Nocciolata Swirl Meringues

These Nocciolata swirl meringues are made with a better quality chocolate hazelnut spread that doesn’t have palm oil or dairy. They are crunchy outside, a little chewy inside and just the right amount of sweet. 

According to Google, "Nocciolata is made with organic ingredients, including sunflower oil and cocoa butter, and is free of palm oil, artificial flavors, and preservatives, making it a more natural option. Nutella, on the other hand, includes palm oil, modified palm oil, and other ingredients like soy lecithin and vanillin." 

A couple of years ago, I was looking for a vegan friendly chocolate hazelnut spread to use in a recipe – I can’t remember what I wanted to make – and came across Nocciolata online. Unfortunately, none of the shops near me carried it and shipping was cost prohibitive so I was forced to abandon the project.

Fast forward to last summer when we were traveling in France and there it was! Of course, I had to buy a couple of jars. It’s lovely stuff, darker chocolate than Nutella and not overly sweet. I wish I could remember why I wanted it! 

It was perfect swirled through these baked meringues.

Nocciolata Swirl Meringues

If you can’t find Nocciolata, substitute your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread to make these.  I used golden caster sugar but normal granulated sugar will work fine. 

Ingredients

1/4 cup or 75g Nocciolata

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Pinch cream of tartar

Pinch fine sea salt

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon or 112g sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 300°F or 149°C and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with baking parchment. Tip: Put a little dab of oil in the middle and under each corner to help hold it in place. 

Measure the Nocciolata into a ramekin and then put the ramekin in a bowl with hot water, to loosen it slightly. 

Put the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until they are completely foamy. 

Add the cream of tartar and the salt and continue whipping at medium-high speed until, when you lift the whisk attachment, soft peaks form. This should take a few minutes.

Once you have reached the soft peak stage, increase the speed to high and begin adding the sugar a tablespoon at a time (this should take a few minutes). 

Once all the sugar is in, the meringue should be very thick and when you left the whisk firm peaks should remain and it will be glossy.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and drop in all the Nocciolata. 

With a rubber spatula, gently fold it into the meringue three or four times. You’re aiming for a swirled effect so try not to over mix. 

Scoop up a heaping tablespoon of meringue then use another tablespoon to scrape off and drop the meringue onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all of the mixture and made about 14 meringues.

Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately lower the heat to 200°F or 94°C. Bake for 1 hour, turning the baking sheet around halfway through. 

After 1 hour, turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for a few hours as the oven cools. Remove from the oven and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 14th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter N. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the N recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Olya Naralachi Karanji / Fresh Coconut Nevries 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: New England Iced Tea 
• Blogghetti: Zucchini Nut Bread
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Crispy Noodle Salad 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Singapore Noodles 
• A Messy Kitchen: Frozen Negroni
• Culinary Cam: White Nectarine-Lime Jam 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Nut-Free Basil Pesto Chunky Tomato Sauce 
• Magical Ingredients: Nutella Neufchatel Dip 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sweet and Spicy Cashews

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues – this post! 

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Roasted Strawberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

These roasted strawberry muffins are baked with intensely sweet summer strawberries, roasted to concentrate their flavor even more! 

It’s such a pleasure to sniff summer berries that actually smell like they should! Sweet and fragrant. Most of the year strawberry smell of very little, flown in from who knows where but this time of the year, they come from a nearby farm and I just can’t get enough of them.

Mostly we just eat them straight out of the little boxes but occasionally some are left that are getting past their best. Those make the best muffins!

Roasted Strawberry Muffins

No strawberries? Substitute blueberries or raspberries. Or even chopped up peaches or nectarines. 

Ingredients

9 oz or 250g (after hulling and dicing) strawberries

1/2 cup or 100g sugar (I used golden caster sugar.)

1 1/3 cups or 167g flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 75g butter, melted and cooled

1 egg

2/3 cup or 160ml milk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C. Grease or line 9 muffin cups with paper liners. Line a baking pan with nonstick baking parchment for roasting the berries.

Hull your strawberries. I use a small paring knife to dig out the hull.

Chop the strawberries into pieces. Separate out a small pile of strawberry pieces for topping and set aside. 

In a mixing bowl, toss the rest of the strawberries with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. 

Spread the strawberries out on the baking parchment lined baking pan. 

Roast in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. 

Meanwhile, in large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and the rest of the sugar.  

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, milk and vanilla.

Add your cooled roasted strawberries along with any syrup that has been created to the flour bowl and toss gently to coat.  

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and folded until just blended. 

Spoon into your prepared muffin cups, topping each with some of the reserved strawberries.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden.

Transfer from the oven to a wire rack and leave to cool for a few minutes. Remove from the pan. 

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s time for Muffin Monday. Check out all the muffin recipes we are sharing!

• ABC Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Banana Cream Cheese Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Panettone Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Raspberry Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Roasted Strawberry Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Birthday Cake Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Strawberry Ricotta Jumbo Muffins with Ricotta Glaze from Jolene's Recipe Journal

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Tender Grilled Octopus

The secret to tender grilled octopus is baking it first in slow oven then after seasoning with marinade, grilling it over hot coals till it’s charred and crispy on the edges. 

After several years of little of no octopus sighting in the Channel Islands, this summer they are back with a vengeance. According to the lovely ladies we buy seafood from, they are crafty and clever and somehow manage to get into the crab and lobster traps to eat anything caught in there, leaving only the shells behind. 

It's gotten so dire that the local newspaper has printed articles urging us to eat more octopus! Not that we need any encouragement, but we are delighted to do our part. 

Tender Grilled Octopus 

Where to buy octopus? When we are in Houston, we buy fresh octopus at HMart. We especially like the baby ones. 

Ingredients

2 3/4 lbs or 1.25kg octopus or a portion thereof (I had two tentacles and partial head.)

1 whole head garlic

3 bay leaves

3 sprigs of thyme

1 chili pepper

6 oz or 177ml white wine

For the marinade before grilling:

Several sprigs parsley, stems removed

1 roasted pimento (piccante)

2 cloves garlic

Juice 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

½ teaspoon flaked sea salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 300°F or 150°C.

Rinse the octopus in cold water. Put the bulb of garlic sliced in half, the bay leaves, thyme, chili pepper and white wine in a baking pan. 

Put the octopus on top. 

Cover and seal with aluminum foil and then place in the preheated oven and cook for one hour. Test with a fork for tenderness.

Trim tender parts off (usually the skinnier bits) and put the rest back in for another 30 minutes.

Once the octopus is cooked, remove from the tray and leave to cool. 

Separate the octopus tentacles, cutting them in half if they are very large, and cut the head into large pieces. You want pieces that are too large to fall through the grill but that are small enough to turn and manage on the grill. 

In a food processor, make a paste from the parsley, pimento, chopped garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. 

Pour the paste over the octopus and stir to coat. 

Light a charcoal fire. When the coals are red hot and turning grey, place the octopus on the grate. 

Cook for about 10 minutes, covering the grill if need be, turning the octopus regularly so that it gets lovely charred bits and lots of smoke flavor. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating National Grilling Month. Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Grilled Stuffed Squid by Culinary Cam
• Grilled Tandoori Chicken by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Leftover Grilled Chicken Patties by Sneha's Recipe
• Neapolitan Pizza by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Tender Grilled Octopus by Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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