Chocolate Hazelnut Torrone

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

The number of Thermomix Tarif Defterim's followers on Facebook are now over 1.000!
I was aware that the number had been recently growing however I honestly didn't expect that it would go over 1.000 before 2015. This has been a nice surprise and wonderful Christmas gift to me.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, those who follow the blog via Facebook, Forum Thermomix, Pinterest, Google+, Bloglovin, or directly on the web or through email subscription...

As promised, here comes the recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Torrone.
It could make a delightful Christmas gift.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope 2015 turns to be one of your happiest years.


Ingredients:

300 g dark chocolate, roughly broken into pieces
200 g Gianduja chocolate or milk chocolate, roughly broken into pieces
200 g Nutella
500 g toasted hazelnuts

Preparation:

Torrone al Cioccolato e Nocciole

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Negli ultimi giorni il numero dei follower del blog Thermomix Tarif Defterim ha raggiunto e superato quota 1000! Mai mi sarei aspettata di raggiungere un numero così elevato in così poco tempo. Questa notizia è stata una bella sorpresa e un bellissimo regalo di Natale.

Vorrei cogliere questa opportunità per ringraziare tutti voi, che mi seguite via Facebook, Forum Thermomix, Pinterest, Google+, Bloglovin, collegandosi direttamente al blog o tramite newsletter. 

Come promesso, ecco qui la ricetta del torrone al cioccolato e nocciole. Potreste usarlo come idea per un delizioso regalo di natale. 

p.s. Vi auguro buon natale e felice anno nuovo. Spero che il prossimo anno sia per tutti migliore di quello passato.


Ingredienti:

300 g di cioccolato fondente, in pezzi
200 g di cioccolato gianduia
200 g di Nutella
500 g di nocciole tostate

Preparazione:

White Torrone with Nuts and Fruits

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PER ITALIANO

If many colorful "Panettone" and "Torrone" packages have started taking their place in Italian shops you understand that Christmas is around the corner.

Panettone, although its look recalls more of a cake, is in fact a sweet kind of bread loaf.  It has many versions such as those with raisins, dried fruits or chocolate. As soon as I find a satisfying panettone recipe I am going to share it with you guys. 
Below you will see our two store-bought panettone, one is with pineapple and the other instead is with chocolate.

Well.. let's come back to our main topic here, which is Torrone.

When we talk about Torrone or Nougat, we can mention mainly two types: White and Chocolate.
They also have many hard or softer subtypes made with varying nuts and dried fruits.

Your delicious homemade Torrone confections, with the help of a simple transparent packaging and ribbon, could make some great and also very pretty Christmas gifts.

Today I am sharing the recipe for White Torrone with nuts. The chocolate version, which you see in the photos, will be the next recipe to share. 

With the ingredients below I prepared 3 Torrone, each was 6 x 25 cm about.


Ingredients:
1 egg white
400 g honey

Contents of Torrone:
200 g toasted nuts and dried fruits of your choice*(1)
Optional: 50 g white chocolate*(2)

Top:
Confectionary rice paper or "host" sheets aka ostia in Italian, or 100 g white chocolate*(3) 

(1) To be precise, I used 60 g of almonds, 60 g of pistachios, 60 g of peanuts and 30 g of dried cranberry & blueberry mixture.

(2) We prefer soft torrone so I added 50 g of white chocolate together with nuts to make it chewy.

(3) I couldn't find any rice paper around here. I had to order online and I didn't have time to wait for to be delivered. You need rice paper or ostia for such confectionery recipes so that it wouldn't stick to your hands while eating. Domenico, my brother in law, gave me the greatest idea. Thanks to his suggestion I coated my white torrone with a thin layer of melted white chocolate. This way I prevented stickiness issue and added also a delicate chocolate touch to the formula.


Preparation:

Santa Claus Bread

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN "Noel Baba Ekmeği"
PER ITALIANO "Pane Babbo Natale"

Given the fact that we made it through 21/12/2012, we can now start talking about the Christmas and the upcoming new year I suppose :)

We haven't decorated an actual tree this year. Instead, we followed a rather minimalistic path by decorating Ikea's Yrsnö Decoration Stand like an alternative Christmas tree. In our opinion, it looked both simple and chic at the same time, gave a modest Christmas touch, did not take too much of space. It offered us exactly what we wanted for this year. Many thanks to Andrea for the gift, and to Stefano for his project ;)

I prepared a new year message by using only some A4, Kraft paper, scissors, twine and small clothespins and I hung it over the mirror in the dining area. Sure, I needed also a printer to print them all ;) If you'd like to download letter banners and see how it is done in details you can visit this blog. I printed them 50 % smaller.

While Andrea and I had been searching for some holiday season decorations we came across with a page that explained how to make 3D paper snowflakes. We liked it very much so tried the method and found it was very simple indeed. All you need is paper, scissors, tape and staples. You can find the pictures and the video here. Andrea spiced the things up a bit with his creativity and prepared different snowflakes with different designs and sizes for his family and friends, obviously for us too. For that, he used gift papers, put two sheets together and plastified them. He sometimes put different papers together creating a different effect. Among many designs and colors, I picked these white-gray ones.

