nuts about nuts 16.06.
Sweet Indulgence: Honey Nut Squares
Source: Dana Treat
After chocolate, my next favourite ingredient in recipes would be nuts. My favourite nut is the macadamia nut but really, I love them all! There’s one nut though, that I don’t enjoy baking with…hazelnuts. Why, you ask? Because I hate having to remove their skins. Most recipes require the skins to be removed because they can be somewhat bitter. While local grocery stores tend to carry a wide variety of nuts with or without skins, they never seem to have hazelnuts that have already been pre-skinned. So, you can imagine my excitement when my local grocery store began to stock pre-skinned hazelnuts. I immediately bought a large container of these and smiled from ear to ear about the fact that I would no longer have remove the skins from hazelnuts when baking! All of those recipes that I’d been putting off for that reason could now be dusted off and placed on top of the pile of “Must-try recipes.”
The crust is very easy to make, I used a food processor to speed up the process. Once the dough is formed, then break it into four equal pieces and smear each of those on a work surface to evenly incorporate the butter.
Press the dough into your prepared pan.
Then it’s time to make the honey nut filling. Begin by bringing honey and brown sugar to a boil.
Next, add in the cream and the butter and stir. Lastly, add in the nuts and coat evenly.
Place the honey-nut mixture on top of your pre-baked crust and spread evenly. Place it back into the oven to caramelize.
Once it comes out of the oven, then let it cool completely in the pan. Cut them into 1 inch squares. Originally, I cut mine larger, but then went back and cut them into 1 inch squares because they were easier to eat that way and were somehow more enjoyable.
These honey nut squares are absolutely delicious! The nuts work so well together and there isn’t any one nut that overpowers the others. If you generally enjoy nut brittles, then you’ll fall head over heels in love with these!
FINAL VERDICT:
Taste: 5+ sweet burps out of 5
Level of difficulty: Easy
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RECIPE
(retrieved from Dana Treat)
Honey Nut Squares
For crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
For topping
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon mild honey
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup whole almonds with skins, toasted
3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and any loose skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
Make crust:
Butter a 9-inch square metal baking pan (2 inches deep) and line with 2 crisscrossed sheets of foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides. Butter foil.
Blend together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add egg and stir with a fork (or pulse) until a crumbly dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Press dough evenly onto bottom (but not up sides) of baking pan and bake in middle of oven until edges are golden and begin to pull away from sides of pan, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.
Make topping:
Bring honey, brown sugar, and salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil, without stirring, 2 minutes. Add butter and cream and boil, stirring, 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in all nuts until completely coated.
Pour nut mixture over pastry crust, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until topping is caramelized and bubbling, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack. Lift dessert out of pan using foil overhang and cut into 25 squares.
SUGAR ADDICT’S NOTES:
-I used regular brown sugar instead of light brown sugar