Because ice cream should be super simple.

When I came across one-ingredient ice cream on Food52, it seemed too good to be true. But it’s not.

The beauty is in bananas, which when frozen and put in the food processor, turn into a fluffy mass of goodness. And it’s raw. And it’s vegan.

I was so excited about the discovery I immediately sent it to fellow food connoisseur Aylin Erman, who promptly responded with “Girl, you need to make this ASAP. It changed my life.”

A life changing recipe that only involves one ingredient? Yes, please. But as we all know, bananas are only made better by chocolate, so this version gets the addition of homemade hazelnut chocolate spread (in other words: homemade Nutella) for a decadent but super simple dessert.

Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

For ice cream:

• 3-4 frozen bananas

For chocolate hazelnut spread:

• 1 cup roasted hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons canola oil or hazelnut oil

Directions

To make chocolate hazelnut spread, put all ingredients in food processor and mix until a spreadable consistency.

To make ice cream, cut the bananas into small chunks and place on a baking pan. Freeze for at least 1-2 hours.

Place banana pieces into a food processor and churn until a smooth consistency.

Mix together two parts banana ice cream and one part chocolate hazelnut spread until well blended. Serve immediately or store in airtight container in freezer.

Want more food inspiration? Check out the rest of our Sunday Recipe series. 

The post Sunday Recipe: Simple Vegan Banana, Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tis the season for picknicking-whip up one of our team’s 10 must eat dishes.

With record high temperatures soaring around the world, there’s no better time to keep the cool outdoors—under a tree and on a grassy knoll. And, foodie or not, the principles behind ecopsychology say there’s no better way to reconnect and nurture relationships than out in the fresh air. Breaking bread together with brie (or sticky chocolate cake), makes the whole picnicking affair that much more meaningful.

So, grab a blanket and try one (or  all 10) of our favorite picnic recipes—a compilation of our team’s favorites and enough to make a complete menu.

Snacks & Appetizers:

• Fruits & Nuts
• Brie & Bread
• Picnic-side Guacamole

Main dishes:

• Quinoa Salad
• Smokey Jicama Salad with Kale and Corn
• Cold Soba Noodle Salad

Desserts:

• Sticky Chocolate Cake
• Nutella Donut Muffins
• Strawberry Shortcake

Drink:

• Honey Ginger Sparkling Lemonade with Rosemary

1. Fruits and nuts

For our shelter writer, K. Emily Bond—who sometimes seeks refuge under trees—fruits and nuts are a staple picnic snack. While it may sound sinfully simple, we know that sometimes it’s the simple things that make life so much sweeter. All it takes is 5-minutes in your kitchen, and you have a delicious medley of homemade trail mix. We love this “Not Your College Boyfriend’s Trail Mix” from our archives.

2. Brie & Bread

If you’re anything like Behind the Label columnist Jessica Marati, whose picnic mantra is “take knife, dip in Brie, slather on baguette,” you’ll love this grab & go solution. It’s literally that simple.

Directions:

• Pick up your favorite brie & local, freshly baked bread
• Grab a knife and voila, enjoy!

3. Picnic-side Guacamole

Crowd pleasers like me, (your Vegan This columnist and fashion writer) will agree, there’s nothing like fresh, made-on-site guacamole to get a picnic party started. My boyfriend and I love this dish because it’s so versatile (avocados are your canvas), so fresh (see everyone’s eyes light up as you whip this up before their eyes), healthy (packed full of heart- and skin- healthy fatty acids and vitamins) and easy to tote (just pre-chop your garnishes, grab a few avocados and a to-go container, and you’re out the door).

Ingredients:

• Ripe avocados (as many as you need depending on the number of people you’re serving—to be safe, plan on 1 avocado per person)
• 1/2 onion
• 1 handful cilantro leaves
• 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 lime
• 1 teaspoon, or so, salt
• 1 bag organic tortilla chips or crackers of your choice

Other:

• To-go container
• Serrated knife

Note: Adjust the lime, salt and garnish amounts according to taste and the number of people you’re serving

Directions:

Pre-chop the onion, cilantro leaves and bell pepper. Put in a to-go container large enough to hold the finished guacamole (this will also serve as your mixing bowl). Squeeze the lime and sprinkle the salt over the veggies and mix together. When you arrive at your picnic spot, simply cut your avocados open, remove the seeds and scoop out the fruit. Add to your veggie, lime and salt mix and mash together until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Grab some chips or crackers and enjoy!

