Shattered Chocolate Mendiants

It's up to you.

12 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Prepare the fruits and oven

   Preheat the oven to 150 °C, conventional oven setting (no fan). Count 24 almonds and 24 hazelnuts, then spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Measure the 30 g of raisins and the 30 g of candied orange peel separately; keep these two ingredients out of the oven.

2. Roast and let cool completely

   Bake the almonds and hazelnuts for 8 minutes, stirring the baking sheet halfway. They should smell slightly of the roasted fruit without browning strongly. Transfer them to a plate and let them cool for about 20 minutes: a still hot fruit would melt or tarnish the chocolate under it.

3. Cut the trim and arrange the worktop

   Dice the orange peel into pieces about 5 mm across and separate any raisins that have stuck together. Put the fruits in small accessible bowls, as they will have to be dropped before the chocolate hardens. Also prepare a flat baking tray, baking paper, a spoon and a spatula; everything that will touch the chocolate must be perfectly dry.

4. Chop and distribute 250 g of chocolate

   Finely chop the 250 g of dark couverture chocolate. Weigh 170 g in a heat-resistant bowl and store the remaining 80 g in a second container. Prepare a kitchen thermometer; if the bag gives a specific tempering curve to this chocolate, follow these temperatures first.

5. Melt the first portion in a bain-marie

   Pour 2 cm of water into a saucepan, simmer it then lower the fire. Place on top of the bowl containing the 170 g of chocolate, without its bottom touching the water, and stir with the spatula until it reaches about 50 ° C. Keep the bowl away from the heat, wipe its underside and do not let in any drop of water: the chocolate must be completely fluid.

6. Add reserved chocolate and cool

   Pour the 80 g of chopped chocolate reserved in the melted chocolate. Stir regularly, scraping the walls, until the pieces are incorporated and the temperature drops to 28-29 °C. It may take several minutes; do not heat up further to speed up this step, since it is now necessary to cool the mass.

7. Bring back to working temperature

   Place the bowl on the bain-marie for just a few seconds, remove it, stir and measure again. Repeat if necessary up to 31-32 °C, then keep the bowl off the heat. Spread a small trace on the paper: it must begin to firm up in a few minutes in a cool room; this control helps you to avoid sinking a whole plate still too hot.

8. Draw the rectangle and distribute the trims

   Draw in pencil a rectangle of 30 x 20 cm on a sheet of baking paper, then turn it so that the chocolate does not touch the line. Put it on a perfectly flat plate. Imagine the surface divided into 24 small portions: each should have an almond, a hazelnut, a few raisins and some diced orange peel.

9. Spread the chocolate evenly

   Pour the tempered chocolate into the center of the rectangle, then spread it with a spatula to the drawn boundaries. Aim for a thickness close to 3 mm, without looking for a perfectly smooth surface: spatula traces are suitable for the decor. Scrape the bowl to collect the chocolate; if it thickens before the end, heat it very briefly and stay at 31-32 °C.

10. Place twenty-four groups of fruit

    Before the chocolate hardens, place an almond and a hazelnut in each of the 24 locations. Distribute the 30 g raisins and 30 g orange peel among these groups, pressing very lightly to secure them. Leave small corridors of free chocolate between groups in order to be able to break portions without crossing large fruits.

11. Mark the break lines

    Wait a few minutes: when the chocolate begins to become matte but remains tender, trace 24 irregular polygons with a knife. Pass the blade between the groups of fruits by marking the layer without tearing the paper. If the chocolate is already hard, do not force; warm the blade under hot water, dry it perfectly and gradually mark the separations.

12. Let crystallize and break portions

    Leave the plate immobile for about 1 hour in a cool, dry room, ideally around 18-20 °C. Take off the paper by pulling it under the chocolate, then break gently along the marks to obtain 24 plates. Place them in disorder but flat on the tray, and keep them in a closed box away from moisture.