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.