4. Quinoa Salad

Life, according to Foodie Underground columnist Anna Brones, is all the better when quinoa is involved. “Quinoa salads are my go to summer meals. They’re easy to make and easy to pack, which means that if you make a big batch one day you have leftovers for a few more. They’re also the perfect picnic item, light enough that they feel like summer food, dense enough that you’re full after eating them. As a base I tend to do a mixture of red and white quinoa, greens and some type of vinaigrette. Then you simply add in whatever you have laying around the kitchen. Nuts, vegetables, fruit… whatever you’re in the mood for. But the Summer Carrot and Date Quinoa Salad is one that I can’t live without, so if you’re in need of a recipe, start there.”

5. Smokey Jicama Salad with Kale and Corn 

One of our resident raw foodies and trendy fashion columnists, Johanna Björk, packs her picnics with a healthy punch.
“This cold salad is super easy to make, which makes it perfect for an impromptu summer picnic. It also doesn’t get soggy easily, which means it can keep for a while in that picnic basket, even if you didn’t bring a cooler. The jicama is fresh, somewhat sweet and crunchy, the kale is hearty and nutritious, the fresh herbs are so summery delicious, and the chipotle gives it a bit of a kick. It also just happens to go really well with a cold beer.”

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 jicama (depending on how large it is), thinly sliced or grated
• 6 leaves kale, thinly sliced
• 1-2 cups corn (leave out if you want it to be 100% raw)
• 1 large handful mint leaves
, olive oil, 
hemp seeds
, chipotle chili powder
, sea salt

Directions:

Mix the jicama, kale, corn and mint leaves together. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and chipotle chili powder and mix well. Finish with a sprinkle of hemp seeds.

6. Cold Soba Noodle Salad

Fashion and food really go hand-in-hand, and Rowena Ritchie, our west coast fashion editor, proves it with this dish from none other than Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop.

“Goop’s cold soba noodle salad is my go-to pot luck recipe because it’s so easy to make. I generally have soba noodles, mirin, soy, and sesame oil in my cupboards, so I just have to grab some scallions and cilantro. My meat-eating friends seem to love it as a side, and if it’s the only vegan dish at the party, it makes for a full and nutritious meal for me! If you can get hold of Eden Shake’s Furikake, I highly recommend using it—it’s full of protein, vitamins A, B & C and calcium and it tastes great. And, I’ve always found the recipes on goop to be top knotch. Gwyneth Paltrow is known for both loving food and for being health conscious.”

7. Sticky Chocolate Cake

There’s nothing like a fika-style picnic to elevate the mood. Just take it from our Swedish chef and artist extraordinaire Johanna Kindvall. And, if you tend to picnic with a core group of friends, this sweet delight will never get old—change it up with a splash of rum, a dash of mint or even some licorice or cardamom.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (or one large duck egg)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Valrhona)
• 1 teaspoon salt (less if using salted butter)
• 1 cup freshly milled almonds (or almond flour)
• 4 oz butter
• mint leaves (optional)
• powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Whisk eggs and brown sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the milled almonds, cocoa powder and salt. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Pour the mixture into a greased 9” spring form.

Bake the cake in the oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes. The cake should just be set on top and sticky inside. Let the cake cool down. Decorate with some fresh mint leaves and/or powdered sugar. Serve it plain or with whipped heavy cream.

Note: if you want to spice up the cake I suggest the following flavors: rum, cognac, mint, licorice or cardamom. Just add the flavor to the batter before baking.

8. Nutella Donut Muffins

If you’re picnicking with sensitive foodies like me (think vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and more), then this delicious, easy to pack recipe is the perfect picnic companion. All you need is a re-usable container to carry these in, and you’re sweet-tooth ready.

For the donut muffins:

• 1 ¾ cup flour – follow the following gluten-free flour blend:
  • ¾ cup sorghum flour
  • ¼ cup sweet rice flour
  • 3/8 cup white rice flour
  • ¼ tapioca flour
  • 1/8 cup almond flour
• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup oil (I used cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg substituted (I blended 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 3 tablespoons water)
•  ¾ cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Nutella (I made this homemade, vegan version)

For the coating:

• 3-4 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance coconut spread)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease a muffin tray with vegan butter or coconut oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together your gluten-free flour blend, and add in the baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, egg-substitute and non-dairy milk. Add the dry ingredients and stir only until fully combined.

