Utopia Double Hazelnut

What is it?

Hazelnut and chocolate is a northern Italian pairing before it's anything else, worked out around Turin when cocoa was scarce and Piedmont had hazelnuts to spare. The shell is where this one departs from the rest of the Utopia line. It's white chocolate instead of dark, carrying salted caramelised pieces of hazelnut, almond and pistachio, so the outside is pale and loaded where the Cherry version is smooth and dark. Underneath, two ice creams are marbled together over the sauce layer that Double refers to. Hazelnut is the nut that behaves most like chocolate anyway, high in oil, low in acidity, and roasted it picks up the same browned notes, so it disappears into a coating in a way an almond never does.