Crunchy Almond, Spiced Marzipan and Almond Praline Chocolate Batons

Developed by Chef Christopher Curtin of Eclat Chocolate for the Almond Board of California.

Hard

Ingredients

Serves: Serves: 20

Shelling

Filling – Almond praline

Filling – Caramelized almonds

Filling – Marzipan ganache

Preparation

Shelling:

Polish chocolate baton mold and set aside.
Slightly warm molds and fill cavities with tempered milk chocolate. Vibrate away any bubbles. Flip over and knock out access chocolate and set upside down on parchment.
Once chocolate slightly sets, scrap off access chocolate from around the cavities and set aside.

Filling:

Roast all the natural almonds and set aside 36 grams for praline. Sprinkle sugar on the rest to caramelize. Spread on parchment and set aside to cool.
Once cooled, slightly pulse the caramelized almonds in a food processor until size of rice grains. Set aside.
Make a dry caramel by slowly stirring the sugar in a pot over medium heat until it is all dissolved and has a nice rich caramel color. Add butter and stir until melted. Add the 36 grams of roasted almonds, stirring to coat. Pour out onto parchment and cool.
Once cooled, grind until it is a very fine powder, then fold in the almond butter and tempered chocolate.
Pipe the praline into the baton shells (fill about 1/3 of cavity).
Sprinkle caramelized almonds on top of praline.
Grind the sea salt, dried orange peel and dried fennel together till very fine. Add to heavy cream and heat up to before boiling.
Place marzipan in the food processor and pulse slowly while adding cream until incorporated. Fold in the tempered milk chocolate and Kirshwasser.
Pipe marzipan ganache into the mold; do not over fill. After ganache has set, seal the molds with tempered milk chocolate.
Let set in cool room 60°-65°F for five minutes before placing them in refrigerator until they have released from mold (average 7-10 minutes).
Unmold the chocolate batons and enjoy!

Nutritional Info

Per Serving