Restaurant Style Hummus with Smoked Paprika

Here's my hummus post, and, man, is this a deeelicious recipe. I first tried making a jalapeno hummus, and it turned out quite awful. It wasn't a smooth consistency and lacked flavor. So, I decided to scope out my favorite cookbook Cook's Illustrated to see if they had any hummus recipes. Sure enough they did...and a scrumptious one at that. Now, making your own hummus can seem daunting, but it is really quite easy. One of the major steps to getting a smooth consistency is to peel the outer shell from the chickpeas. For me that is the most annoying part. So, what I do is park myself in front of the tv and gather two bowls. One for the empty shells and one for the shell-less chickpeas. It will help make the process go a lot quicker, and you'll end up with restaurant quality hummus. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water (or juice from the chickpea can)
3 tbsp lemon juice (Fresh)
6 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste you can find at your local grocery store)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and de-shelled
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked parika
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts (optional)
1 tbsp thinly sliced scallion greens (optional)

Take out a small bowl and combine chickpea juice (or water) and lemon juice. Set aside. Next, whisk together the tahini and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium-small bowl. Set aside. Now, take out your food processor and process the chickpeas, garlic, salt, cayenne, and smoked paprika for about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Then, with the machine running (and lid attached), add lemon juice mixture in stead stream. Again, scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Then process for an additional minute. With machine running, add in the tahini mixture in steady stream, continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Transfer hummus to a large serving bowl and garnish with 1 tbsp thinly sliced scallion greens (optional), 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts and olive oil. As you can tell in the picture I went a little overboard on the pine nuts. Oh well. Enjoy.