Category: Desserts

Chocolate Coated Hazelnuts

Ingredients:

Shell fifty filberts, keeping them whole.
Roast the nutmeats in a single layer, in a dry pan, for eight minutes in a preheated moderate oven. While they are still hot, take the nuts up in a kitchen towel and gently rub off their husks. Allow to cool.
Mix half a cup of pure Dutch roasted cocoa powder with a quarter cup of sugar. Add a few drops of Kirsch or rum, a few drops of pure vanilla, and enough water to make a smooth paste. Dilute this with more water, half a cup in total.
Set the cocoa mixture over a medium fire and bring to the boil, stirring continually to avert sticking. Cook for thirty seconds, and remove from the fire. Continue to stir for another thirty seconds, until the mixture has cooled somewhat. Let stand for half an hour.
Toss in your hazelnuts. Coat them with the chocolate, and, using a spoon or a pair of chopsticks, set them out onto a sheet of clean parchment paper,* in clusters if you like, or singly. Allow to set for an hour.
Lift the filberts carefully from the parchment, and dip them into the chocolate preparation, one at a time so as not to disturb the coating already applied, and set out again to dry for four hours.
When they dry out completely, they will lose their shine,* so keep them well wrapped,or in an airtight container.

Notes:

*Parchment paper is expensive, but you can use each sheet more than once. You may have to go to a kitchen supply store to find any.
*Chocolatiers craft the glossy exteriors of commercial chocolates with a 'finishing' preparation that usually includes paraffin and waxes of various natures. Finishing chocolate is hard to find outside of commercial kitchens.

Recipe Index

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