Friday 16 July 2010

Chocolate and Hazelnut Plait

I was in two minds whether to even post this - the puff pastry 'plait' burst open in the oven and the whole thing looked a real mess - but it tasted gorgeous, so the least I can do is give the recipe for the pastry filling!

50g plain chocolate (70%)
40g unsalted butter
75g ground hazelnuts
60g caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg, separated
1 tablespoon rum
250g puff pastry
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

I put the chocolate, butter, nuts, sugar and cocoa into a mini-chopper and blitzed until everything was the texture of coarse crumbs. This was transferred to a small bowl and the egg yolk and rum was mixed in to make a paste, which was then chilled for 30 minutes.

I rolled out the puff pastry into a rectangle about 20 x 30 cm, and put the chocolate paste down the middle third, along the longest axis of the pastry. Then I sliced the edges of the pastry to give strips to fold over the filling, from alternate sides, to give a plait like appearance. Then the whole thing was brushed with lightly beaten egg white, sprinkled with sugar and chilled for 15 minutes. After chilling, it was baked at 200c for about 30 minutes until the pastry was risen and golden brown.

I think my problem was not enough overlap on the pastry strips - the rectangle of pastry should have been longer, and the filling made into a narrower strip down the middle, giving longer strips to overlap. I've learned something for next time! 

If my description of a pastry plait has left you bewildered, there's a neat little YouTube film here.

6 comments:

Jude said...

That's a very worrying video clip Suelle! I hate it when 10 year olds can show me what to do . .

Love the idea of the chocolate and hazelnut though. I supopse you could cheat and bash up some Ferrero Rocher? (Yes, lowering the tone as ever).

Suelle said...

I quite agree, Jude - but it seemed very complicated to explain the process!

I think crushed Ferrero Rocher would work well, but you'd need a lot to give the same sort of volume.

Alicia Foodycat said...

It sounds wonderful - like nutella smeared on a croissant!

Suelle said...

My son called it a pimped version of pain au chocolate, Foodycat! LOL!

Lucie said...

This looks delicious - I must remember this recipe!

Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial said...

Gorgeous sounding filling, Suelle - would have lots of different applications. Plait looks decadent! :)