Chocolate Gavotte Napoleon

• A recipe inspired by pastry chefs Sebastien Leproux & Grégory Masse.

Chocolate Gavotte

• Bring to boil water, butter and salt. Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients and egg whites to form a paste. Pour hot liquid in the chocolate-egg-whites paste. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Blend and chill.

Baking

• Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. With an oiled damped paper towel, lightly grease silicone mat or parchment paper onto an upside down large baking tray. Spread chocolate gavotte mixture into a thin sheet – Make 3 sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes; one tray at a time. Carefully remove gavotte pieces from the silicone mat. Store in a dry place in sealed containers or freezer bags. If gavotte have softened, preheat oven to 250ºF/120ºC. Spread gavotte evenly onto 3 baking trays lined with silicone mat. Bake for 5 min – turn oven off and leave them inside to dry out. Use at room temp.

Ginger Chocolate Sauce

• Bring to a boil all ingredients. Remove from the heat, blend in the softened gelatin, and pass through a sieve; chill. Use at room temperature.

Caramelized Macadamia

• Toast macadamia nuts for 12 min at 350ºF/180ºC. Meanwhile, cook sugar, water, salt to 245ºF/118ºC. Toss in the macadamia and cook until caramelized; stirring constantly. Let cool and keep them in a sealed container at room temperature; it can last for weeks. Add a couple of silica gel desiccant packets if desired.

Praliné (Hazelnut Spread)

• Toast nuts for 12 min at 350ºF/180ºC. Cook sugar to caramel stage and toss in nuts. Turn heat off and transfer onto a silicone baking mat to cool. In a running food processor, blend caramelized nuts with a pinch of salt until it turns into paste.

Praliné Nuggets

• Gently, melt milk chocolate, add praliné and feuilletine. Divide into small nuggets, and chill. Dust some for garnishing with gold powder. Keep refrigerated.

Milk Chocolate Mousse

• Whip cream to medium-soft peaks, and chill. In a medium saucepan, make a creme Anglaise: bring to a boil cream and milk. Meanwhile, mix sugar and yolks. Temper yolks mixture with hot milk-cream. Back to the stove and cook to 185ºF/85ºC. Sieve over melted milk chocolate, mix well and cool to 104ºF/40ºC. Fold in whipped cream; chill to set.

Plating

• Spoon out a dollop of praliné on the plate first. Add a piece of gavotte, pipe out some chocolate mousse, add some plain crushed praliné nuggets & caramelized macadamia nuts. Top with gavotte, chocolate mousse – repeat this step 3 or 4 more times (go easy with the mousse). Garnish with some golden nuggets, macadamia and dots of ginger chocolate sauce. Dust some powdered sugar if desired and serve immediately. Enjoy!