Jolly Cookathon: milk chocolate and hazelnut bar
Heard about the Jolly Cookathon? It’s our latest community challenge, in celebration of eating together. Entries close on 20 November, get all the details and join in, jolly friend.
Michael Broughton, also known as the King of Sauces, heads up the uber-successful restaurant Terroir on the popular Kleine Zalze Estate. Intense flavours are his trademark, achieved through the distinct beauty of perfect, accompanying sauces. Sample one of his famous marriages of flavour in this milk chocolate and hazelnut bar.
Ingredients for the base:
75g hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and roughly chopped
75g castor sugar
2 egg whites
30g icing sugar, sieved
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 30 cm x 20 cm baking sheet, and set aside. Blitz the nuts and castor sugar together until finely ground. Beat the egg whites to form medium peaks, slowly add the icing sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in the hazelnut and sugar mixture, and spread on the baking sheet, so that the layer is about 3 to 4mm thick.
Bake for 8 minutes, or until slightly crisp. Remove and allow to cool.
Ingredients for the milk chocolate mousse:
400g milk chocolate (the very best you can get)
225g 70% dark chocolate (the very best you can get)
500ml cream, whipped to resemble the texture of yoghurt
Method:
Melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water, mix together well and allow to cool. Very gently fold the chocolate mixture into the cream and pour onto the hazelnut base to about 3 cm high. Smooth off and chill for 2 hours.
Ingredients for the chocolate glaze:
150ml water
175g castor sugar
55g cocoa
125 ml cream
40g 70% dark chocolate
2 ½ gelatine leaves, soaked in some cold water
Method:
Add all the ingredients (except the gelatine) to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, remove from the heat and whisk in the softened gelatine leaves.
Allow the chocolate to cool and pour the glaze over the cold mousse, tilting the tray as you go to achieve a smooth and shiny finish. Don’t be tempted to try to flatten the glaze; you will make it cloudy if you fiddle with it. (If you really want to, you can run a kitchen blowtorch over it before serving it to get the shiny effect). To serve, warm a knife and carefully cut into 3cm x 8cm slices. Serve with some caramel ice cream and garnish with ground toasted hazelnuts.
Serves 8
Michael’s recipe for this treaty pudding can be found in Taking it Easy, Andy Fenner’s brilliant new compilation cook book with home entertaining favourites from 20 of South Africa’s leading chefs.