Follow these instructions to whip up your Nutella hazelnut spread.

Place 2 tablespoons of the muffin donut batter into your prepared muffin tins. Add 1 teaspoon of Nutella and cover with approximately 2 more tablespoons of batter until the muffin tins are ¾ full.
Bake for 18-22 minutes. (Mine were perfectly done after exactly 18 minutes).

Prepare your coating by melting your vegan butter in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together your cinnamon and sugar.

While the muffins are still warm, shake them out of the pan on to a cooling rack.
Dip your muffin donuts into your melted vegan butter and then into your cinnamon sugar mixture.
Allow to cool for approximately 10 minutes. These are perfect when warm and still wonderful when cool (up to 3 days—especially if making these gluten free). Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator if storing longer.

Note: These would also be delicious filled with your favorite homemade jam, in lieu of the Nutella, or simply plain, filling-free.

9. Strawberry Shortcake

For an authentic taste of summer, strawberry shortcake embodies it all. Earlier this summer, I packed all the parts of this dish (biscuits, strawberries and cream) and assembled it on-site at a friends-of-EcoSalon picnic. I love this version, adapted from Martha Stewart, for its freshness and simplicity. Vegan, gluten-free or not, you’ll fall fast for this fresh delight.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ pounds (6 cups) strawberries—rinsed, hulled and quartered (For the fullest flavor, I recommend using local and fresh strawberries.)
• 1 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups gluten free flour blend
  • 1 cup sorghum flour
  • 1 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
  • 1/2 cup potato starch flour, minus 2 tablespoons
  • 2 tablespoons almond flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold (1 ½ sticks) unsalted vegan butter, cut into small pieces (I used Earth Balance coconut butter)
• 2 cups coconut cream (I used So Delicious coconut creamer, blended with approximately 3 tablespoons of dissolved agar-agar to thicken)
• 2 egg substitutes (I blended 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 6 tablespoons warm water)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, toss the prepared strawberries with ¾ cup sugar. (I suggest starting with ½ cup and tasting to see if more sweetness is needed.) Let sit to bring out the juices.

In a food processor, pulse together your gluten free flour blend. Add the baking powder, ½ cup sugar and the salt, and pulse until combined. Add the cold butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles course meal with some pea size bits of butter remaining (pulse approximately 10-12 times).

In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cream (before the agar agar has been added to thicken) and the egg substitute. Pour over the flour mixture, and pulse until some large clumps begin to form (pulse approximately 20-30 times).

Using a half-cup measuring cup, gently pack dough into the cup, invert and tap out on to a lightly buttered or parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat to form 6-8 biscuits.
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for at least 15 minutes.
Beat the remaining 1 ½ cups cream, with the prepared agar-agar mixture, 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy (Note, this will not form peaks like a traditional heavy whipping cream, however, I assure you the taste and texture will not leave you craving cream.)

Slice the biscuits horizontally with a serrated knife. Spoon the strawberries and their liquid over the bottom of each biscuit just before serving. Spoon your whipped cream over the strawberries, and top with the other biscuit half.

10. Honey Ginger Sparkling Lemonade with Rosemary

Amy DuFault, EcoSalon’s Editor-in-Chief says, “I am always the last one to leave the party because I won’t stop talking. This lemonade from our lovely Foodie Underground columnist Anna Brones is a sure cure for talker’s mouth. You can spend an entire picnic having good conversations and the ginger and honey make it so that your voice never breaks. Oh, and that you are of course refreshed. That’s important.”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup water
• Juice of 7 Meyer lemons
• 1/2 cup minced ginger
• 6-10 full rosemary stalks
• 1.25 liter bottle of sparkling water
• Ice cubes
• Optional:
• Your liquor of choice. We recommend bourbon or vodka.

