Yum, yum, yum! That’s all I have to say… Living in Oregon, you are basically destined to make foods with hazelnuts. How can you not? They are a wonderful, delightful tasting nut. Mmmmm… Add chocolate to them and my word, you have a wonderful creation.

I woke up this morning wanting chocolate. Actually that’s a lie, I didn’t want anything due to stomach cramps, so I had a green smoothie. However, when that subsided I went into a chocolate crave and ended up making a few chocolate dessert treats. You’ll get the second chocolate dessert recipe tomorrow. Want a hint? Okaaay, it has raw cacao in it, it’s completely raw, fudgy, finger-licking good. Oh goodness…

A few days ago I made a batch of sprouted, dehydrated nuts (always good to have those on hand). One of those nuts were hazelnuts. I thought “what would be wonderful with these?” as I was munching down on an 80% raw chocolate bar. Then an idea sprouted out of my head and I threw the chocolate bar into the air, smashing the light above me. I popped a piece of chocolate in my mouth along with a sprouted hazelnut (possibly some glass from the light bulb), I just about fainted. The tastes and textures together were amazing. It’s like they were meant to be paired together as one. I quickly started grabbing ingredients I felt would also go well with the mix; cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple syrup  and himalayan sea salt. Tossed it all into a food processor and processed it up for a good 4 minutes. It was creamy, it was thick, everything blended together in perfect harmony. I was in heaven. I started dipping whole hazelnuts into the chocolate hazelnut butter goodness. Now THAT tasted wonderful. Double hazelnut explosion in my mouth. My chocolate fix was being fixed. I was happy, I was content, I was in chocolate heaven. In a daze, lost in my own world with only the flavors swirling around my taste buds, begging for more. Wow! I got so into eating chocolate, I didn’t realize I was getting it everywhere. Most of the time after I bake, my mom finds batter in the strangest places. I don’t even know how it gets there. She found some chocolate hazelnut butter on our screen door. How is that possible? It must happen when I’m in my chocolate daze.

As you probably know, it’s April Fool’s Day. I’m sorry for what ever pranks were played on you. This year was actually the only year I never played a prank on someone (and I love doing that). Every year I had, never quite worked out. Two years ago when I was a recipe contributor for an online organic magazine called Organic Soul, I posted an April Fool’s recipe. Now, from following my recipes you know how I’m completely into organic living, all ingredients are organic, everything organic, no questions asked. Well, people got a little “sensitive” towards the recipe I posted, it appeared they forgot it was April Fool’s Day. I don’t remember the exact ingredients but the recipe was for a chocolate red cake. Some ingredients were, cherry coke, crisco, red food dye, hydrogenated oil, hershey’s cocoa, bleached white flour. And I wrote how amazing this cake was and how the cherry coke really made the cake delicious and brought out amazing flavors. You already know how I get descriptive with my foods. There were SO many comments of people freaking out, getting mad and upset. Telling me I really shouldn’t be eating foods like this and how they were angered Organic Soul would post a recipe like this. Luckily there were a few people who got it and tried to calm the others down. Now if they read the whole recipe, they would’ve seen April Fool’s at the end.

Last year for April Fool’s Day, I tried to play a prank on one of my co-workers. I wasn’t at work, he was worried and I texted him and told him I was quitting. Instead of him immediately texting me back to ask further questions, he told everyone in the office, including the CEO. Everyone was freaking out, and the CEO immediately called me and was asking me to please not quite, what could they do to keep me. It took awhile for me to get a word in and tell him it was an April Fool’s prank to my co-worker. He was very relieved and then told everyone in the office it was April Fool’s (apparently they were all in the same room around the phone). Everyone immediately started laughing and was relieved it wasn’t true. That one cracked me up.

This year, nothing. I just surrounded myself with chocolate. I tried to think of something, but everything I thought of seemed too harsh. So I made treats instead (actual healthy ones). Now, enough with this April Fool’s talk, here is the recipe! Mmmm, yummm, get. in. my. tummy.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cup organic sprouted hazelnuts (ground into hazelnut meal)
• 1/2 cup organic raw cacao
• 1/4-1/3 cup organic pure maple syrup (any liquid sweetener will work, honey would be divine)
• 1/2 cup hazelnut milk
• accidental pour of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon himalayan sea salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Blend hazelnuts in a food processor until a fine flour. (or you can just buy hazelnut meal, but it won’t be sprouted).
2. Then add all the other ingredients and process for a good 4 minutes, until you have a thick, smooth consistency. It it’s too thin add more hazelnut meal, too thick add more hazelnut milk.
3. Now enjoy and try not to get chocolate everywhere!

A girl who absolutely loves chocolate,

Emma