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Homemade Caramelized Candied Hazelnuts

Candied hazelnuts are whole hazelnuts coated in a amber glass-like layer of crunchy, caramelized sugar. By suspending the sugar-dipped nuts on a skewer, the molten caramel drips and cools into dramatic caramel spikes that make for a dramatic and impressive decoration for any cake or confection.

Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons corn syrup or glucose syrup
  • 1 cup hazelnuts* lightly toasted and peeled and halved or very coarsely chopped
  • 10-12 whole hazelnuts lightly toasted and peeled (for making hazelnut spikes)

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. If your hazelnuts are unpeeled, lightly toast hazelnuts for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F, then rub between layers of paper towels or a clean cotton dish towel—the skins should flake right off. Keep whole (for spikes) or halve/coarsely chop (for clusters).
  2. You'll also want to prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment (not waxed) paper or a silicone baking mat for the candied hazelnut clusters to cool.
  3. Also fill a heat-proof pan (like a 13x9 baking dish for example) with ice water. It should be big enough to be able to dip the bottom of your saucepan.
  4. If making hazelnut spikes, prepare your workspace. Set a cookie sheet or large, heavy cutting board on the edge of the counter. Line the floors with parchment paper or newspaper; you may also want to tape a strip to the cabinets to protect the cabinet faces from molten sugar.
  5. Gently poke a long, thin skewer into the sides of 10-12 whole hazelnuts. It does not need to go deep, just enough to hold the nut on the skewer. Poke in the side of the nut, not the seam, to prevent splitting.
  6. To make clusters, coarsely chop about 1 cup of nuts and place in a heat-proof metal or glass bowl.
  7. Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium heat. Stir gently until sugar is fully dissolved and just starts to simmer.
  8. Cover saucepan and let simmer for 2-3 minutes (the condensation will help wash down the sides of any stray sugar crystals). If necessary, if there are still crystals on the sides of the pan, brush down with a pastry brush dipped in water.
  9. Once the sugar mixture starts boiling, do not stir it. You can swirl the pan occasionally if necessary, but stirring could trigger crystallization which we do not want.
  10. Watch the sugar very closely, especially once it starts to turn pale yellow, as it'll go from perfect to burnt in what seems like seconds.
  11. Once the caramel darkens to a light amber brown (think wheat beer or amber ale; if you are just making clusters you can take it a little bit darker), remove from heat and dip the bottom of the saucepan in a dish of ice water to "shock" the pan and prevent the caramel from cooking further.
  12. If making both clusters and spikes, pour half of the hot liquid caramel over the chopped nuts in a mixing bowl. (If you are just making clusters, you can pour the nuts right into the saucepan.) Quickly stir once or twice until coated, then dump the whole bowl out onto the parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet, spreading them out into a single layer and separating the clusters as much as possible (they are very sticky at this point so just do your best).
  13. By this point the remaining caramel in the saucepan should be thickened and slightly cooled. To make the hazelnut spikes, dip the whole hazelnuts on skewers into the caramel, then slide the end of the skewer under the baking sheet or cutting board on the countertop to hold it in place; the sugar-coated nut should hang over the edge and the caramel will drip off, forming a spike as it cools. Trim any too-long pieces with scissors as needed.
  14. Repeat with remaining skewered nuts, working as quickly as possible, until caramel is too thick to dip any longer (at this point, fill the pan with very hot water so the caramel can start to dissolve, much easier than trying to clean it up after it's completely solidified!)
  15. Once caramel is set, break apart clusters and/or coarsely chop to use as a garnish. Set spikes can be used to decorate, I don't recommend making these too far ahead of time as they tend to soften/get sticky the longer they sit (especially in humid climates).

Notes

  • If you are just making clusters and no spikes, you can use 2 cups of chopped nuts or halve the caramel recipe; otherwise there will be a bit too much caramel-to-hazelnut proportionally.
  • Conversely, if you are just wanting to make spikes, you can halve the caramel which will be enough to dip 10-12 nuts. If you want more than that, I recommend making two separate batches of caramel as it cools too quickly to dip many more than that at once.