I've been traveling quite a bit this winter so my posts have dropped off a bit. Doesn't mean the cooking has stopped! I got right back to it for Christmas, making these chocolate chip hazelnut biscotti, as requested by my mom.

In search of the perfect recipe

I searched around quite a bit for a recipe that I was happy with, but eventually landed on this one from Smitten Kitchen. I liked that it was naturally dairy free (no butter needed) and had espresso powder! I made a few updates, namely adding in a few different flours (hazelnut + white whole wheat flour) and adding in some chocolate chips in place of hazelnuts. And forgetting the egg wash (oops). They turned out great, and so perfect to pair with coffee! Hope you'll try them out - get creative with add-ins. I think walnuts or almonds would also be great, and a white chocolate drizzle would be very pretty as well. Recipe below.

Baking Notes

The dough looks and feels very sticky, but if you wet your hands a bit and portion out the dough in a bit of flour you should be able to shape it just fine into a couple of logs. The term "rolling" doesn't really apply here - I kind of plop mounds of dough in a line and then shape into a long rectangle. The logs really don't need to be perfect;as long as they have a somewhat uniform shape to them then they will bake well. See below for mine!

Once you bake the first log and let it cool for a few minutes, the baked "log" will be easy to cut. Slice it as thinly as you'd like - the more the merrier in my opinion! After laying out the biscotti back on the same pan, they'll be ready for their second bake. After the second bake, let cool, then top with whatever you like - I did a simple melted chocolate drizzle and added on holiday themed sprinkles!

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Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Biscotti

This recipe is adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen. It makes about 50 biscotti, depending on how small you slice the cookies.

Author Andrea | French Pressed Kitchen

Ingredients

• ½ cup hazelnuts chopped
• ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
• ¼ cup hazelnut flour meal
• 2 ¼ cups white whole wheat flour all-purpose works too, or a mix
• ½ cup cocoa powder good cocoa is great, but I used Hershey’s here
• 1 Tablespoon espresso powder
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ⅓ cups sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Whisk together (or sift) the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
• Beat eggs lightly in mixing bowl with whisk or in an electric mixer. Beat in the sugar until just blended.
• Stir in the flour mixture until the dough just comes together (don’t over mix). Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips until just combined. If the dough looks too dry, add a few drops of water to make everything come together (this may depend on your flour).
• Divide the dough in half and place one portion on a lightly floured work surface (I used parchment paper and dusted it lightly with flour). Wet hands slightly, then pat the dough into a flattened log shape, about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide. Repeat with second half of dough (you can cook them side by side on a large baking sheet). I like to dollop out the dough and just flatten with my hands since the dough isn’t “rollable”.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove the baked logs and let cool for about 5 minutes, then cut on an angle into ½ inch slices with a serrated knife. Once cut, lay the the cookies down on the cut side, then return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until crisp and dry.
• Let cool completely. If desired, melt some chocolate for a drizzle, or dip the ends in for an even more decadent treat!

Bon appetit!

The post Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Biscotti appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

I always have a ton of recipes in my backlog of things to cook, and granola bars have been on them for a few weeks.  I made a similar one with quinoa here, but wanted to try something new. I mashed up a few recipes I saw, including this baked one and this chewy one, but made them my own because I wanted to use the tahini and hemp seeds I had on hand! The whole no bake thing also sounded good, and fast, so I went that route. And because I didn't have chocolate chips (sad, unheard of), I went with a DRIZZLE!

No bake granola bars or balls are pretty straightforward to make. You start with your dry ingredients -

Then mix away.

Melt your wet ingredients (tahini or nut butter, maple or honey, vanilla) like so (that swirl!)

Mix this in with the dry ingredients until well combined. It will look a bit crumbly like the picture below, but once you press the mixture into a pan tightly, it will come together.

Once you've pressed the oat mixture, you can TOP IT!! You'll see that I drizzled chocolate on top - totally recommend! Chocolate chips inside would be even better 🙂 The drizzle was a good compromise with my husband, who doesn't like chocolate quiiiiite as much as me. Just mix it all up - press into pan - drizzle - fridge it - then...

Cut into bars!

And then enjoy all week 🙂

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No Bake Tahini Hemp Granola Bars

A 10 minute no bake recipe for granola bars made with oats, nuts, tahini and seeds. A not-too-sweet snack or breakfast far. Vegan and gluten free.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 12 -16 small bars

Author Andrea Shome

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 and ½ cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup hemp seeds
• ¼ cup finely shredded coconut
• ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
• 3 Tablespoons nuts I used sliced almonds
• 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup tahini
• ¼ cup maple syrup ⅓ cup for sweeter bars
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (oats, hemp seeds, coconut, nuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips if using).
• Heat a small saucepan over medium low heat and add in wet ingredients (maple syrup, tahini, coconut oil, and vanilla). Stir until everything is melted and combine.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir, stir, stir until coated. It may not seem like enough at first but will come together nicely.
• Transfer the granola mix to the pan and spread evenly until the pan is filled. Press down firmly to pack in the bars - this will make sure that they stick together. I used the top of a lid to pat them down firmly. Once they are flat, you can drizzle them with melted chocolate*.
• Place the pan in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up. Once firm, cut into even squares or thin bars. These should keep nicely in the fridge for a week or so - I like to wrap them individually and bring as snacks!

