remove the bowl of chocolate form the pan of water, wiping the bottom and sides dry if necessary. Pour the hot cream into the melted chocolate and stir together until well-blended. Add the hazelnut butter and combine well, then add vanilla.

In a chilled mixing bowl, using chilled beaters, beat the remaining one cup cream until it holds soft peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture in four batches, blending thoroughly after each addition.

Pour the mousse into a 1 1/2 quart souffle dish or serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.

For the garnish, beat  1/2 cup heavy cream until frothy. Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and continue beating until the cream holds soft peaks. Garnish individual servings of the mousse with the whipped cream, and some chopped hazelnuts.

Semi-Virtuous Mac & Cheese

It's January 3. Are you tired of all those eat-right-and-get-in-shape resolution articles and blog posts yet?

You know the ones...

LOSE 10 LBS IN ONE WEEK!

GET RID OF HOLIDAY WEIGHT!

EAT RIGHT - SLIM DOWN!


I'm all for clean eating, especially after the December food fest and merrymaking. And don't forget that little incident back in June, that made us take a serious look at our diet.

But I'm not ready to do anything too drastic, like cut out entire food groups or deprive myself of life's small pleasures. So I made macaroni and cheese.
With a secret ingredient.
Evaporated skim milk.

Using it makes this dish way less indulgent. But no less delicious. In fact, I prefer it to the overly creamy and cloyingly richer recipes. It won't weigh you down. And by finishing it off in the oven, you get all those nice crusty bits on the edge and a delicate crispy top.

True, it's not as virtuous as a salad. But you could serve one on the side, if it makes you feel better.
Or go with roasted Brussels sprouts like we did. They make a surprisingly good complement to the mac & cheese.

Macaroni and (Three) Cheese 
adapted from Food Network Magazine


12 oz. spiral-shaped pasta, such as cavatappi or gemelli

2 Tbsps. unsalted butter + 1 Tbsp. for topping

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. dry mustard

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 12 oz. can evaporated skim milk

1/2 cup whole milk

sea salt

3/4 sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup Fontina cheese, shredded

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 scallion, chopped fine and/or 2 Tbsps. chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 400.
Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water, until al dente, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, place 1 Tbsp. butter in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave, then stir in panko, garlic powder, remaining Parmesan and scallion and/or parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

 Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add the flour, mustard, nutmeg and cayenne. Stir with a wooden spoon to make a paste. Cook, stirring, until the paste puffs slightly, about one minute. Whisk in both milks with a big pinch of sea salt. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until slightly thickened and creamy,  5-6 minutes. Slowly add the shredded cheddar, Fontina and all but 2 Tbsps. of the Parmesan, whisking until melted. Keep warm.

Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta cooking water. Return pasta to the pot along with 1 Tbsp. butter. Add cheese sauce and mix thoroughly, adding some of the reserved cooking water if needed. Turn mac and cheese into a baking dish (approx. 8 x 10"). Top with breadcrumb mixture and place in oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until top is lightly browned.

You can find this post and lots of other delicious recipes at Full Table Thursdays and Foodie Fridays.