Mes amis!

Today we are celebrating the filbert in several different ways. Filberts are an alternate name for hazelnuts. The Oregon Hazelnut Industry Office suggests that the name filbert was introduced in America by early French settlers possibly derived from St. Philibert whose feast day was August 20, around the time that the nuts are harvested. Another possibility is that the name derives from “full beard” as it has a husk that fully covers the nut. Hazelnut was the name adopted in England and filbert and hazelnut can be used interchangeably.

Our base for two hazelnut recipes will be a hazelnut paste from Rose Levy Beranbaum. This paste will flavor our homemade Nutella ice cream and form the cookie crust for Rose’s hazelnut torte. There is a fair amount of work needed to make the paste, but you’ll be rewarded with a surplus (even if making both of these deserts). The extra can go to topping the ice cream or any sweet treat you’ve got going.

Hazelnut Paste

3 cups water

1/4 cup baking soda

1 1/2 cups hazenuts

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbs hazelnut oil (or canola)

Set the oven to 350 and boil three cups of water in a larger saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Add the hazelnuts and set the pan back on the heat. Boil for 3 minutes and test a nut by running it under cold water and seeing if the skin slips off easily. If not, boil for another few minutes. Ladle the spoons out of the pan and into a bowl with cool water. Start rubbing! I won’t lie, this next step is somewhat tedious. Using a kitchen towel, rub each nut so that the skin comes off. Rinse the finished nuts and spread them our on a baking pan. Toast in the oven for 20 minutes, shaking the pan a few times during the cooking.

Next, set a silicone mat on a baking sheet. Pour the toasted hazelnuts on top.

Then, add the sugar and 1/3 cup of water together in a small saucepan. Heat until the mixture starts to caramelize into a deep amber (370 on the thermometer). Pour the caramel over the nuts and let it all harden and cool. Break the praline apart and place in a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons of hazelnut oil and puree until smooth. I couldn’t get it super smooth or paste-y (the food processor started to smoke, so I stopped).

Homemade Nutella Ice Cream

1 1/2 cup of hazelnut paste (above)

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz milk chocolate

5 egg yolks

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar and salt in a saucepan. In a separate pan, heat the other cup of cream until just simmering. Add the chocolate and remove from heat. Stir together until smooth. Set aside. Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks. Add a little of the warmed milk mixture to the eggs, whisk, repeat, then add the eggs to the saucepan and bring to medium heat. Stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Set a strainer over the melted chocolate and pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Mix and add 1 cup of the hazelnut paste and the vanilla. Chill overnight. The next day, mix the ice cream base according to your ice cream maker instructions. When scooping the finished ice cream into its freezer container, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of the paste. Sprinkle with some left over hazelnut paste! Enjoy!