As you see in the pictures this year our Christmas decorations have been very simple and in pastel colors. 

Let's come to the recipe...
Santa Claus Bread has instantly become one of the recipes that visually made me happy the most. It is quite easy to make. It is Thermomix who kneads it anyway :) You don't need to have much of a crafting talent during decoration. I tried to take as many photos as I could. I find photographing extremely important especially for the recipes that you'll need to do some decoration job. Sometimes one single picture is much more explanatory than dozens of words.


Ingredients:
250g milk
10g sugar
25g fresh yeast
700g flour
2 eggs
100g sunflower oil
20g salt

50g melted margarine
1 pitted black olive

2 egg yolks
Red food coloring

Preparation:

Tortellini in Broth, Pitti Uomo andGucci Museum

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PER ITALIANO
 

It's been more than one week without any posts.

Last week our very close friends Esra and Mustafa came from Istanbul for Pitti Uomo Fair in Florence. Those who are interested in fashion would know, Pitti Uomo is one of the most prestigious fairs for menswear fashion. We added up business and pleasure and kept them company. Even though our relationship with the fashion world is limited with a few clothes which we buy throughout the year, it has been a very interesting experience for us. We've got some hints about how to dress my husband for 2012-2013 winter season, I don't know how practicable though :)

Tri-Color Wreath Bread

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PER ITALIANO

Delayed Christmas and New Year theme recipes keep coming. 
This was one good looking bread indeed. 
You don't have to wait for the next Christmas to make it.


White Dough:
150g water
5g honey
10g fresh yeast
250g bread flour
5g salt

Frozen Chocolate Cake

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PER ITALIANO

And here is the first recipe of 2012! Let's make a sweet start to the New Year! :)

As you can understand from the photo I prepared this cake for our New Year's Eve party. It was so delicious. Frankly I'd be delicious too if I was added so much chocolate! ;)

This cake can be kept in the freezer for 1 month.


Ingredients:
Cake:
100g blanched almonds
500g bitter chocolate, broken into pieces
150g butter, in pieces
5 eggs
40g sugar
40g flour

Chocolate Cream:
150g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
250g sour cream

Additionaly - optionally;
50-100g white chocolate
50-100g bitter chocolate

Preparation:

Hazelnut Cookies

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PER ITALIANO

Another cookie recipe which I prepared with Christmassy cookie cutters...

Ingredients:
200g toasted, skinned hazelnuts
250g butter, cut into pieces
150g sugar
2 eggs
20g milk
350g flour
170g rice flour
1/2-1tsp cinnamon
1 bag of baking powder (10g)
1 bag of vanillin sugar (5g)

To Decorate:
Royal Icing

Preparation:

Chocolate and Cacao Cookies

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PER ITALIANO

Ingredients:
50g dark chocolate
130g butter, cut into pieces
30g sugar
1 egg
210g flour
20g unsweetened cacao
1/4 tsp baking soda

100g white chocolate


Preparation:

A Belated Christmas Recipe: Christmas Tree Bread

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I was undecided if I should have published this now or waited for the next Christmas. Since I wasn't able to have enough patience I decided to post it.

As a matter of fact this is my 2nd trial since I baked this bread some time between Christmas and New Year's Eve however I somehow managed to overburn it a bit on the top because I wasn't quite used to bake in our new oven. It was really so delicious that it was worth another chance.

I re-made it few days back and this time I had the opportunity to take as many pictures as I could. I hope you like it



Dough
250g water
5g sugar
25g fresh yeast
500g bread flour
30g extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
10g salt



Filling
15 cherry tomatoes (150g about)
50g pitted black olives
50g pitted green olives
50g emmenthal cheese (one piece)
50g mortadella or prosciutto cotto (one piece)
20g EVO
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar

2 tbsps milk

• Warm water for 1 minute at 37ºC on Speed 1
• Add sugar and yeast. Mix for 4 seconds on Speed 4
• Sift in flour. Add EVO and salt. Knead for 2 minutes
• Give it a ball shape, transfer it into a deep bowl. Make 2 cuts on the top to shape an +. Cover with plastic film and let it rise for 1 hour

• Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters (If they are large cut them into eights). Put them in a bowl, drizzle with 20g EVO. Sprinkle with a pich of salt and a pinch of sugar. Let them rest a while
• Cut olives into halves
• Cut cheese and mortadella into small pieces

• Flour a bit the surface you are working on. Roll it around 1 cm thick. (You'd better consider the size of your oven tray as well. I rolled aout around 30 x 40cm)
• Cut small pieces from the top and the bottom as in the picture and set aside

• Spread drained tomatoes, olives, cheese and mortadella

• Close it by folding first from the left and then from the right side as in the picture

 

• Cut a 6cm piece on the top by scissors leaving 1-2cm space from the left side as in the picture. This will be the top of our tree
• Cut 3cm pieces by scissors leaving 1-2cm from the left side

• Leave a 7cm piece at the bottom for the trunk
• Fold the first branch under the Tree-Top towards left. Leave the 2nd branch as it is. Fold the 3rd branch towards left and continue until you finish all the pieces and give it a pine tree shape. (At this stage filling ingredients may fall out a bit, nothing to worry, you can fill them back later)

     

• Prepare small Christmas balls using the 2 pieces you previously cut and set aside. Place them onto the branches
• Transfer you bread together with baking paper into the baking tray. If there is any filling that fell out, fill them back gently
• Brush with milk on the top, let it rise for half an hour

• Bake in preheated oven at 180ºC for 30-35 minutes

Afiyet olsun...


