Hazelnut Mousse with Caramelised Hazelnuts

Ingredients

375 g hazelnuts
140 g sugar, granulated
45 g water
For the praline paste
100 g caramelised hazelnuts
For the hazelnut mousse
160 g heavy cream
160 g whole milk
60 g praline paste
100 g egg yolks
30 g sugar
3 g gelatin sheets
322 g heavy cream

Method

For caramelised hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius.

On a parchment lined sheet pan, roast hazelnuts until golden brown and fragrant, stirring every few minutes.

In a saucepan, combine sugar and water over low heat until the sugar
is dissolved.

Increase the heat to high and cook the syrup to 115 degrees Celcius. Add the warm, roasted hazelnuts and stir to coat them evenly. Cook until the hazelnuts and syrup are a deep amber colour and no sandy white bits remain.

Spread onto a lined baking sheet to cool completely.

Roughly chop around 150 g of hazelnuts into pieces the size of sunflower seeds.

For the praline paste

In a small food processor, add 100 g of caramelised hazelnut. Blend to achieve a smooth paste consistency.

For the mousse

In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until slightly pale in colour.

Place the gelatin sheets in ice water to soften.

In a medium saucepan, add cream, milk, and praline paste and set over medium heat. Stir to disperse the praline paste.

Remove from pan when the milk is just below a simmer, and pour into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Put the mixture back into the pan and place over medium heat.

Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula for a minute, lowering the heat if necessary to prevent the mixture from curdling. It should be very thick.

Remove from the heat and strain the custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.

Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin and add to the custard. Cool down to 24 degrees Celcius.

Whip the cream to medium peaks. Set aside in the fridge until the custard cools.

Once the custard cools to 24 degrees Celcius, gently fold in one-third of the cream into the custard. Fold in the remaining cream.

Pour the custard into your desired glasses till half. Top it with a layer of chopped hazelnuts. Fill the glasses with more mousse.

Refrigerate until set, for about 3 hours.

Garnish with whole and chopped caramelised hazelnuts and serve.