Hazelnut

Evoke memories of puddings, candies, and other childhood delights with this lush butterscotch beauty. Its grown-up look and taste derive from browned butter and brown sugar in the filling and jewel-like shards of hazelnut praline scattered on top.

Think of one of these glistening tarts as an elegant interpretation of a beloved candy bar: One bite into the chocolate crust reveals a center of soft caramel and toasted nuts. Each batch fills six small tartlet pans (or a seven-inch round tart pan). Vary them by topping some with chocolate ganache and others with chocolate shavings. To make shavings, spread leftover chocolate from step 4 on a baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, then scrape with a knife or a dough scraper.

Ethereal mousse, made by folding chocolate ganache into sweetened whipped cream, is firmly rooted in a humble cookie-crumb-and-nut crust. Candied hazelnuts are sprinkled on top.

Season: September. You’ve got to be quick to beat the squirrels to the hazelnuts each autumn. Once you have found some, it’s important to store them carefully. Even with their shells on, they have a tendency to dry out and shrivel up, but preserving them in hone will keep them fresh and fragrant for ages. Use wild hazels that you have gathered yourself, or filberts, which are simply a cultivated form of hazelnut. Spoon your honeyed hazels over plain yogurt, chocolate ice cream, porridge, or muesli.

Here a free-form dough wheel is scored, baked, and cut into generous wedges. We love the combination of hazelnut and orange, but you can use this dough as a building block for other flavorful add-ins—such as ground almonds and lemon zest.

Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies, spiced with the flavors of gingerbread, studded with candied citrus peel, and topped with a sweet sugar-and-milk glaze. To toast nuts, spread them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake in a 350°F oven for about ten minutes.

These tuile-like cookies have a rich caramel flavor, but are packed with nuts. The addition of bread flour, which contains more gluten than all-purpose flour, makes them sturdier than traditional tuiles.

Combining beaten egg whites with a nut-and-sugar mix helps give these cookies their airy texture.

Various flavors of jams or preserves can be used to fill these cookies—strawberry, raspberry, and apricot all make lovely accompaniments to hazelnuts. To toast hazelnuts, see note on page 37. Coarsely grind hazelnuts by pulsing them in a food processor; be careful not to overprocess them or you will end up with nut butter.

If Parmesan is the king of cheese, Époisses is the cultural attaché. It’s smelly in a way that makes you proud to like it. It’s also red-wine compatible and awesome on a piece of steak. A washed-rind cheese, Époisses is made from milk from Burgundian cows and washed with the local marc de Bourgogne. It is crucial that you buy a good Époisses, and, in fact, only one or two brands make it to the United States and Canada. Sniffit before buying, and avoid one with a horse urine–window cleaner smell. Remember, too, warming up the cheese only amplifies the aroma. Sometimes Gilles Jourdenais at Fromagerie Atwater gets in tiny individual Époisses, which we try to use whenever possible. This dish, which combines the cheese with shallots, used to be the classic Joe Beef drunk staff meal at 4 A.M. Eat it with toasted bread, a few rosettes of mâche, or on top of steak.

I can imagine Argentinians chuckling when they hear about the recent dulce de leche craze in the States. After all, they have been enjoying this sweet, milky caramel for nearly two hundred years. Relatively new here, and often available in the specialty foods section of the supermarket, dulce de leche can be used in all sorts of ways, but we like to drizzle it on top of what could be considered the moistest, most delicious cake on the planet (I double-dare you to find a better one). The combination has a perfect salty-sweet thing happening that is like a highly addictive sensory overload. I promise, it will have you coming back for more. If it doesn't, perhaps the crumbled brittle that decorates the top will.

These grilled peaches are infinitely versatile: you can eat them by themselves as a light first course; for a more substantial salad, serve them on a bed of lightly dressed arugula. They are even lovely as dessert. The best part is that you can grill the peaches a few hours ahead of time and then assemble them just before serving. For best results, use peaches that are ripe but still relatively firm; the extra sturdiness makes them easier to manipulate on the grill. And freestone varieties (ones where the pit separates cleanly from the flesh) are by far easier to work with here than clingstones. If you can’t find hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts will work nicely, too.

With the addition of rich chocolate ganache, the Devil’s Food Cake you’ve now mastered can go from everyday fabulous to over-the-top decadence. This recipe for a 6-inch cake is perfect for a romantic date night or a small, formal dinner party, although it can easily be doubled for a standard three-layer 8-inch cake or two-layer 9-inch cake. The ganache here has a subtle hazelnut flavor, but by simply substituting other flavorings for the hazelnut liqueur, you have a wealth of other options. Take note: Icing your cake with ganache will be slightly more difficult than with icing because the consistency of the ganache is a bit thinner until it sets, and if it becomes too cold, it will be hard to spread. Be patient as the ganache cools. If you spread it too soon, it will be challenging to accumulate a thick enough layer on the cake. Once the ganache is spreadable (the consistency of ordinary icing or peanut butter), work quickly in icing your cake. If the ganache gets too cold and thick, it will begin to crack and pull apart the cake as you try to spread it. If that happens, just reheat the ganache over a double boiler until it becomes malleable again.

Instant espresso powder gives these drop cookies grown-up appeal. If you’d rather not remove the hazelnut skins yourself, as described below, look for blanched nuts at specialty shops, then toast them (see page 365).

WITH A HANDFUL OF RICH HAZELNUTS and diced apples, these Pacific Northwest waffles make a hearty and tasty weekend breakfast dish. The whole wheat flour adds a deeper flavor and bonus nutrients. Once you taste these waffles, you’ll never use a waffle mix again.

OUR EXECUTIVE CHEF AND PASTRY GURU (and hazelnut lover) Lura Smith has made this rich, dense torte for fifteen years to celebrate the hazelnuts of the region. The torte is made with agave syrup, a natural substitute for corn syrup. Agave syrup is available at specialty grocery stores.

GOOD TO KNOW Succulent yet lean, scallops can be seared on the stove without adding much—if any—butter or oil. Be sure to heat the skillet until very hot before adding the scallops, and wait until a crust forms before turning them, to prevent tearing. Browned butter (beurre noisette in French) and hazelnuts add richness, without tipping the scales.

Only the mascarpone and the ladyfingers in this lemony dessert give a nod to a traditional tiramisù, but my California spin on this beloved dessert is just as addictive. I think lemon makes everything taste a bit lighter (so I can eat more without feeling weighed down!), and the hazelnuts add a delicate flavor and lots of crunch. So while no one will mistake this for the original, I promise it will make anyone you serve it to very, very happy.