Directions:

To make simple syrup, place honey, water and two rosemary stalks in a saucepan and warm over medium heat while constantly stirring until honey is completely dissolved. Add in ginger. Leave on heat for a 2-3 more minutes, regularly stirring, to increase rosemary flavor. Let sit for 30-60 minutes to cool down. Note: for a stronger rosemary flavor, muddle the rosemary first and let the simple syrup sit for longer.

Strain simple syrup into a pitcher and add in lemon juice, top off with ice cubes and sparkling water.

Garnish with rosemary and serve in mason jars.

Images: Paul and Christa, Rich Anderson, Pink Mochi, Jennifer Barckley, Anna Brones, Johanna Bjork, Goop, Jennifer Barckley, Amy DuFault

The post EcoSalon Team Picks: 10 Picnic Foods to Impress Your Friends appeared first on EcoSalon.

The best of the week at EcoSalon, hand-picked for your clicking pleasure.

K. Emily Bond considers the “Fleshy, Sexy Architecture of Human Proportions” – and the main image of her post? Check these out. (Alas, only concept mock-ups – but wouldn’t they be awesome in real life?)

Britons love shoving their clothes into the backs of wardrobes, government watchdog Wrap said this week. How many? Oh, just $45 billion worth. So that’s where all the money has gone in the world.

What statements do our clothes make about us? When you’re in the public eye, it’s your business to know  – and here Rowena Ritchie takes a look at some very famous people who know exactly what to say with what they wear.

Let’s face it – Nutella has shaped the development of a lot of people. Ferrero would like us to believe that’s a really good thing, as their recent advert shows – but what really goes into a jar of Nutella? Jessica Marati digs in.

And finally, staying with food, Anna Brones considers how travel shapes the nature of the food you eat, and uses this as an argument to justify eating Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. We are totally behind her all the way.

The post The Friday 5: People-Shaped Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

Everything in moderation.

Most articles about the recent class action lawsuit against Nutella start with fond recollections of the author’s first encounter with the addicting hazelnut spread. My own experience is similar; I think Nutella and instantly conjure up memories of childhood summers in Umbria, hiking trips, and continental breakfasts on European train cars.

So when news that a California mom had accused parent company Ferrero of misleading advertising that characterized Nutella as “nutritious” and “healthy,” food writers with similar associations came to the company’s defense. The general consensus was that the plaintiff had to be, in some sense, kidding.

“Not withstanding my own youthful Nutella experience, how could a mom mistake the spread for health food?” wrote one NPR blogger. “I mean, the stuff tastes like chocolate.”

To be fair, the ads in question are a bit of a stretch. The television spot features a fresh-faced soccer mom espousing on the difficulties of feeding her children a balanced breakfast they’ll “want to eat.” According to the commercials, Nutella is a good option, with its simple quality ingredients like “hazelnuts, skim milk, and a hint of cocoa.” The spread’s top two ingredients – sugar and palm oil – are notably absent from the list.

Is the Nutella case just another example of a big sugary corporation trying to fatten up the American public through misleading advertising? Or is there more to the story? This week’s Behind the Label takes a look.

The Good

The Ferrero company was founded in the 1940s by an Italian pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero, who, facing a shortage of cocoa because of World War II rationing, turned instead to the hazelnuts that grew in abundance in the Piedmont region of Italy. Italian children embraced Ferrero’s hazelnut spread, and supercrema gianduja, as it was then called, was promoted as a democratic “product for the people” during Italy’s scarce post-war years. According to the company’s history:

From the start, Nutella spread was well received, since it was a less expensive way for people to enjoy something that tasted so good… a kilo of chocolate at the time was 6 times the cost of a kilo of pasta gianduja. So Nutella was a product that everyone could, and did, enjoy. The product became so popular that Italian food stores started a service called “The Smearing.” Children could go to their local food store with a slice of bread for a “smear” of supercrema gianduja.

In 1983, Nutella entered the American market, backed by a 40-year history as a European breakfast staple. However, Ferrero is careful about its marketing, both in the United States and abroad. The company applies the “Framework for Responsible Food and Beverage Communication” adopted by the International Chamber of Commerce, as well as self-regulatory codes developed locally. In addition, in early 2012, all Ferrero companies adopted a set of “Principles on Advertising and Marketing,” which governs marketing decisions according to the company’s values. Of particular note is Ferrero’s policy on marketing to children:

Ferrero has always believed in the crucial role played by parents in educating their children to a balanced diet and a healthy and active lifestyle. Therefore, advertising & marketing communications concerning our food products are directed primarily to the adults who make the household purchasing decisions and to young people 12 years and older, in terms of content as well as of media purchasing. Ferrero believes that particular care should be exercised when commercial communications are directed primarily to children, especially when children are most likely exposed to such communications without parental supervision.

