To make Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Mousse Tart with Hazelnuts from her new cookbook Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts published by Random House Canada, I had to go about learning how to skin and candy these beauties. Wish I could say it was easy but I can say it isn’t impossible.
According to Martha, roast hazelnuts in a 375F oven 10 minutes. Let them cool off, then rub them in a clean kitchen towel to remove skins. Yeah right. Some of the skins came off but I had to place the filberts in a sieve over the sink, rubbing against the sieve to help encourage the skins to come off.
A bit better but far from perfect. Also, a lot of the hazelnuts really went dark even after the skins came off so if your oven runs hot, maybe put them in a 350F oven.
Next step was candying them which turned out to be much easier to do. In a small sauce pan add 1/3 cup of the skinned hazelnuts, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 cup of water.
Bring to a boil and cook for one minute.
Drain the hazelnuts and in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, bake in a 350F oven for 15 minutes.
They will come out all toasted and shiny and smelling a lot like Nutella! Perfect garnish for the Chocolate Mousse Tart and so many other yummy applications! If you have the patience to skin the hazelnuts, candying them is easy and creates a very special treat.
These look great but did you know there’s a MUCH easier way to skin hazelnuts?
http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/2011/02/nutella-lamingtons-for-world-nutella-day-2011/
So so much easier…
On a chocolate mousse tart? Perfect!
I could eat a bucket full of these they sound so good! I wouldn’t worry about having some bits of skin still left on the hazelnuts, it gives them a rustic look, actually quite pretty.
Yes Mardi! I have used the boiling method when I made the Latvian torte for my mom. It is much easier, I agree! I had to do it Martha’s way though to review the recipe but next time, I am boiling them, LOL.
Ava, I could have eaten all these in seconds, it was so hard not to snack on them. I agree, the rustic quality is appealing, isn’t it? Thanks so much!
I just started making these (I’m bringing the syrup to a boil right now), and I found that baking them at 350 for 15 minutes and then vigorously rubbing the crap out of them for about five minutes per three or four scoops got the skins off really well. I had to rub them with my hands before putting them in a bowl afterwards, because it did leave them covered in loose little flakes of skin.
They didn’t end up overly brown either, so maybe it’ll work for you next time! I have a gas oven, and it tends to run a little bit low, so I’m guessing it was more like 340 or 345.
Oh interesting ladymiranoy! A cooler oven and rubbing them with your hands, excellent, thank you! Super helpful, I really appreciate it.