Fall is hazelnut season! They are usually harvested in September-October. This means now is the time when they are the freshest.
I always loved hazelnuts since I was a kid. I mean, who does not like Nutella or Ferrero-Rocher?
This tart goes 10 steps further and delivers a full hazelnut experience. It was invented by a talented chef called Ludovic Fontalirant who used to run a pastry shop in Paris. When I tasted this pastry for the first time last year, my first thought was: “I wish I had created this dessert”. Because it’s decadent yet not too heavy, with a lot of different textures, there is hazelnut in almost every preparation. It’s just perfect. Just look at the inside.
When I saw the recipe in the magazine Fou de patisserie, I had to do it. Here is the translation of their recipe!
I posted a reel of this tart on my Instagram. Click here to see it and have a better understanding of the assembly.
I am not going to lie to you, this one is a bit difficult but as usual, if you keep calm and take your time you should succeed without any problem.
You will need hazelnut butter and hazelnut praline.
If you cannot find hazelnut butter in your store, roast blanched hazelnuts for 15 min in the oven at 170°C (340°F) for 15 min, let them cool down and mix in a food processor until you get butter.
For hazelnut praline, use my recipe here. Use only hazelnuts instead of a mix with almonds.
You will need tart rings and silicone mould with half-spheres.
My tart rings are 8 cm diameter ones. My silicone moulds have half-spheres of either 7 of 4 cm diameter.
Plan in advance
Make sure that you start by preparing the elements for the hazelnut 4 cm half-sphere ( hazelnut cremeux, praline) first, then the hazelnut whipped ganache. While everything is freezing in the freezer, make your tart shells.
How can I replace feuillantine?
Feuillantine are dried crepes that are hard to find in North America. Their specificity is that they are super crunchy and don’t become soggy when mixed with liquid or cream. If you cannot find feuillantine, use corn flakes instead and crush them into small bits.
Hazelnut tart
Equipment
- Tart ring 8 cm of diameter
- 1 silicone mold with half-spheres of 7 cm diameter
- 1 silicone mold with half-spheres of 4 cm diameter
- Hand mixer
- immersion blender
Ingredients
Sugar pie dough
- 115 g butter
- 20 g almond flour
- 70 g icing sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 200 g flour
Hazelnut cream (sponge)
- 1 egg
- 50 g butter
- 50 g hazelnut flour
- 50 g icing sugar
Hazelnut crunch
- 150 g praline
- 50 g milk chocolate
- 75 g feuillantine can be substituted by crushed corn flakes
Hazelnut whipped ganache
- 380 g whipping cream at least 30% fat (1)
- 380 g whipping cream (2)
- 100 g hazelnut butter
- 100 g hazelnut praline
- 180 g white chocolate
- 5 g gelatin powder 200 blooms
- 30 g water to bloom gelatin
Hazelnut cremeux
- 120 g milk
- 30 g whipping cream at least 30% fat
- 30 g hazelnut praline
- 30 g hazelnut butter
- 2.5 g gelatin powder 200 blooms
- 15 g water to bloom gelatin
Hazelnut liquid praline
- 65 g hazelnut praline
- 9 g hazelnut butter
- 40 g water
- a pinch of sea salt
Chocolate coating
- 100 g cocoa butter
- 100 g milk chocolate
- 100 g roasted hazelnut
Instructions
Hazelnut cremeux
- If you use gelatin powder, bloom it with water and let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 min. Bring milk and whipping cream to a boil. Add gelatin to it. Pour onto a bowl with hazelnut butter and hazelnut praline and whisk until homogenous. Pour onto the silicone mould with 4 cm diameter half-spheres for up to 2/3 of the height. You need to leave space for the hazelnut praline. Freeze for at least one hour.
Hazelnut liquid praline
- In a small blender or food processor, mix all the ingredients. Pour onto the silicone mold that already has the hazelnut crémeux. Let this in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until completely frozen.
Hazelnut whipped ganache
- If you use gelatin powder, bloom it with water and let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 min. Heat up the whipping cream (1) to a boil. Melt your white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave and pour in a large bowl with hazelnut butter and hazelnut praline. Add gelatin to the boiled whipping cream and pour onto the melted white chocolate. Whisk until it becomes homogeneous. Add the cold whipping cream and mix with an immersion blender until it becomes homogeneous. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Whip to soft peaks, cover the side and bottom of your silicone mould with 7 cm diameter half-spheres with it. Put your frozen Hazelnut cremeux+hazelnut praline in the center. Cover the rest of the mold with whipped ganache to get a hazelnut sphere. Freeze for at least 4 hours. Keep a bit of the whipped ganache (around 100g) for later.
Hazelnut cream (sponge)
- With a stand mixer or a hand mixer, whisk together butter (room temperature) with sugar and hazelnut flour. When it starts to be somewhat homogeneous, add the egg, previously beaten, little by little, until it all blends in well. When perfectly mixed together, cover with saran wrap. Keep in the fridge until use.
Sugar pie dough
- Use the flat beater with your stand mixer bowl to whisk together almond, butter, icing sugar and salt at low speed. Once homogeneous, add the eggs one by one. Don't worry if there are still lumps. They will disappear once we add flour. Add the flour little by little. The dough should NOT be smooth, it should still be clumpy. Remove from the bowl and finish smoothing it out by hand. The reason why we are doing this? We want to make sure that we don't overknead our dough. Lots of bakers have trouble with their pie dough retracting when they bake it. It's actually because gluten activates and becomes elastic. If you knead the dough for too long (even with the flat beater!), it can retract during baking. Cover your dough and let it rest for at least 2 hours in the fridge.You can either line the dough in a regular tart mould or line on a tart ring: cut out 1/3 of the dough and keep in the fridge. Spread the bigger part until you reach desired thickness (for me it's 2‑3 mm). Cut the dough according to the size of your tart ring. Place your tart ring on parchment paper before transferring the dough on tart ring. Spread the other part of the shortcrust dough until you get a 2‑3 mm thickness. Cut into bands that are as large as the height of your ring (mould). Line onto your ring and the other part of the shortcrust. Make sure it is well lined, cutting the sticking parts. And very important: poke the dough with the fork everywhere. If you are unsure of the technique, Watch my video showing how to line a tart. Bake in the oven at 170C (340F) for 20 minutes or until light brown. Bake in the oven at 170C (340F) for 20 minutes or until light brown. Remove the tart ring if you have one, add hazelnut cream on the tart up to half the height of the tart. Bake for 10 more minutes. Let your tart cool down for at least 30 minutes.
Hazelnut crunch
- Melt your milk chocolate and add to hazelnut praline, whisk with your feuillantine. Put on top of the baked hazelnut cream on your tart. Finish with a thin layer of whipped ganache that will serve as glue for the hazelnut sphere.
Chocolate coating
- Melt together cocoa butter with milk chocolate add roasted hazelnuts and pour into a tall and narrow jug. This should be used at a temperature of around 40C. Take your Hazelnut sphere out of the freezer. Use the tip of a knife to poke it on a flat surface. Plunge the hazelnut sphere into the chocolate coating. Put the coated sphere on your tart and let it thaw in the fridge for at least 6 hours before eating.
Hi! I’m very interested in attempting this recipe, but in my area they do not sell hazelnut praline. Would this be something I could make from scratch, or would I have to buy it somewhere? Thank you for your time!
Hello,
I have a recipe for hazelnut recipe on my website here: https://thepastrynerd.com/2021/08/24/praline/
You can also replace it with a good quality hazelnut spread 🙂