By Amelie Pellerin

     Every couple of months, usually on a saturday, my mother will choose to spend her afternoon in the kitchen, and when she’s been in there for too long to have just meal prepped, I know it’s only a few hours until the smell of buttery pastry and melty half sweetened chocolate finds its way out of the room. The comforting scent wafts through the rooms like slow-motion waves, eventually having drifted through the entirety of my  home. 
​The hazelnuts, having the starring role of the treat, would have been laid out since the evening  before, and the remaining nuts will remain out on the stovetop for the following three days, until whoever’s making dinner will have to move them to use the stove. They’ll then be put into a plastic container, for the cupboard, to be nibbled on by my mother for the next fortnight or so.
My mother typically makes the sweet hazelnut bars for Christmas, and occasionally for get-togethers with other families, but the bar is personal to my family, because my mother makes it for my father. When he’s sick, coming home from one of many of his extended work trips, or when he came back from his four week long stay at the hospital from his heart attack when I was in eighth grade. 
The slightly salted treat is part of what makes my family more than blood. It’s a treat that my picky brother and selective father will both stay at the table for once dinner’s over. Even once the dish has cooled off, and gets munched on until a few days later when there’s now only one bar left, the last one always has to be gifted to my brother or I for us to eat ; my father’s hazelnut bars act as an opener of the container of my youth, the food acting not only as a temporary healing substance, but as a safe moment I know I can look back on when things get hopeless.
Recipe
Ingredients:
  • 3.5 cups of hazelnuts
  • 2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 0.6 cups of powdered sugar
  • 0.75 cups of cold butter, cut up
  • 0.5 cups of brown sugar, packed
  • 0.5 cups of honey
  • 0.6 cups of room temperature butter
  • 3 tablespoons of whipping cream
  • 0.75 cups of semi sweet chocolate pieces
  • 2 teaspoons of shortening
Makes 36 bars

Material:
  • Kitchen towel
  • Aluminum foil
  • 13x9 inch baking pan
  • Non stick cooking spray
  • Food processer
  • Medium sized sauce pan
  • Small sized sauce pan
1. Pre-heat oven 350’F. Place hazelnuts in a baking pan and bake 10 for 10 minutes or until toasted. Place warm nuts on a clean towel and rub off their skins.
2. Line the baking pan with a layer of foil, extending over the edges. Lightly coat with cooking spray.
3. In a food processor, combine the flour, powdered sugar, and cold butter. Mix with hands until the material forms coarse crumbs. Press mixture to bottom and edges of the pan. 4. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges begin to turn brown, then take out, transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.
5. In the medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, room temperature butter, and whipping cream. Stir at medium heat until it begins boiling. Mix in the toasted hazelnuts. Spoon the mixture into the cooling crust. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the filling is golden and bubbling. Transfer the pan again to cool completely. 
7. In the small saucepan, combine the chocolate and shortening; stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over the dessert, let it stand until the chocolate is set.