Hazelnut Recipes

The Nutt Ranch

191 Tyntesfield Road

Waihopai Valley

Marlborough

New Zealand

We hope that you will enjoy some of our favorite Nutt Ranch hazelnut recipes. The range of uses for fresh and roasted hazelnuts seems almost endless. Please help yourself to our Desserts, Mains, Vegetables, and Snacks for some real taste treats.

Fresh hazelnuts,straight from the shell, are fantastic raw with their slightly sweet taste, creamy texture and crunch. Toasted they develop a stronger nutty taste and crispy texture. Toasting causes the hazelnut to take on a more smoky and robust flavour. Toasting them is a simple procedure, just spread them onto a shallow baking pan and toast then in the oven at 140 deg C for about 20 minutes or until the nut meat turns light golden and their skins crack. Do not overcook.

Hazelnut products include oil, paste, flour and are great chopped or whole. Hazelnuts are an extremely healthful food. They are a good source of energy, high in monounsaturated fatty acid and oleic acid and are very low in polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids. They are a good source of micronutrients, Vitamins A, E, B¹² and amino acids. And they are cholesterol free.

Hazelnut oil has a rich, gold colour and has a sweet, nutty taste. Its high flash point makes it ideal for cooking and it has a shelf life of about 12 months when stored in a dark cupboard. It can be used as you would use olive oil and is excellent in baking, over vegetables, in dressings or on its own with breads and Dukkah.

Hazelnut flour is usually used with white flour in baking. Add it to biscuits, muffins and breads, replacing about ¼ of the plain flour with hazelnut flour. If using self-raising flour then add a teaspoon of baking powder to each cup of hazelnut flour.

Hazelnuts are often simply thought of as being covered in chocolate, as a sweet treat, but are actually wonderful in a wide variety of ways. They are great in salads, batters or coating on fish or chicken, stuffing for fish, chicken or pork, sprinkled into vegetables, in baking, wok cooking, in soups and with pasta, with pesto, in burgers, salted or mixed with herb and spice coatings, honeyed or spiced.

And, of course, Nutt Ranch hazelnuts are perfect by themselves, natural or toasted.

Send questions, inquires, or comments via email: info@nuttranch.co.nz

Last Modified: May 8, 2002