This dessert snack or petit four captures all the goodness of roasted hazelnuts into a single satisfying bite. There is hazelnut in every single component of this recipe, exploring the hazelnut in multiple forms for the full experience. 

What is a One-Bite?

A One-Bite is a dessert, packed full of flavour and interesting textures designed to be eaten in one bite. These are great for party platters and are a unique dessert that will surely excite your guests as soon as they are placed on the serving table.

What is it made of? The Components

This Hazelnut One-Bite is made of three perfectly balanced components: hazelnut dacquoise, hazelnut praline cremeux, and caramelised hazelnut pieces. Each component has a purpose to bring balance and a variety of contrasting textures and flavours.

Hazelnut Dacquoise

The hazelnut dacquoise is the base of the One-Bite. A dacquoise is nutty, airy, has a slight chewiness and a delicate crispy exterior. It is like a macaron, as it is also made by folding ground nuts and sugar through a meringue. The hazelnut dacquoise provides lightness to the dessert and a way to pick it up with your hands!

Hazelnut Praline Cremeux

The hazelnut praline cremeux sits on top of the dacquoise. It provides an intensely rich hazelnut and caramel creaminess. 

Hazelnut praline is a paste made of caramel and roasted hazelnuts. It’s commonly used in many modern desserts and patisserie.

A cremeux is a creamy emulsion. This recipe uses gelatin to set and stabilise the cremeux (instead of cocoa butter used in chocolate cremeux).

Caramelised Hazelnut Piece

Each Hazelnut One-Bite is topped off with a single caramelised hazelnut piece. This brings a very familiar and satisfying crunch.

Ingredients

Hazelnut Dacquoise

• 70g caster sugar
• 200g egg whites
• 200g icing sugar
• 180g hazelnut meal

Hazelnut Praline Cremeux

• 40g whole milk
• 1 gelatin sheet (any grade)
• 275g hazelnut praline paste
• 140g heavy cream

Caramelised Hazelnut Pieces

• 50g chopped toasted hazelnut
• 30g Sugar

Method

This recipe makes about 70 One-Bites. The hazelnut praline is best prepared at least one night before to allow the cremeux to set and the optimal piping texture.

Hazelnut Praline Cremeux

1. Hydrate the gelatin sheet in cold water
2. Heat the milk in a saucepan to 70°C. You want to heat it until it is hot but not simmering. Take it off the heat.
3. Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine sheet and dissolve the gelatin in the hot milk.
4. Pour the milk over the hazelnut praline paste and emulsify the mixture by stirring in small circles with a spatula from the centre of the mixture, making larger circles until it becomes evenly combined.
5. Pour in the cold heavy cream and repeat the same technique with the spatula to emulsify the mixture
6. (Optional): Perfect the emulsion using a hand blender, being careful not to incorporate air.
7. (Optional): Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps.
8. Pour the cremeux into a wide and shallow vessel and touch plastic wrap to the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
9. Store in the fridge until set (about 4-hours but ideally overnight).

Hazelnut Dacquoise

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Beat the egg whites on medium speed with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. When the egg whites are foamy and white, gradually add the sugar. Continue beating to form a meringue until it is able to hold a stiff peak. Be careful not to over whip!
3. Meanwhile, sift together the icing sugar and the hazelnut meal.
4. Once the meringue is ready, add it all at once to the sifted ingredients and fold together carefully until evenly combined
5. Spread to a thickness of 1.5cm on a lined tray
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until desired texture is reached. Under baking the dacquoise could lead to sogginess and over baking the dacquoise will make it chewier. In this case, over-baking is more preferable than under baking.
7. Allow to cool completely at room temperature

Caramelised Hazelnut Pieces

1. Heat the sugar until caramelised, being careful not to burn it.
2. Pour in the chopped and toasted hazelnuts, stir until coated. If the nuts turn white, continue cooking until caramelised
3. Pour onto a silpat or baking paper and allow to cool completely
4. Break into small pieces

Assembly

1. Use a 3cm diameter cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dacquoise
2. Prepare the cremeux in a piping bag with a 1cm round tip.
3. Pipe small amount of the cremeux onto each of the dacquoise circles
4. Top with a caramelised hazelnut piece

Storage

Store the Hazelnut One-Bites in the fridge until ready to serve.