Ferrero Rawcher

[Carmella]

All the rawified old chocolate treats I've been recently making gave me the idea to try to re-create my all time favorite: Ferrero Rocher. The traditional confection consists of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with nutella/hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. Ah man! I used to adore that stuff!

My research turned up a couple of raw versions of nutella, which certainly was a good place to start. I opted for the one posted on Gone Raw, but it didn't do the trick for me. I'm thinking I didn't process the hazelnuts long enough to release the oils. The resulting mixture was very dry and didn't come anywhere close to the SAD spread. Hum, what to do? After a little tweaking and a touch of water to smoothen it up, I finally had something fairly decent to work with. I also put the mixture in the freezer in order to make it more workable. Next time, I might give this version a try.

For the coating, I used the basic chocolate recipe I used for the Raw Almond Joy (again!) in which I folded in some finely chopped hazelnuts.

Ferrero Rawcher

For this you will need:Hazelnuts (for center)
Nutella Filling
Hazelnut Chocolate Coating

Nutella Filling
1 cup raw hazelnuts
3 tablespoons raw cacao or carob powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon Bamboo coffee substitute (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon raw honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon melted coconut butter
1 tablespoon flax or nut oil
Water until desired consistency is reached
Food process raw hazelnuts for several minutes until clumpy and oily. Add the rest of the ingredients. Then add water until you reach desired consistency. Place in freezer to set.

Hazelnut Chocolate Coating
1/2 cup melted coconut butter
1/2 cup cacao or carob powder (I used 3 part cacao/1 part carob)
1 tbs maple syrup
1 tbs agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
---
Handful hazelnuts, finely chopped in food processor

Blend until smooth in high speed blender or food processor. Transfer to a bowl and fold ground hazelnuts in.

Assembly
Take a spoonful of raw nutella (once firmed up) and tuck a hazelnut in.

With your hands, roll into a ball. (Wet fingers/palm help!)

Return balls in freezer to set.

When firm, dip each ball into Hazelnut Chocolate Coating. Allow a few seconds for excess chocolate to drip, then transfer to parchment paper. Put in fridge or freezer to set.

If the Ferrero Rawcher candies are stored in the freezer, make sure to transfer them ahead of time in the fridge to allow the hazelnut filling to soften up.

[lavendarj]

Carmella-
You are just too amazing with your creativity. Raw really does RAWK - as cheesy as that sounds - It really does...

Yes, she is really gifted.

[Carmella]

Thanks Lavendar! That it does!

[Pansy]

Yes, beautiful and amazing!

[Fairygirl]

Oooh ooh baby! these are yummmalicious and the recipe didn't make enough. They were eaten FAST around here.

[Carmella]

Yay! So glad they turned out so well! They sure look awesome!

I think I remember you saying you've tried a different version for the filling, right? Did you keep track of the ingredients/amounts by any chance?

[Fairygirl]

Good question - Not many changes Carmi, but I did use pecans since I couldn't get my hands on hazelnuts. I omitted the bamboo, and for the "nut oil", i used coconut.

They are a dream!!! Mmmmm

[malilies]

I made these yesterday...they are so yummy I wish I could post a picture but first I have to figure out how to reduce the size (I dont have photoshop).

[Carmella]

Malilies,

Ohhhhh! I wanna see! I wanna see!

There's a couple of options I can think of re: resizing. The easiest would be to try uploading directly as 'attachments' (more info about how to do that here). The system automatically resizes the pics for you (unless there's REALLY big). The other option is to upload your photos to Photobucket.com. It's easy and it's free, and from there, you have an option to resize your pics.

[malilies]

Here is a picture of my Ferrero Rawcher. By the way, I found this great website that shrinks your pictures for you...you just have to upload your picture and you can even choose the size you want it to be resized to. The url is http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

[Carmella]

Oh cool! Yay! I'm glad we'll be able to start eating your treats too... virtually that is!

[meiyen]

ooo... those look delicious!! I wanna give it a try! But can I replace the agave nectar and maple syrup with raw honey? I have problem getting these two in my area.

btw, thanks for sharing this great recipe!!

[Carmella]

Hi meiyen,

Welcome to the fammunity!

Hum, I've never tried making chocolate with honey so can't vouch. Perhaps you could try making just a small amount, in case the experiment doesn't turn out? Oh, btw, I just recently found out that Amazon sells raw agave at a super price; even cheaper than what I can order it for at my Canadian raw food distributor! Anyhoo, you can check it out here. This link is to RFC's Amazon store so the commissions can get back to this site.

If you do try it with honey, please report back!

[rawkatty]

I'm working on this, with the twist of Fairy, 'cause I dont have hazelnut here .