Caramelized Hazelnuts Recipe

Caramelized Hazelnut is a pantry staple in the French tradition with lots of flavor. There's just enough caramel to provide background sweetness and crunch without being too sweet. It is still decadent, though, which is one of the many reasons you might want to keep them on a tall pantry otherwise they won’t last long.

Caramelized hazelnuts are a great way to eat a quick sweet bite. They are made from vanilla, crisp caramel, crunchy toasted hazelnuts or almonds and butter or cocoa butter. They keep very well in an air-tight container, and I recommend that you enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee or as a topping for ice cream.

This recipe uses hazelnuts, but instead you can use almonds. Cocoa butter is added for a longer shelf life.

Ingredients

1 2⁄3 cups of almonds or hazelnuts 

1⁄4 bean vanilla bean 

1 1⁄2 tablespoons of water 

1⁄4 cup granulated sugar 

Cocoa butter 1 1⁄2 teaspoons (You can substitute this with clarified butter)

Steps

Toast the hazelnuts in a 350ºF oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and toasted all the way inside.

To make caramel, place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat until the caramel has a golden color. Add the toasted nuts, stir and coat with the silicone spatula in a medium-low heat for about 1 minute.

Before the caramel is completely cooled, but still hot enough to handle, transfer the caramelized hazelnuts to the silicone pat, separate the individual nuts with two spoons. Set aside and allow to cool completely before serving or storing.

If you want you can skip the separation process and make a praline instead.