As a result of these policies, Ferrero companies don’t advertise to audiences with more than 50 percent children under age 12. Rather than cultivate an early desire for products like Nutella through Saturday morning cartoon commercials and child-targeted promotions (hat tip, Frosted Flakes and Happy Meals) Ferrero aims to place the responsibility for food choice and education on the adults. In other words, Ferrero markets to the people who will (hopefully) read the labels at the supermarket and make an informed purchasing decision, rather than the ones that will throw fits when mommy won’t buy the bright sugary cereal they saw on TV.

The Bad

As much as I’ve always wanted to believe that Nutella was roughly the European equivalent of peanut butter – peanuts, hazelnuts, same thing… right? – I quickly learned the falsity of that myth after my first semester of college and the requisite 10 pounds that accompanied it. I stopped keeping Nutella on hand to prevent myself from the inevitable overindulgences (just one more pita-Nutella wrap before class) and late-night finger dollops (don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about).

So if it isn’t just raw hazelnuts, what does go into a jar of Nutella?

Unsurprisingly, ingredient numero uno is sugar, nearly five teaspoons per serving of it. You didn’t really think that taste came from a “hint of cocoa,” did you? Thankfully, it isn’t high-fructose corn syrup. The second ingredient on the list is palm oil, an ingredient that is known for being high in saturated fat. Though palm oil has lately been linked with rainforest deforestation. Ferrero is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a consortium dedicated to responsible palm use, and its palm oil is extracted from certified growers in Malaysia.

Nutrition-wise, a two-tablespoon serving of Nutella contains 200 calories, 11 grams of total fat, and 3.5 grams of saturated fat, along with 3 grams of protein, 1 gram of dietary fiber, and small percentages of calcium and iron.

The basis of the recent lawsuits were a marketing campaign and series of advertisements that failed to mention these facts, instead focusing on Nutella’s role as part of a balanced breakfast. This led the plaintiff, Athena Hohenberg, to purchase the product and feed it to her four-year-old daughter. According to court documents:

At various times during the Class Period, Ms. Hohenberg purchased Nutella spread after being exposed to and relying upon advertisements and representations by Defendant that Nutella is a “healthy breakfast” and is “nutritious.” Ms. Hohenberg was searching for healthy foods to serve her family for breakfast or as a snack because she is aware that healthy nutrition is important for maintaining the overall health of her family. Ms. Hohenberg trusted the representations made by Ferrero in its labeling Nutella, “An example of a tasty yet balanced breakfast,” in association with a picture showing fresh fruits, whole wheat bread, and orange juice.

Though Ferrero denied any wrongdoing, the company agreed to a class action settlement and will pay out more than $3 million to consumers who purchased Nutella between January 1, 2008, and February 3, 2012 (August 1, 2009, and January 23, 2012, in California), according to the New York Daily News. Ferrero also agreed to make changes to its marketing materials in order to make clearer that Nutella is not, in fact, a health food.

The Questionable

Now, I wouldn’t compare the nutritional content of Nutella with that of flaxseed or quinoa. But I do think that when consumed in moderation, Nutella can find a place within a balanced diet, particularly when it’s an accompaniment to more nutritious foods like whole wheat toast and fruit. A light-handed smear of Nutella, even with its sugar and palm oil, is preferable to a bowl of traditional children’s breakfast cereals like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms, with their loads of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial coloring.

The trick is to view Nutella as what it is: a spread whose primary ingredients are sugar and palm oil. In the European countries where Nutella is a breakfast staple, portions are often smaller and people rarely overeat. If we adopt those principles, there’s no reason we can’t also enjoy a bit of Nutella with our morning toast… so long as we have the willpower to avoid those finger dollops.

Image: Janine

The post Behind The Label: Nutella appeared first on EcoSalon.

When Nutella, donuts and muffins meet, it’s easy to feed your cravings and forget it’s even vegan.  

