Buttery Hazelnut Spätzle

This Buttery Hazelnut Spätzle was a pleasant surprise, more like a revelation. Usually,  as a rule, if I commit to creating spätzle, I make käsespätzle because, well,  cheese. I am not that motivated to make this classic German dish without it.

However, experimenting with spätzle in the past has been creative, and fun, and has produced delicious results.

Here was the surprise: This combination of butter and hazelnuts in the spätzle had me not missing the cheese at all. What cheese?

In general, making homemade spätzle is a cinch. The dough is simple to throw together and it boils up in seconds. Also, you don’t even have to own a special spätzle maker to make it. A pedestrian colander with large holes will do to create the noodles. You push them through into boiling water and as soon as they pop up to the surface, they are done.

This buttery hazelnut spätzle recipe uses a combination of hazelnut flour and regular all-purpose flour.  I wanted to try this to see if using nut flour would amp up the hazelnut flavor. It did. However,  you You can make this Buttery Hazelnut Spätzle recipe just using all-purpose flour. Just substitute the hazelnut flour with a one-to-one ratio.

Unlike käsespätzle, You don’t need to bake this buttery hazelnut späztle in the oven. I just shoved it in the oven to melt the butter flakes and to keep it warm while I toasted the hazelnuts in butter.

This buttery hazelnut späzle makes a lovely addition to any Christmas or New Year’s Eve festive dinner.

Tips for Buttery Hazelnut Spätzle:

1 -I put the butter in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up. This makes it make it easier to grate.

2- To add hazelnut flour to this buttery hazelnut spätzle, simply pulverize raw hazelnuts in a blender or food processor.

Print

Buttery Hazelnut Spätzle

Course Side Dish

Cuisine German

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rest Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 +3/4 C flour
• 1/2 C ground hazelnuts hazelnut flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 T salt
• 6 tablespoons whole milk
• 2 T cold unsalted butter grated
• Topping:
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup chopped raw hazelnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Mix flours, eggs, salt and milk into a smooth dough.
2. Cover bowl & let rest 30 min.
3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
4. Preheat oven to 200F
5. Place a colander in the sink.
6. Use a spätzle press or colander with large holes to push the dough into the boiling water.
7. When the spätzle pop up to the surface, they are done.
8. Transfer to a colander with a slotted spoon to drain.
9. Add the cooked spätzle into a casserole dish.
10. Sprinkle the cold grated butter over the top.
11. Place in oven.
12. Melt butter in a skillet.
13. Add chopped hazelnuts and toast stirring until slightly browned.
14. Sprinkle in the sugar.
15. Top spätzle with toasted hazelnuts, garnish with parsley & serve.

More Sensational Spätzle:

Pumpkin Jarlsberg Spätzle

Whole Wheat Walnut Käsepätzle

Nettle Spätzle Gouda Nests