Following on from the success of the award-winning Unbakery café’s and best-selling The Unbakery Book, Megan May, creator of Little Bird Organics & The Unbakery (from Auckland, New Zealand) is proud to release the Unbakery App.
Packed full with over 100 new plant-powered recipes right at your fingertips anytime, anywhere, the App showcases just how delicious wholesome plant-based food can taste, and how easy it is to make in your own home.
Hazelnuts are a delightful nut to use in desserts and pair especially well with chocolate – think Nutella a classic hazelnut and chocolate combination that everybody loves.
The filling of the slab is our raw ode to Nutella, we the top it with sumptuous crunchy activated hazelnuts for the perfect soft and crunchy nutellery desert.
Hazelnuts not only make a delicious desert they also make a great healthy nut milk, they are high in good fats, vitamin E and vitamin B along with other minerals to help your skin glow and regulate a healthy blood pressure.
Make time: 45mins
Setting time: 6 hours
Makes: 1 medium slab – 12 portions
Equipment required: food processor, blender
Ingredients
Base
1/2 cup dried activated hazelnuts (or lightly roasted)
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup dried coconut
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
Pinch sea salt
Pinch vanilla bean powder
2 tbsp melted cacao butter
Filling
3/4 cup dried activated hazelnuts (or lightly roasted)
1/2 cup hazelnut milk
3/4 cup organic maple syrup
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
Pinch sea salt
1/4 cup cacao butter, melted
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp cold-pressed coconut oil, melted
Optional - 1 tsp of hazelnut extract
Topping
1 1/2 cups activated hazelnuts (or lightly roasted)
Method
Base
In a food processor, blend hazelnuts, cashews and coconut into a coarse couscous texture.
Add the dates, cacao, salt and vanilla powder and blend until combined and until mixture is slightly sticky.
Add the melted cacao butter and pulse a few times until well incorporated.
Line a small rectangular container or tin (approximately 12 x 15 cm) with plastic food wrap. Press mixture firmly into the tin - it will need to be approximately 4 - 5 mm thick on the bottom to maintain the structure. Place in refrigerator while you're making the filling.
Filling
Place hazelnuts, hazelnut milk, maple syrup, salt and hazelnut extract if using in high speed blender (like a Vitamix), blending well until very smooth.
With the blender still running, slowly pour in the melted coconut oil and cacao butter and blend until completely combined into the mixture.
Lastly add the cacao powder and blend until completely incorporated. Pour into the prepared base, spreading well with the help of a spatula.
Topping
Top with the activated hazelnuts, pressing them down slightly into the cream.
Leave to set in the refrigerator for approximately 6 hours. Once set cut into 3cm x 6 cm rectangles and store in the fridge
Notes
When we call for dried activated nuts on a recipe we mean the nuts have first been soaked to remove the phytates (enzyme inhibitors), then we rinse and dry them until really crispy in our dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator you could lightly roast your hazelnuts in the oven first before using. Being careful not to overheat or burn them and damage all those wonderful healthy oils – lightly roasting also removes some of the phytates and is preferable to using unsoaked raw nuts.
The Unbakery App is now available to download on Apple devices for $7.49 and is currently with Android undergoing app development.
