Sometimes we try to do something and something else comes out of it instead. Not necessarily bad or good. Just different. It came out to be good in this example, actually. While I was still at my parents’ this weekend, we bought a whole bunch of hazelnuts to make some homemade Nutella. Well, we didn’t get Nutella… However we got a snack out of it. Still good.
The flavor is interesting. Not very similar to Nutella at all but my mom and I really enjoyed it. We both really like the taste of roasted hazelnuts because their flavor is very distinct. On the other hand, my dad and boyfriend weren’t big fans – they weren’t sure what to think of the distinct flavor. I think it’s because it was more unfamiliar to them and perhaps not sweet enough. For me, I thought it was a perfect snack as long as it’s eaten straight out of the fridge. The coldness allows them to hold their shape and I think it enhances the flavor in a nice way.
Even though the hazelnuts roasted for a long time, some of the skins were still really difficult to take off. Took us quite some time to do the whole batch.
If you want hazelnut butter you can simply stop after you get the smooth butter texture of the hazelnuts. No need to add anything else – that’s hazelnut butter for ya. Nice and creamy.
Look at that big square blob of hazelnut chocolatey goodness! I liked making shapes with it. We stuck with the regular square in the end though.
Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
Inspired from Texanerin.
Ingredients:
- 450 grams hazelnuts (without shells)
- scant 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I filled my 1/4 cup about 3/4 of the way up)
- 1/4 cup honey
- pinch of salt
Directions:
Note: The food processor we have in my parents’ house is small so we divided the whole thing into two separate batches and then combined the two.
Roast deshelled hazelnuts for 70-75 minutes at 275 degrees F.
Take the hazelnuts out and while warm, transfer them to a strong paper towel or a clean dish towel, form a bundle and rub the nuts against each other so that the skins come off. Not all of the skins might come off so you will need to use your hands (or help with a knife) to get all of the skins off.
Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and process for a few minutes until you get a nice smooth and creamy texture. This is hazelnut butter and you can stop here if you just want hazelnut butter.
If you want the fudge, put in the cocoa powder, honey, and salt in the food processor and process some more until the mixture starts clumping together. When it’s all kind of clumped up in small sections, just take the whole thing out and mold it into whatever shape you would like on an aluminum wrap. Cover the fudge and stick in the fridge for an hour or two.
Cut into pieces and eat right out of the fridge.
After being outside for a while, it gets pretty soft and mushy.
Shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.
