Hazelnut Bark

By MaryEllen

You won’t find this toasted hazelnut bark at your local candy shop, which is why it makes the perfect easy DIY recipe, and such a great gift ~ you know your friends and family haven’t had it before, and the flavor of the deeply toasted nuts with the creamy sweet white chocolate is addictive!

Ingredients

• Ingredients
• 1 12-ounce bag white morsels (I used Nestle)
• 1 cup whole hazelnuts
• 1 tsp coconut oil (optional, it can facilitate melting))

Preparation

Step 1

Set oven to 350F
Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat, or parchment paper, and set aside.
Spread the nuts on a separate dry baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15 minutes, giving the pan a shake a couple of times during cooking to redistribute the nuts. If using chopped Hazelnuts, toast for 5 minutes only, or they will begin to burn. Let them cool on the pan.
Put the white chocolate (and the coconut oil, if using) in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for a minute. Let sit for a minute, then stir. if it is not completely melted (it probably won't be) microwave in further 15 second bursts, stirring well in between, until most of the lumps are gone. Keep stirring until the chocolate is smooth. Stir in the hazelnuts, and then turn out onto the lined baking sheet. Spread the chocolate out into a thin rectangle. The exact size if variable, mine was about 12x7. The important thing is that there are no bare spots.
Put the tray into the refrigerator to harden for about 30 minutes, then cut into pieces. The bark will shatter a bit when you cut it, that's to be expected.
You can store the bark at room temperature or in the refrigerator, and it will theoretically last for a month. But in practice, it will probably be gone by the end of the day ;)

TIP: After roasting I remove the hazelnut skins, which can be bitter, by gathering them in a clean dish towel and rubbing them together ~ the skins fall right off. I don’t rub the nuts completely clean, I leave a little bit of skin on for color and flavor.