Hazelnut cremeux with sour cherries and cardamom nut crisp

Hazelnut Cremeux with sour cherries and cardamom nut Crisp

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

For the Cremeux

• 100g 70% chocolate ( for a nicer cremeux, use high-quality chocolate like Godiva or Lindt ), finely chopped

• 1 egg

• 50g hazelnut butter ( I made my own by simply roasting and blending hazelnuts )

• 1 heaped tsp coconut sugar

• 75ml almond milk

• 75ml double cream

For the Nut Crisp ( see paleo option below )

• 30g brown rice syrup

• 25g butter or any alternative

• 12g sugar with stevia ( or 25g of coconut sugar )

• 10g almonds, briefly blitzed

• 30g spelt or wholemeal flour

• 1/4 tsp lightly crushed cardamom seeds

• salt flakes, to sprinkle

For the Rest

• 20 frozen cherries

• 100g creme fraiche

• 100g double cream, whipped

• 2 tsp instant coffee

Method

- Start by making the cremeux. Place the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale. Set aside.

- Gently heat together the hazelnut butter, cream and milk in a small saucepan until barely a simmer. While continually whisking the egg, pour the milk mixture into the egg slowly.

- Once fully combined, pour it back into the saucepan over low heat and stir with a spatula constantly until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of the spatula.

- Pour the mix over the chocolate and cover with tin foil. Let it sit for 2 minutes before whisking until glossy and smooth.

- Let it chill until hardened.

- Meanwhile, prepare the creme, fraiche by whisking the cream until very whipped and almost buttery.

- Fold the whipped cream through the creme fruit.

- boil some water. Pour a tiny amount of it over the instant coffee and whisk until dissolved. Fold the coffee through the creme fraiche. Cover and chill the in the fridge.

- Make the nut crisp by first preheating the oven to 175 degrees c, fan.

- Over medium heat in a small saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and syrup. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool for 2 minutes.

- Stir in the flour, almonds and cardamom. Drop teaspoons of the batter onto a lined tray. Spread them out into circles, making sure you leave lots of room between each crisp as they spread out a lot lightly sprinkle salt on top.*

- Bake in the oven for 5 minutes only then remove and allow to cool completely otherwise they will still be chewy.

- To assemble the dessert, scoop some of the cream onto a plate with a dessert spoon. Dollop some of the creme fraiche beside it. Press or rest the nut crisp on top of the cremeux and top off with the cherries and some of the juice ( you can reserve the cherry juice instead and boil it down with some sugar to create a coulis but it's up to you! ) et voila! enjoy.

*If you don't mind about having the perfect circle shape then just spread the picture onto the tray and simply break it into shards to serve with the cremeux.

Paleo Nut Crisp

• 28g coconut oil

• 15g sugar with stevia

• 1 tsp brown rice syrup

• 1/8tsp xanthan gum

• 48g almond flour

• 3 tbsp desiccated coconut or roughly blitzed nuts

• 1/4 tsp lightly crushed cardamom seeds

• salt flaked

Method

- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C, fan. Line a tray with tin foil or baking paper.

- Combine the coconut oil, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and bubbles start to appear around the edges.

- Remove from the heat and vigorously stir the xanthan gum through the mix. once combined, stir in the rest.

- Grab small handfuls of the mix and roll them into balls.

- Place the balls evenly on a lined tray and flatten them with your hands until fairly flat.

- Bake for 5-8 minutes or until golden- keep an eye on them, they colour quickly! Allow cooling before using.