Hazelnut Gâteau Breton Recipes

HAZELNUT GâTEAU BRETON (BRITTANY FRANCE)

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan.
• Mix the sugar with the vanilla extract to make vanilla sugar. Make sure to break apart any lumps that form.
• Now mix 2 tbsp of the vanilla sugar with the hazelnuts. Add them to a food processor or grinder and blend until the nuts form a fine powder.
• Mix the 6 egg yolks with the rest of the vanilla sugar and whisk for 2 minutes. Then add the hazelnut mixture, then gradually add the melted butter. Keep whisking.
• Now sift the flour over the batter and stir gently until just blended. Don't overmix; this is a thick batter and you don't want it to turn out rock hard.
• Put the batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Brush the egg glaze over the top, then draw some cross hatches with a fork.
• Bake at 325 for about an hour, or until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes, then loosen the springform pan and allow to cool completely. Serve with whole strawberries.

GâTEAU BRETON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 1 1/2-high sides; dust with flour. Grind nuts finely in processor. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl. Add 1/3 cup ground nuts; reserve remainder for garnish.
• Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Set aside 1 teaspoon yolks for glaze; gradually add remainder to butter mixture, beating until fluffy. Mix in peel and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until jut blended. Transfer to pan, smoothing top.
• Mix milk into reserved 1 teaspoon yolk. Brush atop batter for glaze. Draw tines of fork across top of cake in crisscross pattern. Top with reserved nuts.
• Bake cake until just firm to touch, about 45 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. Turn out cake from pan; arrange top side up on platter. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly; store at room temperature.)