I love Polvorones, but for years I did not include them in my Christmas menus, since They usually have sugar and they do not stand out for their nutritional contribution, since they contain refined flours and low-quality fats. This recipe, however, can give you back that little piece of happiness that accompanies our Christmas traditions.
Christmas is a celebration that goes beyond religion; It is the celebration of the shortest day and the longest night. It is an ancestral festival that invites fill with lights and celebrate with friends and family or, if you prefer, just with your pet.
Celebrating life is also a great reason and, of course, in our culture, celebration is always accompanied by the gifts that life gives us, such as food.
Ingredients
- 85 g almond flour or teff flour.
- 100 g of hazelnut flour (you can grind hazelnuts until you get a flour texture).
- 140 g of cashew or hazelnut cream (you can replace it with any nut cream).
- 35 g of coconut sugar or your favorite sweetener.
- 42 g of melted cocoa butter or 70 g of white chocolate without added sugar.
- Optional: coconut flour powder to decorate or vanilla and/or cinnamon flavor protein
Elaboration
- Combine the flours together with the coconut sugar or your favorite sweetener.
- Add the nut cream and melted cocoa butter or melted chocolate.
- Mix well with a spatula and knead lightly with your hands until the dough is completely integrated. If the mixture is too dry, add a pinch of water or non-dairy milk.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Spread the dough between two baking papers and cut with molds of your choice.
- Place on a tray with baking paper and bake at 160°C for 16-18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.
- Remove the Polvorones from the oven and let them cool completely so they can harden.
- Sprinkle with coconut flour, protein powder or cinnamon to taste before serving.
Properties of hazelnuts
Roasted or fried nuts are not healthy, since when processed in this way their healthy fats become inflammatory. On the other hand, when you consume them raw, they do not they turn so easily into butter. However, there are tricks to make it at home.
To achieve this, you just have to add a quarter more than the measurement you need in this recipe and grind it in a powerful device. At first, you will have to do it at medium speed. Every time you go to increase the speed, it is important that you stop to remove the hazelnuts from the walls of the glass and grind them again for another two minutes or until you achieve the desired texture.
Hazelnuts are nuts that provide us with many benefits:
High antioxidant content: Consumed with the skin and unroasted, hazelnuts contain three times more antioxidants, called proanthocyanidins, than other nuts. For this reason, these compounds help combat the damaging action of free radicals in organs and cells.
Skin and hair: Thanks to their content of folate and biotin, two B vitamins, hazelnuts promote skin and hair care.
More energy, improvement of neurons, inflammation and immune system: They contain copper, a mineral involved in multiple functions, such as the formation of red blood cells, the fight against free radical damage and interventions in the communication between neurons. It also improves cardiac function, collaborates in the integrity of the central nervous system and contributes to the health of connective tissues.
References
- Ciemniewska-Żytkiewicz H, Verardo V, Pasini F, Bryś J, Koczoń P, Caboni MF. Determination of lipid and phenolic fraction in two hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cultivars grown in Poland. Food Chem. 2015 Feb 1;168:615-22. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.07.107. Epub 2014 Jul 30. PMID: 25172755. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25172755/
- Frijhoff J, Winyard PG, Zarkovic N, Davies SS, Stocker R, Cheng D, Knight AR, Taylor EL, Oettrich J, Ruskovska T, Gasparovic AC, Cuadrado A, Weber D, Poulsen HE, Grune T, Schmidt HH, Ghezzi P .Clinical Relevance of Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2015 Nov 10;23(14):1144-70. doi: 10.1089/ars.2015.6317. Epub 2015 Oct 26. PMID: 26415143; PMCID: PMC4657513. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26415143/
- Sinha N, Dabla PK. Oxidative stress and antioxidants in hypertension-a current review. Curr Hypertens Rev 2015;11(2):132-42. doi: 10.2174/1573402111666150529130922. PMID: 26022210. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26022210/
- Ciarmiello LF, Mazzeo MF, Minasi P, Peluso A, De Luca A, Piccirillo P, Siciliano RA, Carbone V. Analysis of different European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cultivars: authentication, phenotypic features, and phenolic profiles. J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Jul 2;62(26):6236-46. doi: 10.1021/jf5018324. Epub 2014 Jun 24. PMID: 24927513. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24927513/
- Bolling BW, McKay DL, Blumberg JB. The phytochemical composition and antioxidant actions of tree nuts. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2010;19(1):117-23. PMID: 20199996; PMCID: PMC5012104. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20199996/
- Tey SL, Gray AR, Chisholm AW, Delahunty CM, Brown RC. The dose of hazelnuts influences acceptance and diet quality but not inflammatory markers and body composition in overweight and obese individuals. J Nutr. 2013 Aug;143(8):1254-62. doi: 10.3945/jn.113.174714. Epub 2013 Jun 12. PMID: 23761651. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23761651/
- Orem A, Yucesan FB, Orem C, Akcan B, Kural BV, Alasalvar C, Shahidi F. Hazelnut-enriched diet improves cardiovascular risk biomarkers beyond a lipid-lowering effect in hypercholesterolemic subjects. J Clin Lipidol. 2013 Mar-Apr;7(2):123-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2012.10.005. Epub 2012 Oct 26. PMID: 23415431. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23415431/
Sign up for our newsletter and receive the best news in your email to fully enjoy the pleasure of eating.
#healthy #glutenfree #pollorones
