Nussecken

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •30x40cm rimmed baking sheet
• •Baking paper
• •Rolling pin
• •Offset spatula
• •Long sharp knife
• •Small heatproof bowl for melting chocolate
• •Storage tin

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry

   Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt in a bowl, then rub in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the eggs and bring it together quickly with your hands. Stop as soon as the dough holds; overworking Mürbeteig, short pastry, warms the butter and wakes the gluten, and then the base bakes tough instead of tender.

2. 2

   Chill and roll

   Flatten the dough, wrap it, and chill it for 30 minutes, because a flat cold slab rolls evenly and does not crack at the edges. Roll it on baking paper to fit a 30x40cm rimmed baking sheet, then slide it into the tin and prick it all over with a fork. The holes let trapped air out, so the base stays flat under the nut layer.

   If the dough turns soft while you roll, put the whole sheet in the refrigerator for ten minutes. Cold butter is structure here, not a detail.
3. 3

   Spread the jam

   Warm the apricot jam just until loose, then push it through a sieve if it has large pieces. Spread it thinly over the pastry right to the corners. The jam is not there to make a thick sweet layer; it glues the nuts to the base and gives a little acid against the butter and chocolate.

4. 4

   Cook the nuts

   Put the butter, sugar, honey, cream, and salt in a saucepan and bring them to a steady bubble for two minutes, stirring so the sugar dissolves and the butter emulsifies with the cream. Take the pan off the heat, then stir in the ground hazelnuts, chopped hazelnuts, almonds, and cinnamon if using. Off the heat matters: boiling the nuts hard drives out their oil and gives you a greasy, heavy topping.

5. 5

   Spread and bake

   Spoon the warm nut mixture over the jam and spread it gently with an offset spatula, pressing it level without tearing the pastry underneath. Bake at 180C for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are deep gold and the nut surface is set and lightly browned. Pull it before the corners go dark; they will keep firming as the slab cools.

6. 6

   Cut while warm

   Let the slab cool for 10 minutes, then cut it into squares and cut each square diagonally into triangles while it is still warm. Wait until it is cold and the caramel will crack under the knife; cut too soon and the topping slides. Warm and set is the window. Use a long sharp knife and wipe it between cuts.

7. 7

   Dip in chocolate

   Melt the dark chocolate gently over a water bath or in short microwave bursts, then stir in the oil or cocoa butter if you want a thinner dip. Dip the two sharp corners of each triangle, or just the tips, and set them on baking paper until firm. Keep the chocolate gentle, never scorched; bitter burnt chocolate is not character, it's burnt chocolate.

8. 8

   Store the tin

   Once the chocolate is fully set, layer the Nussecken in a tin between sheets of baking paper. They keep well for 10 to 14 days because the jam and nut caramel protect the pastry from drying too fast. Do not seal them warm, or condensation softens the base and dulls the chocolate.

Chef Tips

• •Use hazelnuts with real smell. If the bag smells flat or waxy, the nuts are old, and no chocolate will rescue them.
• •Apricot jam is the usual choice because its acid cuts the butter and nuts. Red currant jelly works if you want a sharper Rhineland-style bite, but strawberry jam makes the whole thing too sweet.
• •Toast the chopped hazelnuts for eight minutes if they taste pale. Let them cool before they go into the caramel, because hot nuts keep cooking in the sugar and can turn bitter.
• •Cut the slab before it is fully cold. This is the one move that separates clean Nussecken from a tray of broken nut gravel.
• •Dark chocolate is better than milk here. The topping already has butter, sugar, and nuts; the chocolate's bitterness keeps the corner honest.

Advance Preparation

• •The pastry can be made one day ahead and kept wrapped in the refrigerator; let it sit 10 minutes before rolling so it bends without cracking.
• •The finished Nussecken keep 10 to 14 days in a cool tin, layered with baking paper. They are better after one day, once the base and nut layer have settled together.
• •For a Christmas baking day, bake and cut the slab in the morning, dip in chocolate in the afternoon, and tin them only when the chocolate is firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)