Chewy Hazelnut Bites

A cross between dacquoise and an Amoretti biscuit, these deliciously moreish chewy treats make the perfect accompaniment to freshly brewed coffee. These are ridiculously easy to make as well as being gluten and dairy free.

Although you could easily do this recipe with pre-ground hazelnuts, I choose to grind the hazelnuts myself. This is because I like to make the nuts unevenly ground and I leave some varying chunks in there for texture which you just will not get with a pre-ground bag. Another reason is that the freshly ground nuts have not had time to lose their oils, so they have more flavour and make for a softer, chewier cookie.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

Baking Tray

Clean Tea Towel

Spice/ Coffee Grinder

Reusable Baking Sheets/ Greaseproof Paper

Electric Whisk

Sieve

INGREDIENTS

200g Whole Hazelnuts

1 Egg White

40g Soft Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Golden Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

25g Cocoa Powder

25g Icing Sugar

If you do not want to grind your own hazelnuts, purchase 200g of pre-ground hazelnuts and skip ahead to step 3.

1) Roast the hazelnuts in a tray for 10 minutes at 180 degrees/ gas mark 4. When they are lightly toasted and the skins start to flake away, tip the roasted hazelnuts into a clean tea towel. Pull the corners of the tea towel together and scrunch the hazelnuts around in it to remove the skins. Not all of it will come off, but about half is enough to prevent the nuts from tasting bitter.

2) In small batches of about a handful, grind the nuts in a spice/coffee grinder.

They should be mostly fine, but with some chunks left in. Make sure you really do stick to small batches in the grinder, otherwise you will end up either overheating the blades and scorching the nuts or making nut butter.

3) Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees/ gas mark 4. In a very clean, grease-free bowl, lightly whisk the egg white until foamy. Add a teaspoon of brown sugar and continue whipping to a cappuccino foam texture. Add the rest of the brown sugar and keep whisking until it forms a dense meringue, similar to the texture of whipped cream. It will leave clear trails in the mixture behind the whisk, but it will fall from the whisk if you lift it.

4) Fold the nuts, vanilla, salt and syrup through the egg white mixture. It will become a thick, sticky 'dough' that will hold its shape, but be soft enough to mix well.

5) Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder onto a dinner plate in a thick layer. With two tea spoons, scoop small blobs of the mixture and place them in the sugar/ cocoa carpet. Completely cover the blobs in powder and then roll them into neat balls between your palms. Try to avoid touching the hazelnut dough directly. If you are careful, you will only be powdery after this and not sticky.

6) Repeat the process and arrange the balls on a baking sheet/ greaseproof paper. Allow some room between them so that they can expand slightly and cook evenly. Bake for between 15-20 minutes. They will have expanded slightly and some may crack like amoretti biscuits. They will be soft to the touch with a dry surface, but they will firm up when cool.