I know I know, I will begin my apology now, I am so sorry I haven't posted in 20 days. But I have been incredibly busy, sometimes not even enough time to sleep. On my occasional days off, I will sleep for 12-13 hours, wake up begin writing down recipes as if I am going to begin to bake. And as I am searching for recipes my eyes are drifting off back to sleep. So then I go to bed at midday and sleep for another 3-4 hours. I just thought I would share that with you so I can justify myself!! haha
I have missed it so much, but just know that this post is a goodie. With a great recipe. The recipe is from my work. When I was pastry chef at Mavis and Co, I used to make this slice called blueberry hazelnut slice. It is honestly like heaven in your mouth, it is also gluten free.
I would definitely say this slice is the best out of all the slices at Mavis and Co. If I was to describe it, it has a sweet cheesecake filling with tart blueberries (because blueberries are quite tart) and a starchy crumbly base and topping. The starchy texture comes from the gluten free flour, it is perfect because it is a contrast in textures but also balances out the sweetness from the cheesecake filling.
I honestly love this slice and I remember for my 17th Birthday I went to Mavis and co and shared this slice with my best friend.
So this cake was a lemon drizzle yogurt cake, ( I combinded lemon yogurt cake and lemon drizzle cake together for intense lemon flavour)with vanilla cream cheese icing, filled with pieces of blueberry hazelnut slice and fresh blueberries, decorated with a 'Happy Birthday' buntings, honey glazed lemon slices, pieces of blueberry hazelnut slice, fresh mint leaves and cream cheese rosettes.
This is a very classic flavour combination, but I feel it never goes out of fashion, just because the flavours are so classic and are so yummy. There are only a couple of people you will meet in your lifetime who don't like citrus.
I adeed the mont leaves because I felt like it needed a bit of green, it was very yellow colour based and I felt like it needed more then that.
Here is the delightful blueberry hazelnut slice, so delicious, when the cream cheese filling is baked it turns very cheesecake texture like. Oh it is making me hungry now!
Perfection!
Today I have the blueberry hazelnut recipe to share!
Gf Flour:
1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
Mix all flours together till well combined. I like to make my own GF flour, that way I can alter the baked goods to how I would liked them. Every flour and starch plays a big and different role in the final product of the baked GF good.
You can find all these flours/starches in the organic section of your supermarket. Or alternatively at a health food store.
Base:
250g hazelnuts
450g gf flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
370g cold butter cubed
Filling:
400g cream cheese, softened
1 cup caster sugar
zest of 2 oranges
Pre heat oven to 150 degrees. Process the hazelnuts in a food processor until it is coarsely chopped, add your flour,sugar and cinnamon to the mix. With the processor churning add your cold butter until a dough forms.
Set aside wrapped in grad wrap, while you make the filling. (Let it rest)
Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, add your zest and sugar, add the sugar slowly, you might not need all of it, it sweetens up pretty quickly.
With the base, measure out 500g of base and set aside. With the leftover base press it into a rectangle tin, the smaller you go the thicker and taller your slices will be, the bigger you go the slices will be longer and thicker.
Bake the slice for 15-18 mins, until it looks like a crispy edge and dry round the edges.
Allow it to cool before using a palette knife to evenly spread the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the blueberries over the even spread of filling. With the 500g reserved base you saved, sprinkle it over the top covering most of the blueberries.
Place in the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes, just until it is firmer to touch and the cream cheese looks at a point where it will set when it cools.
Place on a wire rack and allow it to cool down completely. Transfer to the fridge to set overnight.
Seriously give this slice a whirl, you won't be disappointed!
Until next time lovelies
LINZ x x
3 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)