It's adapted with a few changes from this recipe
Thanks to Anna Bazzani for sharing... 

  

Christmas Tree

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Christmas day is very close. I wanted to make a small present for our neighbours and I decided to prepare this nutella tart. This way we will be wishing them a merry christmas and at the same time we will have the chance to thank them for their patience for the last two months :)

I mentioned in one of my posts that I'd been searching some Christmas - New Year recipes. When I gathered the folding&cutting method which I saw in a web page together with Lucia's tart recipe I got this Christmas Tree. I hope you like it too

250g flour (150 + 100)
50g sunflower oil
150g sugar
2 small sized eggs (about 75-85g in total)
5g baking powder
1 scahet vanillin sugar
300g nutella
M&Ms

• Place 150g flour, oil, sugar, eggs. the remaining 100g flour, baking powder and vanillin sugar respectively in TM Bowl. Mix for 1 minute on Speed 3-4, using TM Spatula through the hole of TM Lid at the same time 
• Place the dough in a bowl, roll it into a ball shape, cover with plastic film and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours
• Place baking paper on the surface that you work on. Sprinkle with a little flour
• Place the dough on the baking paper, sprinkle with a little flour on the top. Roll out into a square with a rolling pin, 30 x 30cm about

• Spread a bit flour on the dough and fold it as in the picture

• Unfold it back and make cuts as in the picture starting from folding lines

• Spread nutella  in the center with a spoon or spatula as in the picture

• Fold it as in the picture giving it to a Christmas Tree shape

• Decorate with M&Ms. If you like, you can make a star using a piece of the remnant dough and place it on the top of your tree

• Transfer it gently into baking tray together with the baking paper
• Bake it in oven preheated at 180ºC for 20-25 minutes

Afiyet olsun...


Since I've baked 5 tarts today in order to give as Christmas presents, I used remnant dough to make 3 small trees.

.... And here are the Christmas packages of our neighbors. They will be delivered tomorrow;)

Sources:
Ratatoille Christmas Tree Pie
Lucia'a tart recipe + kitchen :)

Snowman Cupcakes

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PER ITALIANO
  

 

Yes!! I promised for Christmas recipes. This is the first one. (I only have 2 anyway because of the works in the kitchen. I didn't have the chance to try all in my mind)

I made a research first by surfing on internet and reading the books I had. When I compiled all together I got these cute snowmen. I can say they got very high rating from the eaters:)

They are very easy to make. Decoration takes a bit. If you have children you know you can ask for their help. I believe they would enjoy making snowmen :)

If you'd like to try this cute recipe for this Christmas or winter here are the ingredients and the recipe:


CUPCAKES
 
310g flour
10g baking powder
1 tsp salt
300g sugar
110g butter (softened)
2 eggs
250g milk (130 + 120)
1 sachet vanillin sugar (3-5g about)

• Place a bowl on Thermomix. Sift in and weigh flour. Add baking powder and salt. Mix and set aside
• Place sugar in TM Bowl. Pulverize for 15 seconds on Speed 10
• Add butter and mix for 3.5-4 minutes on Speed 3-4 until fluffy
• Add half of flour mixture and mix for 1 minute on Speed 3-4
• Add 130g of milk. Start Thermomix on Speed 3-4
• After 1 minute add eggs one at a time through the hole of TM Lid
• After 1 minute add the remaining flour mixture, milk(120g) and vanillin sugar through the hole of TM Lid. Continue to mix for 1 minute
• Place paper cupcake liners into the cupcake cups. Fill 3/4 of each cupcake cup with the cake mixture
• Bake in preheated oven at 180ºC for 15-25 minutes (Duration of baking may change due to the size of your cups, you can check it out with a toothpick)
• Remove from the oven. Let them cool

WHITE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

300g white chocolate
150g butter (softened)
40g fresh cream

• Grind chocolate for 8 seconds on Speed 8 and set aside
• Add butter and cream. Warm for 5 minutes at 70ºC on Speed 3
• Add chocolate and mix for 2 minutes on Speed 3-4

DECORATION

Dessicated coconut
Chocolate chips
Sweets (I used M&Ms, jelly sweets and liquorice)

• Spread white chocolate frosting with a spoon or spatula on the top of the cupcakes
• Sprinkle with coconut and decorate your snowmen as you wish

Afiyet olsun....
  

Sources:
Recipes for Christmas sweets 
Snowmen Cupcakes
Bimby Torte e Biscotti Book
My mother-in-law's kitchen :)