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Certifiably Nuts Cracking a nut is a little like tearing into a present. One has to display a certain amount of respect for the packaging while caring for little other than the contents. Too much aggression can damage the gift within, though something has to be destroyed in order for the essence to be revealed. It’s
never entirely clear whether the nut will reveal itself as a practical
gift or a frivolous one. Nuts can go either way. When combined with
herbs and aromatics to create savory dishes, nuts tend to taste sweet.
When combined with sugar and spice, they taste rich and earthy and lend
a certain substance to cookies, pies or cakes. Of
course, each nut has its own nuance and range. And it is the nut’s
individual character that best suggests how to deploy it. For example,
the hazelnut, also known as the filbert, has the allure of an effete,
high-class nut, probably because it’s expensive and it’s oil highly
prized in France, where it is used to dress salads. Eaten in China for
the last 5000 years, the hazelnut is dense with an underlying freshness
that balances its inherent sweet flavour. Hazelnuts, therefore, are best
ground for cakes or sweet holiday breads. Walnuts,
on the other hand, are more proletarian. Technically not nuts at all but
the seeds of a fruit, they are less sweet and dense than hazelnuts and
accordingly more versatile. In fact, there is a gentle accord between
the subtle taste of a walnut and the flavour of both fresh and dried
fruits. Pecans
tend to be denser and more distinctly nutty still, and in the southern
United States have long been sugared and spiced and then ground into
cakes or used to stud sticky buns and bourbon laced pies. But
try, as they might, nuts, like people, never entirely escape their
pasts. A walnut can be ground into a steamed pudding and served with an
elegant custard sauce, but the pudding part will always play commoner to
the aristocratic topping. Furthermore, a rich chocolate cake of ground
hazelnuts can be outrageously dense and chocolatey, and yet the nuts
remain above the fray. But
whatever their individual destinies, nuts are an integral part of our
culinary lives. The smell of them baking is synonymous with family
gathering. The taste of them in a sweet dessert at the end of a meal is
a comforting reminder of the tenderness that toughness can contain. Rich
Hazelnut Chocolate Cake 1
cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus additional for
greasing the pan. Flour
for coating the pan 8
ounces Callebaut bittersweet chocolate chopped coarsely. 8
eggs, separated 1
¼ cups sugar ¾
cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and ground 1
tablespoon hazelnut liqueur Confectioner’s
sugar 1)
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter and flour a 10-inch spring form
pan. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl over barely simmering water
until melted, stirring often. Whisk egg yolks with ¾ cup of sugar.
Whisk in the chocolate mixture, hazelnuts and liqueur. 2)
Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the
remaining sugar and whip to firm peaks. Stir 1/3 of the whites into the
chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining whites. Scrape the batter into
the prepared pan and bake until a tester inserted into the centre of the
cake comes out slightly moist, about 55 minutes. Let cool; cake will
fall. Remove from the sides of the pan and sift confectioner’s sugar
over the top. Cut into wedges and serve. Yield:
10 servings
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