Ingredients
Cider Syrup
- 4 cups apple cider*
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1½ tsp ground cardamom
The Halawa
- ½ cup rice flour
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp orange blossom water
Caramelized Apple Jam
- 1 apple, peeled and diced
- 3 tsp butter
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Browned Hazelnuts
- About ⅓ cup hazelnuts, chopped
- 2 tsp butter
Instructions
- Reduce the cider. Simmer the apple cider in a saucepan until it has cooked down to about 2 cups. Skim off any foam that rises to the top as it goes.
- Make the syrup. Stir the brown sugar and cardamom into the reduced cider and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Keep it hot over low heat.
- Make the apple jam. Sauté the diced apple with the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon over medium heat, stirring often, until soft, jammy and caramelized. Set aside.
- Brown the hazelnuts. Toast the chopped hazelnuts in the butter over medium-low heat until golden and fragrant. Set aside.
- Dry-toast the flour. Toast the rice flour in a dry pan over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until it turns light tan and smells biscuity.
- Make the roux. Add the butter to the toasted flour and stir until it deepens a shade and smells nutty. It colors fast, since the flour is already toasted.
- Add the syrup. Pour the hot cider syrup in all at once. Stand back, it will spit, and stir fast until smooth and thick enough to pull away from the pan.
- Cool and finish. Let the halawa cool slightly, then stir in the orange blossom water.
- Assemble. Spoon the halawa into a dish, top with the caramelized apple jam and scatter the browned hazelnuts over the top.
*Cider note: 4 cups of cider cook down to roughly 2 cups. You can reduce it a day ahead and keep it in the fridge, then rewarm it with the sugar and cardamom when you’re ready to start.