Notes

* You can melt chocolate using the double boiler method, or in 15-20 second spurts in the microwave, stirring in between sessions.

You could leave out any of the seeds if you don't have them on hand - the oats, maple, and tahini are the main ingredients! You can add other chopped nuts if you like in place of them.

If you try these out, or any other variations, let me know how they turn out! Bon appetit.

The post No Bake Tahini Hemp Granola Bars appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

Why you ask? Because look at how high that stacked up! I probably could've used more liquid to make it even more porridge-y, but was totally happy with how this layered up in my bowl.

What a way to start a short week! We were out of eggs (what?) so oatmeal was the next best choice for my still healing sore teeth. I had seen a cookie dough oatmeal post somewhere and was inspired by the use of coconut oil and nut butter in the batter - so that's what we have here! Also can we talk about oat bran? Thanks, Meghan, for reminding me to bring this back into my life. It's been too long! I used to loooove using oat bran because of how creamy it made my morning oats. I hadn't seen it in a while but I'm so glad it's back. #fiber.

I started this by stirring up the oat bran with almond milk.

Then, added in the peanut butter (almond butter, especially raw, would be awesome here too). I also threw in a teaspoon of coconut oil (healthy fats!), ground flax seed and a scoop of Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides for a little extra protein.

Then combined it all until it got a bit bubbly (this is faster than normal rolled oats) and topped it with all the things. You could definitely make this à la overnight oats and take it on the go. Working friends, I definitely recommend this is you are a fast in the morning person! Fill up on something delicious to hold you over to lunch (or mid morning coffee...).

BOOM that overhead though. Notice the chocolate chips cascading down. Um, yas. This definitely helped the physical / emotional healing process of the whole wisdom teeth thing.

Okay, enough about me - go try it and let me know how it turns out!! Have yourself a grand old breakfast.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Oat Bran Porridge

Oatmeal gets a throwback to oat BRAN. Spice up your texture with the super creamy version of oatmeal. And feel like you're eating a cookie for breakfast, too.

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1 big bowl

Author Andrea @ French Pressed Kitchen

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup oat bran
• ¾ cup milk I used almond
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon nut butter
• 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar optional
• 1 Tablespoon chocolate chips I probably used more!

Toppings

• More chocolate chips chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp, etc!

Instructions

• Mix the oat bran and milk in a small pot. Bring to a light boil on medium heat. This only took about 3-4 minutes for me, a bit faster than normal rolled oats.
• Once mixture starts to look creamy, add in the cinnamon, coconut oil, nut butter, ground flaxseed and coconut sugar (if using). Stir until well combined. If the mixture looks too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out.
• Stir in a few chocolate chips at the very end just before serving, or save them all as a topping! I like them melted in a bit.
• Add the rest of the toppings and enjoy!

Bon appétit!

The post Chocolate Chip Cookie Oat Bran Porridge appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

They're so moist, sweetened only with bananas and oh so fluffy. Monique over at Ambitious Kitchen is just one of my fav's and she never leads me astray.

The original recipe is paleo and you could keep it that way - I expect they'd turn out just as great. I added some oats for some more volume and because, well, I love oats. I made some other tweaks, adding in collagen peptides for a protein boost, walnuts for crunch and a dash of espresso powder for some depth. I used Wellbee's Super Fine Blanched Almond Flour for my almond flour, a change from my usual Trader Joe's almond meal. This definitely helped give the muffins a lighter texture!

I used avocado oil in these, but coconut oil would work just as well.

Aren't they staring you down now too? I feel like I should already make another batch. Even if you're impatient like me and like to eat them warm, be sure to cool them (or some) on a rack for a bit so the bottoms don't get soggy (I always forget this part).

Bet you can't eat just one.

These make a great breakfast on the go (if you're feeling indulgent), or a perfect mid-morning, mid-afternoon snack. I might suggest an almond milk cappuccino to go with them. Once they've cooled, unveil the delicious and enjoy!

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Banana Muffins with Almond Flour, Walnuts + Chocolate

Recipe adapted slightly from Ambitious Kitchen. These muffins are such a treat - and healthy too! No added sugar, just the bananas!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword Almond Flour, Banana, Chocolate Chips, Muffin, Walnuts

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 23 minutes

Total Time 33 minutes

Servings 10

Author Andrea | French Pressed Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 and ¾ cups almond flour
• ¼ cup flaxseed meal
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 3 scoops Vital Proteins collagen peptides
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Pinch of espresso powder
• 2 medium extra ripe bananas about ¾ cup mashed banana
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 1 Tablespoon melted avocado oil or coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line or grease a muffin tin (enough for 10).
• In a large bowl, mix the mashed banana, egg, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, vanilla and almond milk until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, mix together almond meal, flaxseed meal, rolled oats, collagen, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and espresso powder. Set aside.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts
• Fill the muffin cups up. These don't rise a ton, so I filled them most of the way. Bake 20-23 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Try not to eat these all at once. I wanted to. You can always freeze a few for later to restrain yourself. Just pop in the microwave for a few minutes to reheat.

Bon appétit!

The post Banana Muffins with Almond Flour, Walnuts + Chocolate appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.