Salted Peanut Praliné Chocolate Bonbons
A sweet, salty, and crunchy chocolate bonbon that will melt in your mouth. The best way to describe it is a gourmet Reeses - this little bite has it all!
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I am enamored with chocolate: I love its aroma, its texture, and its cornucopia of flavours. Working with it is meditative: gently stirring melted chocolate always keeps me in the moment even when the background noise is crying infants. But like with any loving relationship, it can be trying at times; chocolate is as treacherous as it is delicious. When you are tempering it, you want it to crystallize into a glossy, crisp mass. However, all it takes is one misstep and all your hard work will result in a poorly crystallized heap of disappointment. Like with most technical skills, it requires patience, time, and practice to master. There are several methods of tempering chocolate, but I find that for home baking, ensemenssement is the simplest and least messy way of going about it. In this process, you start by melting three-quarters of your chocolate, and then you add the balance to act as a scaffolding for the rest of the cocoa butter to align with.
Making chocolate bonbons can be as easy or as complex as you want: anything from a simple ganache to gooey-centred caramels pipped into chocolate molds. In my own kitchen, I like making bonbon taillé (cut), as opposed to moulé (molded) or boulé (balled). In this technique, you place the filling onto a tray to crystallize. Once finished, it can be easily cut into squares and dipped into tempered chocolate.
Yields approximately 150 bonbons
Ingredients
1000g salted peanut praliné
100g butter
100g dark chocolate pistoles
100g feuilletine
Zest of 1 lemon
800g dark chocolate de couverture
Directions
Salted Peanut Praliné Filling:
Melt butter and 100g dark chocolate over a bain-marie.
In a large bowl mix the praliné, melted chocolate, feuilletine and lemon zest.
Cadrer:
Line a baking sheet (I use 12”x16”) with wax paper and spread the filling using an offset spatula so that is it smooth and even.
Place it in a cool spot to set (approximately 15°C) for a minimum of 1 hour.
Temper chocolate:
Melt 600g of dark chocolate over a bain-marie.
When the chocolate reaches 45-50°C*, remove it from the bain-marie and add 200g of chocolate.
Slowly stir to melt the chocolate, if it cools below 30°C, return the bowl to the bain-marie to help the remaining chocolate melt.
You are aiming to have melted chocolate at 31°C.
Place bowl of tempered chocolate over a saucepan filled with lukewarm water to help maintain the chocolate’s temperature.
Chablonner:
Pour approximately 100g of tempered chocolate onto the set filling.
Using an offset spatula, quickly spread the chocolate to cover the filling with a very thin layer.
Wait a couple of minutes to let is set.
Cut along the edges of the fillings and place a wax paper on top.
Place a second baking sheet (upside down) on top and flip the filling.
Take off the first baking sheet and peel away the wax paper.
Pour approximately 100g of tempered chocolate onto the set filling.
Using an offset spatula, quickly spread the chocolate to cover the filling with a very thin layer.
Bonbon taillé:
Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut the filling into approximately 1” squares.
Trempage:
Place square in the tempered chocolate.
Using a fourchette , flip the square and then lift it out so only the bottom is touching the tempered chocolate.
Keeping the square touching the chocolate, lift up and down two to three times to help excess chocolate slide off.
Then lift out, gently slide the fourchette along the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate and place bonbon on a piece of acetate to set.
Repeat for all pieces.
Chocolate can take up to several days to fully crystalize, so I like to keep my chocolates on the acetate for at least two days before storing them.
These will keep for up to a year. Can be placed in an airtight container and frozen. Let them thaw in the fridge for 24hours before being enjoyed at room temperature.
*The key to mastering the art of chocolate is time and temperature. You can’t rush chocolate and it waits for no one! Chocolate crystalizes at specific temperatures, so a digital thermometer is a must if you want to obtain the proper texture and mouthfeel.
