Hazelnut Praline Paste Food

HAZELNUT PRALINE PASTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F (160°F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the hazelnuts on the tray.
• Bake the nuts for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway. When the nuts are fragrant and roasted, remove the tray from the oven and place the nuts onto a clean kitchen towel.
• Rub the nuts with a towel to peel off the skin of the hazelnuts. It's ok if you can't remove all of it, but the most you take out, the smoother the paste will be. Discard skin. Set aside the nuts in a bowl.
• Meanwhile, add water and sugar into a non-stick saucepan. Bring to a simmer and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone tool. Keep cooking until the sugar has dissolved, then increase to high heat, bring to a rolling boil and keep cooking until golden in color - takes about 9 minutes in total to make a golden syrup from sugar and water.
• Stop the heat and stir in roasted nuts to evenly coat them with the sugar syrup.
• Pour the caramelized hazelnuts onto a baking tray covered with a piece of lightly oiled parchment paper.
• Place into the fridge for 10 minutes or wait for a few hours at room temperature until the caramel hardens and nuts stick together and forms clusters of pralines.
• Break clusters of caramelized hazelnuts, bring into the food processor or high-speed blender, and process at high speed until it turns into a past. You may have to stop the food processor every 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat until the paste forms. It takes about 2 minutes in total.
• First, you obtain a powder, then crushed nuts, and finally, it will turn into a paste.
• Store in a mason glass jar in the pantry for up to 1 month.

HAZELNUT PRALINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Spread nuts on a rimmed baking sheet, and toast them in the oven until they are fragrant, about 8 minutes. Transfer nuts to a clean kitchen towel, and rub nuts in towel vigorously between your hands to remove the brown skins. Lightly brush an 8-by-12-inch rimmed baking pan with the oil. Spread the peeled nuts in the pan.
• In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, brushing down sides of pan with a damp pastry brush to remove any sugar crystals that may form, until mixture is amber, about 9 minutes; do not stir. (Pan may be swirled gently about halfway through to incorporate any uncooked sugar.) Pour directly over nuts to create a thin layer. Set aside to cool, at least 30 minutes.
• Place half the praline in the bowl of a food processor; process until the praline is very fine with no sharp pieces. Cut the remaining praline into small pieces for decoration.

HAZELNUT PRALINE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Cake.
• Set a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 375 degrees. Lightly coat two 9-inch cake pans with nonstick vegetable spray. Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of baking parchment.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together three times.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter and sugar at high speed for 15 seconds, until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.
• Continue beating on high until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes more.
• With the mixer on its lowest setting, beat in a third of the flour mixture. Beat in half the buttermilk and all the Frangelico, then the hazelnuts and another third of the flour mixture. Beat in the remaining buttermilk and then the remaining flour.
• Spread the batter in the prepared pans and bake about 20 to 25 minutes, until cake is golden brown and the center springs back when lightly pressed and a cake tester comes out clean.
• Set the pans on a rack to cool. Turn out the cakes when cool enough to handle. (If the cakes are refrigerated for 2 hours at this stage, they will be easier to handle and frost.).
• Praline Buttercream.
• Put 1/2 cup water and the sugar in a small saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer. Over high heat, bring the temperature to 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).
• In the meantime, in the completely clean and dry bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar until creamy, foamy, and barely able to hold very soft peaks. With the mixer running on slow, carefully drizzle in the hot syrup. Continue to whisk on high speed until mixture is fluffy, firm, and cooled to room temperature; gradually beat in the butter and then the praline paste.
• When the cakes are cold, trim the tops with a large serrated knife. Split each cake into two layers.
• Spread a 1/4-inch layer of the buttercream between each layer. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining buttercream, and then coat the sides of the cake with the chopped hazelnuts.
• Optional.
• Decorate top of cake with whole hazelnuts, blackberries, or raspberries to form a row around the edge.

HAZELNUT PASTE

Steps:

• Coarsely chop the hazelnuts.
• In a food processor or blender, finely grind about 1/3 of the nuts at a time, until mealy.
• Add egg whites, powdered sugar and liqueur.
• Blend until paste forms.
• Wrap and store in a covered container, up to 2 weeks.