Crispy Christmas Tree

INGREDIENTS

• Hazelnut praliné 65%
• Intense 35 Belgian milk chocolate couverture
• Emotion 58 Belgian dark chocolate couverture
• Crispy Crunchies

MATERIALS

• Baking paper + plastic sheets
• Cutting wheel
• Skewer
• Flexipan mould, Ø 6 cm
• Christmas tree template
• Flexipan mould, Ø 4 cm

STEP 1

• Heat the dark chocolate to the correct tempering temperature.

STEP 2

• Pour the dark chocolate onto a plastic sheet.
• Using a palette knife, spread a thin layer of chocolate on the plastic sheet.
• Pick up the plastic sheet and place it in a cooler spot on the work bench to then cut it.

STEP 3

• Using the cutting wheel, cut 10 x 5 cm slices (rectangles).

STEP 4

• Use the skewer to cut around the edge of the template to cut out half a Christmas tree from the rectangles (from corner to corner).
• This creates two slices of ‘Christmas tree’ per rectangle.

STEP 5

• After cutting, carefully pick up the plastic sheets, hold them together tightly and put to one side.

STEP 6

• Turn the plastic sheet over and remove it.
• This will enable you to easily remove the chocolate slices.

STEP 7

• Coat the reverse side of the half Christmas trees with the chocolate.
• Then stick them together straight away and place each one on a sheet of paper in the shape of a ‘V’.

STEP 8

• Fill the Ø 4 cm Flexipan mould with dark chocolate.
• Remove the slices once they have crystallised.
• Coat the reverse side and bottom of the half Christmas trees with the chocolate and fix them directly to the Ø 4 cm disk.
• Per Christmas tree you need four sets of two half slices that you stick together in the shape of a ‘V’.
• Each Christmas tree consists of eight half slices in total.

STEP 9

Recipe for crunchy praliné

• 160 g Intense 35 Belgian milk chocolate couverture
• 60 g Hazelnut praliné 65%
• 100 g Crispy Crunchies
• 30 g Burnished almond slivers
• 30 g Pieces of candied orange
• Mix together the Crispy Crunchies, almond slivers and pieces of orange.

STEP 10

• Add the praliné paste and stir it through the mixture.

STEP 11

• Stir the tempered milk chocolate through the mixture.

STEP 12

• Divide up the praliné crunchies; 38 grams per piece per Ø 6 cm Flexipan.
• Once crystallised, remove the base slices.

STEP 13

• Add some Deodorized Cocoa Butter to the tempered dark chocolate, so it becomes a bit more fluid.
• Dip the chocolate Christmas trees into the chocolate as illustrated in the photos.

STEP 14

• Right after dipping the chocolate trees, sprinkle the trees with nuts and dried fruit.

STEP 15

• Stick the Christmas tree to the crispy crunchie base.
• Sprinkle the trees with icing sugar for a lovely wintery effect.