Since my kitchen is void of donut molds, and since our fearless Foodie Underground columnist Anna, sent me a Nutella Donut Muffin recipe with a Vegan This dare, I made these donuts muffin-style, with no regrets. And as it turns out, they are best described as a true textural and taste blend of a donut and a muffin – fluffed to perfection with a finely tuned blend of gluten-free flours and filled with homemade Nutella—an EcoSalon favorite.

Normally, donuts, muffins and Nutella make the perfect food coma pairing. Not being one for comatose Sunday brunches, I softened the blow with less processed ingredients like coconut oil instead of butter, homemade almond milk in place of dairy and Nutella with real hazelnuts in lieu of artificial flavorings. For vegans like me who, beyond pure choice, are allergic to foods like milk and eggs, hazelnuts are actually the perfect ingredient. Full of phytochemical flavonoids (antioxidants) like quercetin, these little nuts may help to reduce allergic reactions. And, with healthy doses of vitamins E and B to boot—for healthy skin and a healthy metabolism, respectively – I’ll take a spoonful of hazelnuts with my sugar any day.

Denser than a donut, but still light, sugary and perfectly sweet, these quick and easy treats will give your cravings a real farewell. For now, at least.

The Original – Nutella Donut Muffins
from US Masala

Ingredients

For the donut muffins
• 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Nutella (as needed)

For the coating
• 3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

The Vegan & Gluten-Free Nutella Donut Muffins
Makes approximately 9 donut muffins

Ingredients

For the donut muffins
• 1 ¾ cup flour – follow the following gluten-free flour blend:
• (¾ cup sorghum flour)
• (¼ cup sweet rice flour)
• (3/8 cup white rice flour)
• (¼ tapioca flour)
• (1/8 cup almond flour)
• (½ teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup oil (I used cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg substituted (I blended 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 3 tablespoons water)
• ¾ cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Nutella (I made this homemade, vegan version)

For the coating
• 3-4 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance coconut spread)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease a muffin tray with vegan butter or coconut oil.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together your gluten-free flour blend, and add in the baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, egg-substitute and non-dairy milk. Add the dry ingredients and stir only until fully combined.
4. Follow these instructions to whip up your Nutella hazelnut spread.
5. Place 2 tablespoons of the muffin donut batter into your prepared muffin tins. Add 1 teaspoon of Nutella and cover with approximately 2 more tablespoons of batter until the muffin tins are ¾ full.
6. Bake for 18-22 minutes. (Mine were perfectly done after exactly 18 minutes).
7. Prepare your coating by melting your vegan butter in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together your cinnamon and sugar.
8. While the muffins are still warm, shake them out of the pan on to a cooling rack.
9. Dip your muffin donuts into your melted vegan butter and then into your cinnamon sugar mixture.
10. Allow to cool for approximately 10 minutes. These are perfect when warm and still wonderful when cool (up to 3 days—especially if making these gluten free). Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator if storing longer.

Note: These would also be delicious filled with your favorite homemade jam, in lieu of the Nutella, or simply plain, filling-free.

Enjoy!

The post Vegan This: Nutella Donut Muffins appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnBecause sometimes ingredients are meant to go together.

To say that I am obsessed with sea salt could be an understatement. In fact I recently made a commitment to tweak any recipe that I come across to incorporate sea salt, because when it comes down to it, just like cardamom, food sounds sexier when there is sea salt involved.

Although sea salt and table salt have the same nutritional value, when it comes to taste, for adding flavor to many dishes, sea salt is superior and has become the darling of food lovers. It’s flakier, crunchier and has a larger surface area which means you need less of it to flavor your food.

Sea salt’s popularity is nothing new, it has been making the food trend lists for the past several years, but what we’re doing with it is. No longer a simple seasoning, it’s now the finishing touch to everything from your appetizer to your dessert. This much was clear to me when a couple of friends and I topped off a foodie-centric dinner [note to self: always put arugula on pizza] in San Francisco last fall with a panna gelato topped with olive oil and sea salt.

In a food induced haze I remember hearing something along the lines of “we should put sea salt on everything,” come out from someone’s mouth. The path to sea salt obsession is a very slippery slope. One minute you’re gingerly crushing some sea salt on to your salad and the next minute you’re putting it into cakes.

