Turrón de Castañas
Nuts are well known to be "heart-healthy" by reducing inflammation. Today's featured nut is the Brazil nut. Each brazil nut has around 80mcg of selenium and 19g of "good" fat. Although Brazil nuts have more saturated fat than most other nuts, this plant-based fat is a healthier alternative to animal-based saturated fats, which are different and more harmful (a great article by Dr. David Katz). These fats also make nuts the perfect ingredient to make desserts creamy.
Matthew made this dessert when he was trying to “impress” me a few years ago, and we finally revisited it because it's so good. We made a 7x7 inch cake in late January and made cupcakes the next weekend.
We modified the recipe from The Peruvian Kitchen with mostly plant-based ingredients. We replaced butter with coconut oil, and made a macadamia nut version of the manjar blanco (dulce de leche). I ground up gluten-free oats to make flour and also ground up the Brazil nuts to a creamy consistency. The result was a delectable, smooth cupcake: a fusion of coconut with Brazil nut, complemented by a fresh macadamia nut topping.
