I have a confession to make. I absolutely LOVE cooking with nuts and making my own nut butters. However, I am also incredibly lazy. Yes, I admit it…if I can find a shortcut that doesn’t diminish the overall quality of the end product, I’m in heaven. That’s why I’m super psyched to share how to remove hazelnut skins without having to blanch them first.
Honest!
It’s true!
Now, this won’t remove 100% of the skins but it will come pretty darn close! Here…take a look at my final bowl full of peeled hazelnuts!
See, not 100% clean but pretty close. Are you wondering how to do this yourself? Well, the first thing you do is roast your hazelnuts in a 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes or so (until they begin to brown and you can smell their nutty goodness).
Remove the freshly toasted hazelnuts from the oven and pour them into a bowl lined with a clean towel.
You can see some of the skins are already beginning to fall off the hazelnuts. Now, just grab the four corners of your towel, twist the them together (so your hazelnut are in a “sack”) and then begin rubbing the pile together. The friction generated between the nuts and the nuts/towel with rub the skins off the nuts.
Here is how my hazelnuts looks after just about 30 seconds of rubbing.
Now, pick out the nuts that have “lost” their skins and place them in another bowl.
Then, once again, gather your towel together and rub your hazelnuts together.
Pick out the “cleaned” hazelnuts, place in the second bowl, and repeat the process until all your hazelnuts have been cleaned.
Here, take a look at my towel which shows all the skins that were removed….I know…GROSS!
Now, if you are looking for 100% cleaned hazelnuts, this “short cut” method probably won’t work for you. Yes, you’ll have to get out the pot and blanch the nuts before roasting. But, if you’re making your own nut butters, this method will work just fine.
Just check out my recipe for White Chocolate Nutella. Trust me…you’ll LOVE it!
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