Chocolate And Hazelnut Pagoda Recipe

Make hazelnut praline

Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a small heavy saucepan, melt 60 g granulated sugar over medium heat without stirring, swirling pan occasionally, until it becomes amber (watch carefully to avoid burning). As soon as caramel reaches amber, remove from heat and immediately stir in toasted hazelnuts until coated. Pour mixture onto the prepared sheet and spread into a thin layer. Let cool completely, then break into pieces and blitz in a food processor to a fine paste. Add 5 ml neutral oil and pulse until a smooth praline paste forms. Set aside.

Temper and form chocolate domes

Place 150 g of the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Gently heat the milk and 20 g butter until just simmering, then pour over the chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir until smooth to form a glossy ganache. Fold in 2 tablespoons (about 40 g) of the hazelnut praline paste and mix until homogeneous and slightly thickened. Reserve 30 g chopped chocolate to melt for coating (see step below). If you have hemisphere silicone molds (about 7–8 cm), spoon the ganache into molds to form half-spheres, filling each about 2/3 full. Smooth top, tap to release air, and chill in freezer 20–30 minutes until firm. If you don't have molds, spoon into small domed molds or shape quickly with a spoon onto parchment and freeze briefly.

Coat domes

Melt the reserved 30 g chocolate gently over a bain-marie until fluid. Remove frozen ganache domes from molds and quickly dip or brush with melted chocolate to seal and create a smooth glossy shell. Place domes on parchment and chill 10 minutes to set. The sealed domes create the pagoda 'shell'.

Prepare ingredients

Split the vanilla bean and scrape seeds (or measure vanilla paste). Warm the cream slightly so it is not cold when added to hot caramel (prevents violent bubbling).

Make caramel

In a small heavy saucepan, combine 80 g granulated sugar and 25 ml water. Gently swirl to wet the sugar and place over medium heat. Without stirring, let the sugar syrup boil until it turns a deep amber color. Once amber, remove from heat. Carefully and gradually whisk in the warm cream (it will steam and bubble vigorously). Return to low heat and stir until smooth.

Finish caramel

Off the heat, whisk in 25 g softened butter, 6 g white miso paste, scraped vanilla seeds (or 1 tsp paste), 0.25 tsp almond extract and 0.25 tsp fine sea salt until fully incorporated and glossy. Taste and adjust salt or almond if needed. Let cool to warm (not hot) — it should be pourable but slightly thickened to coat the back of a spoon.

Prepare crunch

Fold 30 g feuilletine (or crushed toasted wafer) into the remaining hazelnut praline (about 20 g reserved from the batch) to create a crunchy praline mix. If your praline batch left little, crush an extra toasted hazelnut and mix in to reach texture indicated. This provides contrast inside the pagoda.

Assemble pagodas

Remove sealed chocolate domes from fridge. If domes are hollow, spoon about 1 tablespoon (15 g) of the warm vanilla-almond-miso caramel into each dome, then add approximately 15 g of the crunchy praline mixture on top of the caramel. If domes are solid ganache, pipe a shallow well in the base with a small knife and fill as above. Gently place the dome on a small serving plate with the sealed side up to display a smooth peak.

Finish & serve

Warm a small knife over hot water, wipe dry and score a decorative spiral or a single slit in the top of each dome to create the 'pagoda' look, or dust lightly with 2 g powdered sugar for contrast. Garnish with the remaining chopped toasted hazelnuts. Serve immediately so the caramel is slightly warm against the cooled chocolate dome. Each pagoda serves one; total makes 2.