Somewhere in between the salad and the cake situation lies flavored salt making. Because nothing says, “I’m fancy and I love food,” like whipping out a small jar of homemade Sriracha Salt. Citrus Salt, Roasted Garlic Salt, Lemon Salt with Fennel and Chili… you can make just about any type of salt that your heart desires. Feeling extra crazy? You can even buy Merlot Infused Salt. All of which got me thinking about chocolate sea salt.

There’s no doubt that chocolate and sea salt is the food pairing du jour. Chocolate and sea salt bars grace the shelves of even chain supermarkets. Just type in “chocolate sea salt” into Google and see what happens. I can assure you that you won’t leave your computer for hours, and you’ll come out with a weird hunger pang and 18 recipes bookmarked in your “Food” folder. What you won’t find however is a recipe for chocolate sea salt itself.

If chocolate and sea salt are so good together, why is nobody combining them into one delectable seasoning? Someone should do something about that.

So I did. Because there’s nothing difficult about chopping up a bar of chocolate; that would probably make it into chapter 1 of Intro to Foodieism.

Enter an afternoon of chocolate sea salt brainstorming that resulted in asking, “do you think you can sprinkle chocolate sea salt on kale chips?” Laugh all you want, but let’s remember two things about cooking in the Foodie Underground kitchen:

1. We’re here because we love food. Chances are you love kale chips, sea salt and chocolate. Why not put them together?

2. This is not Julia Child’s kitchen. “Quick and classy” is my motto – if it can’t be done in under an hour, it’s probably not worth doing (macarons obviously being the exception).

Given that criteria, if you can whip up a batch of kale chips and douse them in chocolate sea salt you obviously should. Just like you should quickly blend together some hazelnut butter with sea salt, otherwise known as “homemade Nutella that will impress your friends.”

As I have quickly come to learn, sometimes the best way to come up with a recipe is to start with a problem. In this case: if you make Chocolate Sea Salt, what are you going to do with it? Yes, First World Problems are easily found in the kitchen.

The beauty of it is that Chocolate Sea Salt already combines the sweet and savory worlds, meaning that you can use it on pretty much anything. Sprinkle it atop Rosemary Walnut Scones? Yes. Raspberry Almond Tart? Yes. Arugula salad? Yes.

Chocolate Sea Salt might just be the foodie dream seasoning. Bottle it up and give some to your friends, because you’ll want to have some on stock from now on.

Chocolate Sea Salt

Ingredients

• 100% cacao, unsweetened baker’s chocolate
• Flaky sea salt

Directions

• Finely chop the chocolate.
• Combine equal parts chocolate and salt and store in an airtight container.

Rosemary Walnut Scones 

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (make this a gluten-free version with 1 1/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour and 3/4 cup coconut flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled + cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup walnuts

Directions

• Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and rosemary. Add cold butter and mix together until it resembles coarse meal. [Easiest way to do this is in a food processor, but using your hands to do the job works just fine]
• Whisk egg in small bowl and pour half of it into a measuring cup. Add milk until you get 1/2 cup. Add to flour mixture and mix until dough forms large curds.
• Make two round balls and flatten on greased pan. Cut each round into eighths. Add a tablespoon of milk to other half of egg and brush over scones.
• Preheat over to 450F, bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with Chocolate Sea Salt and let cool.

Hazelnut Spread with Sea Salt (adapted from orginal recipe on The Kitchn)

Ingredients

• 1 cup roasted hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Chocolate Sea Salt
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons canola oil or hazelnut oil

Directions

• Put all ingredients in food processor and mix until a spreadable consistency – note that it may be slightly runny but will firm up when you put in refrigerator.
• Pour into an airtight container and store in refrigerator.

Raspberry Almond Tart

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups almond meal
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup raspberries

Directions

• Beat together eggs and sugar. Mix in dry ingredients. Melt butter and add to mixture.
• Pour batter into a greased 9.5 inch round baking pan.
• Evenly place raspberries on top of batter.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 F, or until golden brown.
• Let cool and sprinkle with Chocolate Sea Salt

That’s only the beginning. Chocolate Sea Salt on panna cotta? Yes. Chocolate Sea Salt on Coconut Ice Cream? Why not. I’ll let you take it from here.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Adventures With Chocolate and Sea Salt appeared first on EcoSalon.

