Delicious desserts are one thing, but delicious sustainable desserts are another. This recipe for hazelnut flourless chocolate bouchons meets both criteria: the hazelnuts were harvested from the hybrid hazelnut field just outside Lied Lodge – we’re talking 500 feet from field to kitchen — and they add nutritious, great-tasting flavor to a variety of dishes we serve here at Lied Lodge.

Give this one a try and let me know how you like it.

Hazelnut Flourless Chocolate Bouchons
2 lbs. melted chocolate
2 cups crushed toasted hazelnuts
1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts
1 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 vanilla beans
1 ½ cups sugar
1 oz. powdered gelatin
6 egg whites
Cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Combine salt, cream, milk, vanilla beans, sugar and gelatin in a sauce pan and bring to a scald. Be careful not to boil. Set aside to cool. Slowly stir the cream mixture into the melted chocolate and reserve at room temperature; add the crushed hazelnuts. Chill a bowl and the egg whites, and then whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Fold into the ganache. Spray a silicone mold with pan spray and dust with cocoa powder. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until picks come out clean. Chill the mold. Remove for serving, and garnish with toasted hazelnuts.

Enjoy!
Chef Matt

Matthew Taylor is the Executive Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska, where local, sustainable entrees are served daily. You can catch him doing a live cooking demo at this year’s Wine Under the Pines Festival on Saturday, August 6, 2011, at Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard, Nebraska City.  Have a specific recipe you’d like to see featured on this blog? Let us know.