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Hazelnut Cake with Pear and Ricotta

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It was a rainy Saturday and I wasn’t in the mood to clean, (who ever is?) and so often my solution is to dream up a new recipe and whisk myself away in creativity for a few hours, it definitely helps my soul and eases my guilty conscious.

On this particular day, I decided try my hand at a gluten-free dessert. There is only one problem, I LOVE cake and normally cake needs that one minor ingredient, flour and that one minor ingredient isn’t gluten-free….at least the cakes I love. Dang, maybe my dessert with be glutton-free instead since I don’t feel guilty about being a glutton……now that could be a new trend, GLUTTON-FREE DESSERTS! Brilliant!

Okay, back on focus…..so time to think of some other type of flour.  I thought about all the various kinds of nuts I love, which is all of them, but I particularly love hazelnuts, I mean I LOVE them so I decided to grind up hazelnuts for my “cake flour”. If your not as obsessed with hazelnuts, this cake would be equally amazing with ground up almonds or cashews, just fire up your imagination.

Now that I figured my cake out, I wanted to make a “filling” that would mimic something between semifreddo and gelato, how can you go wrong with that desire? I make a delicious homemade ricotta and since pears were in season  I decided to combine pears, homemade ricotta cheese, whip cream, pear brandy, and sugar together and created a creamy filling that should have been illegal! It ROCKED! Seriously, it was a miracle of flavors.

The last step that needed to happen was to take the two cake layers, gob this yummy creamy filling in between, stick it in the freezer, and cross my fingers that it “sets up”. If this worked, I was sure to eat the whole thing.

I’m not sure if that was a blessing or a curse as I really didn’t need to promise myself an entire dessert, after all I was blowing off cleaning, probably shouldn’t reward that or should I? Anyway, it worked and it worked beautifully! Good thing the bet was to myself and not someone else who would love to see me eat a whole cake into oblivion…..

So here’s a New Years cheer to indulgence, days without cleaning, and glutton-free desserts….

Hazelnut Ricotta Pear Cake
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 2 Cups whole hazelnuts, finely ground
  • 6 Large eggs
  • ⅔ Cup sugar
  • 7 Tbsp butter, melted
  • For the pears:
  • 2 Bartlett or William pears, peeled, cored, and diced or thinly sliced
  • ½ Cup sugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp pear brandy
  • For the syrup:
  • ⅓ Cup sugar
  • 3 Tbsp pear brandy
  • For the filling:
  • 17 oz ricotta cheese, preferably homemade
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • For the ricotta cheese:
  • 6 cups organic whole milk
  • 2 cups organic heavy cream
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 T organic white wine vinegar
  • For cranberries:
  • 1 bag cranberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
Instructions
  1. Make the ricotta: In a saucepan on stove over medium heat, put in the milk, cream, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a medium heat and boil where it starts to separate. Put in a mesh colander over a bowl until liquid is drained
  2. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 ½ -inch springform pans.
  3. Grind the hazelnuts in a mini food processor until very fine.
  4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs and sugar and beat on high speed for 15 minutes, until the mixture has quadrupled in volume. Gently fold in the hazelnuts and flour with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the butter. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until firm to the touch. Set aside.
  5. Make the pears: In a small saucepan combine the pears, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch and simmer over medium-low heat until the pears are soft. Remove from the heat, stir in the brandy, and let cool to room temperature. Set aside.
  6. Make the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and ½ cup water and bring to a boil. Stir in brandy.
  7. Make the filling: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the ricotta, sugar, and vanilla for at least 5 minutes, until creamy.
  8. Meanwhile, beat the cream until firm peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the ricotta mixture. Fold in the cooled pear mixture.
  9. Assemble the dessert: Remove one of the cake layers from the pan and place on a serving platter large enough to hold the outer ring of the springform pan. Brush the cake with one-half of the syrup to moisten it. Pile the filling in the center of the cake and put the springform ring back over the cake.
  10. Gently spread the filling to the edges and then top with the second layer of cake. Brush the remaining syrup over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer until set, about 2 hours. Remove the springform ring and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  11. For cranberry decorations:
  12. On stovetop in a saucepan, put sugar and water and heat until sugar is dissolved. Pull off and let rest 10 minutes. Put cranberries in a bowl and pour sugar/water mixture over the top. Cover and put in fridge for 2 hours. When ready to decorate, take cranberries out of mixture and roll in sugar to coat. This may take a few times and then let dry on a tray lined with parchment paper.

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Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti

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I love to make biscotti any time of year but at Christmas especially, they make the BEST dunking cookies (well, along with the taralli wine cookies!) and with a hot cappuccino, I couldn’t ask for a happier breakfast.  The only problem is the number I consume due to how much I love them….

It brings me back to the times when my italian grandmother made them for us, she would have never varied from the traditional recipe of anise or almond but it didn’t matter because they were one of those delectables that I waited to have every time we went to her house for a visit. I can remember the old antique plate stacked full of biscotti waiting on the table when we arrived. I am not even sure I said hello or gave her a hug, I just made a bee line to that table. Of course no vin santo for us but milk did the trick when I was younger, she probably wished she would have given us a sip or two of vin santo when she agreed to watch all 8 of her grandkids together. Oh mama mia, poor lady!

Each year during Christmas baking, I change up the dried fruit and nut mixture which makes them seem like a whole new invention and a whole new invention needs A LOT of sampling, right? Works in my world…These particular biscotti really hit my happy button because they contain dried figs and hazelnuts, two of my favorite. I also added in a little fennel seed and drizzled with really good dark chocolate.  I thought about adding a little cinnamon but since fennel seed is so yummy and not used as much, I went that route and it was a beautiful discovery,  it is a happy dance in your mouth and washing down with cappuccino (maybe some vin santo for a evening treat) just starts your day right (or ends it right!). Seriously, these are an explosion of flavors, you will love it.

So forgive me nonna for veering away from tradition but I promise if you were here to try them, you would approve

5.0 from 1 reviews
Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2½ dozen
Ingredients
  • Ingredients
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp fennel seed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
  • ¾ cup dried figs, coarsely chopped
  • 12 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest, fennel seed and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the figs and hazelnuts.
  3. Form the dough into 2 logs. Bake until light golden, about 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
  4. Place the logs on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into ½ to ¾-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
  5. Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscotti. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes.

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