We know what you’ll be making for brunch today. 

Remember when you first discovered Nutella? A friend or relative who had spent some time in Europe probably said something along the lines of, “they have this amazing spreadable chocolate.” You went and tracked down a jar at some hole-in-the-wall import store and soon all was right with the world. That was then, today Nutella is a commonly found staple, and when it comes to brunch, what better ingredient? Susan Russo, otherwise known as Food Blogga, is of the same mindset, and today’s Sunday Brunch we’re bringing you her recipe of Mascarpone, Nutella, and French Berry Toasts.

***

Sometimes brunch can hurt.

It was July, 2000, Raleigh, North Carolina. My husband and I were invited to attend an all-you-can-eat Southern Sunday brunch. It was an impossibly humid morning, so I didn’t have much of an appetite. That is, until we entered the frigid air-conditioned restaurant and breathed in the sweet, salty, yeasty air. “I’m hungry,” I said to Jeff. “I hope the food’s good.”

We started off modestly at the table with fresh fruit, juices, and coffee (a rookie mistake in hindsight). We quickly progressed to the steaming hot homemade biscuits, some drenched with butter, others drowned with Southern gravy, both delectable. Soon our small plates dusted with biscuit crumbs were replaced with large plates heaped high with a mound each of creamy shrimp and grits, stewed collards, and black-eyed peas. Jeff got a deep-fried chicken leg, which I refrained from eating, not because I felt virtuous but because I was a vegetarian.

Wiping off our slick, buttery fingers we agreed we would stop.

We didn’t.

A friend told us we simply had to have the pancakes. Who could be bothered with plain ‘ol pancakes? we thought. We didn’t know that they had sublimely moist corn pancakes and sweet potato pancakes doused with sticky praline sauce. We ate both.

Then we did the unthinkable. We say “yes” to dessert: thick wedges of sweet potato pie adorned with freshly whipped cream. It was North Carolina. You don’t skip sweet potato pie in North Carolina.

We got up from the table, waistbands stretched to within an inch of their lives, and I nearly had a hyperglycemic episode. We didn’t eat again until Tuesday.

After that episode, brunch became a dirty word in our house It took years for us to recover. Someone would say, “Sunday brunch” or “stack of pancakes,” and we’d begin to tremble and sweat. We were suffering from brunch PTSD.  I wanted to go to counseling. Jeff refused.

Slowly and patiently over the course of several years we eventually recovered from our fear of brunch. Today we can attend any type of brunch, eat moderately, and enjoy ourselves. When it comes to making brunch at home though, we still prefer simple, smallish, breakfast-y items such as Spinach and Ricotta Frittata, Chili Lime Fruit Salad, Greek Yogurt, Fresh Fig, and Black Currant Parfaits, and Monte Cristo sandwiches.

Our go-to brunch item, the one everyone swoons over, is also the simplest: Mascarpone, Nutella, and Fresh Berry Toasts. Take slices of warm Italian toast, slather them with creamy Nutella and rich mascarpone, and top with slices of fresh strawberries. That’s it. If you can’t find juicy strawberries right now, try other seasonal fruit such as sliced figs or persimmons, or lightly sauteed apples or pears.

And, remember, brunch doesn’t have to hurt.

Mascarpone, Nutella, and Fresh Berry Toasts

You really don’t need measurements for this recipe. An (8-ounce) tub of Mascarpone cheese and 2 pints of berries should make about a dozen toasts.

• A (1 pound) loaf of sliced Italian bread
• Butter for toasting
• 1 jar Nutella, the real thing only please
• 1 (8-ounce tub) Mascarpone cheese
• 2 pints fresh berries, such as raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries or fruit of your choice

1. Lightly butter bread and toast until golden.

2. Smear on a layer of Nutella, then top with a layer of Mascarpone. Arrange fruit on top. Serve immediately. Await praise.

Sunday Brunch is an ongoing series featuring brunch recipes from some of our favorite food blogs around the web. New recipes every Sunday, so that you’re ensured a gourmet weekend. Bon appetit!

Image: Susan Russo

The post Sunday Brunch: Mascarpone, Nutella, and Fresh Berry Toasts appeared first on EcoSalon.