Preparing lovely desserts using hazelnuts (Adrian Johnson Jr.)

The nuts of the hazel are known as hazelnuts. They are also known as filbert nuts or cobnuts. Hazelnuts are mainly used in confectionery to prepare praline and they are also used to prepare chocolate truffles in combination with chocolate and products such as Frangelico liqueur and Nutella. Oil made from hazelnuts is strongly flavored and it is usually used as cooking oil. Below mentioned are a few recipes which use hazelnuts as one of the ingredients.

Chocolate truffles

Ingredients required are:
Hazelnuts - 1 c
Bittersweet chocolate - 3 ? ounces
Heavy cream - ? c
Hazelnut liqueur - 1 ? spoons
Prepared coffee - 1 spoon
Vanilla extract - ? tsp

Preparation: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the hazelnuts on a sheet pan after chopping them. Roast for 10 minutes in the oven. Keep them aside and cool them.
Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream till it boils. Into the bowl of chocolate, immediately pour the hot cream through a sieve. Stir the chocolate and cream together with a wire whisk slowly till the chocolate gets completely melted. If the chocolate is not melted completely, place it in a bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir it for 5 minutes or till it melts. Whisk in the coffee, vanilla and hazelnut liqueur. Cover it and keep it in the fridge for 45 minutes to one hour till it is firm enough to scoop.

Make dollops of the chocolate mixture. With parchment paper, line a baking sheet and place these dollops of mixture onto it. Keep them in fridge for 15 minutes or till they are firm enough that you could roll them into rough spheres. Over the chopped hazelnuts, roll the chocolate truffles and chill them again. It would be best if you could chill them overnight in the fridge.

Praline

Ingredients required are:
Hazelnuts - 5 oz
For the pan, canola oil
Sugar - 2 c
Freshly squeezed lemon juice - 1 ? spoons

Preparation: With a rack in the center, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, spread the nuts. Toast them in the oven for about 8 minutes or till they are fragrant. Take the nuts out of the oven and rub them with a clean kitchen towel vigorously to remove the brown skins. With oil, lightly brush a rimmed baking pan of size 8x12 inch. Into the pan, spread the peeled nuts.

Combine lemon juice and sugar in a medium saucepan. Over medium heat, cook it and with a damp pastry brush, keep brushing down the pan's sides to remove any sugar crystals for about 9 minutes or till the mixture is amber. Over the nuts, pour this mixture directly to create a thin layer. Keep it aside to cool for at least half an hour.
In the bowl of the processor, place half of the praline and process till it is very fine and there are no sharp pieces. Chop the balance praline into tiny pieces to use them for decoration.

As you see, there are some interesting recipes for hazelnuts - also called hasseln?dder by the Danish chefs. But, if you want to learn some more and improve your cooking skills, then Isabellas.dk is the place for it(don't feel abused about the Danish content, just click on Google transalte).