Caramel and Hazelnut Crunch

Here is a recipe that is close to my heart. Why is this? First of all because it is extremely simple and fast to make. Secondly, because it is wonderfully delicious. A fine hollow lace of caramelized sugar with chopped and roasted hazelnuts. Finally because it gave me a hard time! I made more than 10 attempts to get to these crackers. I had to find the right proportions and the right cooking to achieve the result I had in mind. This is very close to the famous “croquant de Cordes sur Ciel” in terms of ingredients, while being really different. So I give you this recipe which for me is perfect. It goes divinely with sorbets and ice creams.

The hardest part of the recipe is finding the chopped hazelnuts… You can find them at G.Detou in Paris or at Metro for the lucky ones who have the card. If not, you just have to search on the net. Or chop up unroasted hazelnuts yourself, with the skins removed .

Recipe for 30 caramel and hazelnut crisps:

-400g of crystal sugar
-300g of chopped hazelnuts
-60g of flour
-85g of egg white
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-vanilla powder (a good pinch)

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Place the granulated sugar, chopped hazelnuts, flour, vanilla powder and salt in a bowl.

Mix well and add the raw egg white.

Mix quickly by hand or with a spoon.

Take a tablespoon of dough. I use the famous “measuring spoons” for this purpose!

Place the pasta balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

I only put 6 balls per sheet because the crackers will spread a lot.

Flatten the dough balls. We see on the picture below that the balls on the right are already flattened. I do this with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 13-15 minutes per plate. I have noticed that it works best in the top of the oven.

Remove the paper from the hot plate. Put another batch in the meantime. After 5 minutes, you can already remove the crackers. They are here in reverse.

As soon as they are cooled, they should be sealed in an airtight box. Because these cookies are fragile, they fear humidity. But once canned, they can be kept for several weeks… Even if it is IMPOSSIBLE(!!) that they survive so long!!