Sweet and Salty Raspberry Hazelnut Butter Cups

My grandmother emigrated from Germany to North America when she was 18. She had a pretty interesting childhood, as she born in Munich in 1940 and continued to live in Munich for the aftermath of the war. I've heard a lot of her stories over the years, such as how the apartment next door was destroyed in an air-raid, and how she and the other kids would beg American soldiers for "cheving" gum.

Some things haven't changed.

Well, she's lived here for the most part ever since (and she is 72 now). Something that never fails to remind her of home are hazelnuts. She simply loves hazelnuts! Hazelnuts are much more popular in Germany than they are in America. They seem to use it much like we Americans use peanuts. There is a abundance of hazelnut chocolate bars, hazelnut cookies, and hazelnut spreads. (Marzipan has quite the grip on German confections as well, but unfortunately I can't stand the flavor *sad face*).

I made a less sweet version of these peanut butter eggs for Easter this year, and Oma really enjoyed them. So I schemed on making her hazelnut butter cups for her birthday in May. And then I schemed some more and at the last moment thought to add raspberries to the concoction as all three flavors are natural partners.

The result was a dangerously pleasing treat. The raspberry pressed into the middle is not to be omitted; it provides flavor and texture interest as a gooey tangy pocket in the middle of the sweet, dry hazelnut.

These are not at all hard to make, especially if you can find the hazelnut butter premade. Try them and you will not be disappointed.

Sweet and Salty Raspberry Hazelnut Butter Cups

(adapted from boldandherbaceous's peanut butter eggs)

Yield: 20 - 25 cups.

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup hazelnut butter*

2-3 T. refined coconut oil, softened**

several dashes of sea salt (or other medium crystal type)

Whole Frozen Raspberries

~1 cup chocolate (enough for coating, can be bars or chips)***

1-2 T refined coconut oil (enough to make the chocolate smooth when hot)

Materials:

Medium sized bowl

Double boiler or two different sized pots

Cookie Sheet or a few hard plates

Parchment paper or wax paper

Method:
1. Stir together the sugars, hazelnut butter, 2-3 T of coconut oil, and salt. The consistency should be such that you can press it together into a shape. Taste for saltiness. The first sensastion should be sweet, followed by salty hazelnut. If you aren't getting the punch of salty after the sweetness, then you probably need to add more salt.

2. Shape the mixture into circles 4 cm across by 1 cm thick and set them on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Press one frozen raspberry into the center of each piece. Put the pan in the freezer for at least twenty minutes (but it can be in there for as long as necessary).

3. Prepare a double boiler or your smallest pot. If using a pot, fill a slightly larger pot with some water and set the smaller pot inside it. Heat the pots on the stove over medium heat.

4. Add chocolate and a handful of raspberries to the small pot. Stir until the chocolate melts and mash the raspberries. Add coconut oil just until the chocolate becomes smooth. Turn down the heat to low.

5. Take out your pan of hazelnut cups and loosen them from the paper. Using a fork, gently toss them one by one in the chocolate so that they are entirely covered. Best to do this with haste as the hazelnut butter will become soft in the warm chocolate and become deformed. Set the covered cup back onto the wax paper. When half the cups are complete, put the pan back into the freezer to harden everything up again. After a few minutes, take it back out and finish the other half.

6. Put the finished cups in the fridge, and after ten minutes they are ready to be enjoyed! They must be kept in the fridge, as they will become much too soft at room temperature. They can also be frozen in an air-tight container. Soften them up again before eating.

Notes on ingredients:
* Hazelnut butter can be hard to find, and if you do find it, it can be very expensive. You can make your own from whole hazelnuts though (make sure they are roasted), by putting it in a food processor (or blender, though it doesn't work as well) and adding a little bit of veg. oil until it turns a bit pasty. It doesn't need to be as pasty as peanut butter for this recipe to work. It just needs to stick together a bit when you pinch some between your fingers.
** The coconut oil can't be replaced with other veg oil, as the fat must be firm at room or cool temperatures. You can use margarine, but please avoid those which contain palm oil.
*** Be sure to use a chocolate you really like, as the quality of the chocolate greatly affects the quality of the cups. My favorite is Trader Joe's semi sweet pounds plus bar.