Healthy Homemade Nutella

You may end up eating the whole jar of this homemade hazelnut chocolate butter. Yes, it's that good. It must be time for hazelnut-chocolate goodness because I was going to make a hazelnut chocolate torte. Then my oven broke. But I was holding hazelnuts in my hand. Then... BAM! It hit me: I needed to make Nutella! A homemade Nutella using nothing artificial and using only four ingredients; a treat that only takes five minutes to make.
The making was all going so perfectly until... I was only half way done grinding the hazelnuts, then my food processor went out! (Our house has been having electrical issues.) That explains why the Nutella in the picture looks so grainy. Well, it all tasted wonderful, anyways, and this is a fun and easy treat to make at home! The best part about it? You can eat it on everything!

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnuts*
3/4-1 cup coconut milk (depending on desired richness of the Nutella)
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbs cacao powder

Directions:

1. Pulse the hazelnuts and 3/4 cup coconut milk in a food processor until it forms a hazelnut butter.
2. Pulse in the maple syrup and cacao powder, then, if desired, add more coconut milk.
3. Process until your Nutella forms a smooth and creamy consistency.  

*If you don't want any hazelnut skins in your Nutella, you can blanch them by roasting them, or you can just keep the skins, like I did. The hazelnuts I bought came roasted, so most of the skins were already off, so I recommend buying roasted hazelnuts. If yours have skins, this may help: How to Skin Hazelnuts

I store my homemade Nutella in a Mason jar in the fridge, then take it out 10 minutes before using it, for easy spreading.

Grain-Free Apple Pie

^{Apple pie? Seriously?! Apple pie was my favorite treat ever when I was a kid… or should I say right now; I’m only twelve, people! Anywho, this apple pie is DELICIOUS! The filling tastes all sweet and cinnamon apple-y, and the scrumptious crust has the texture of a giant sugar cookie, just not overly sweet.  I know what I'll be munching on all afternoon, (my mom says I should save some for the rest of the family, though...) and DEFINITELY be having for Thanksgiving dessert. Yum!}

^Ingredients:

For the crusts:

2 cups blanched almond flour

2 cups arrowroot powder/flour

½ tsp sea salt

6 Tbs (1/4 cup + 2 Tbs) coconut oil, melted

2 large eggs

4 tsp (1 Tbs + 1 tsp) honey

For the filling:

5 medium-sized apples

2 Tbs lemon juice (fresh-squeezed or Santa Cruise Organic)

¼ coconut oil, melted

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 Tbs coconut flour

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and position one rack on the 2^nd to upper level, and one on the middle level. To make the crust, whisk together the arrowroot powder, almond flour, and salt using a stand mixer.
 2. Place the oil, eggs, and honey into the flour mixture, and stir until the mixture resembles course crumbs.
 3. Knead the dough with your hands and squeeze it, until it forms a ball.
 4. Divide the dough in half, setting one half aside.
 5. Press one of the halves of dough into an 8½ or 9-inch pie pan, then place it in the fridge.
 6. To make the top crust, use the other half of the dough and form it into a ball and place it between two pieces of parchment paper.
7. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a flat disk, until it’s a little bit bigger than the size of your pie pan.
8. Set the rolled-out top crust aside, while you make the filling.
9. To make the apple filling, peel, core and thinly slice all your apples, one at a time.

10. As you cut your apple slices, add them to a large glass bowl and sprinkle them with a little lemon juice to prevent browning. 

11. Once you have sliced all the apples, pour out all the leftover lemon juice from the apple bowl, (make sure not to pour out the apples!) then toss the slices with the melted coconut oil, cinnamon, coconut sugar, and coconut flour, making sure to coat all slices.
12. Remove the bottom crust from the fridge and place all the coated apple slices inside it.
13. Carefully, place the top crust on top of that, and pinch all the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts. Now, using a sharp knife, make four small slits on the upper crust, for ventilation.
14. Place the pie in the oven on the 2^nd to upper rack, and bake for 35 minutes. 

15. Remove the pie from the oven, put a loose tent on it made of aluminum foil, then place it onto the middle rack and let it bake for 12 more minutes.

16. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!