Peanut Nougatine Chocolate Truffle Slicing / Sharing Log - A Real Treat !

Often, my creations don't come out as I originally intended. Like this one... 

In the beginning, I intended to make a peanut nougat - but on tasting the mixture, decided it was a bit too sickly sweet on it's own and then transformed it into these slicing bars.

Thankfully, I made a note of exactly what I did / used along the way ! If you have made marshmallows before, you'll find this a breeze.

Actually, I think it would be mind blowing done with pistachio nuts and dipped in white or dark chocolate.... 

This recipe creates quite a large batch. Either 6 large slicing bars, or 4 large / 4 medium or 8 medium. Ideal for Christmas hampers !

Recipe

 Ingredients .... For the Nougatine : 

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar 

150ml corn syrup (or glucose)

150ml golden syrup

2tsp of Frangelico (hazelnut liquer) - if you have any
2tsp vanilla extract

60ml water

150g of crunchy peanut butter - eg Sunpat / JIF
sea salt

125g of white chocolate

200g salted peanuts

Ingredients ...... for the ganache

500g of milk (or dark) chocolate
1 tsp glucose / corn syrup
275g double cream

Belgian couverture chocolate for coating (sorry - I did not weigh how much I used)

You will need liquid glucose. Liquid glucose is very very thick and sticky - not unlike golden syrup I suppose - but totally clear and even stickier still. Most supermarkets stock it in 140g tubes, or you can buy it from Boots The Chemist. Do ask for it at Boots though as it is generally not on display. Alternatively, corn syrup is what is used in most American recipes for nougat. I've just found it on Ebay and Amazon in the UK, so if you are struggling for liquid glucose then you will need some corn syrup.

You CAN use all corn syrup / glucose in this recipe if you prefer. I wanted a golden tint from the golden syrup for this nougat, but all golden syrup would have made it far too sickly sweet. It's seriously sweet as it is ! I'd suggest you invest in some corn syrup...

You WILL need a sugar thermometer. Don't even think of trying this without one - temperature is absolutely critical. Too high and you'll burn the caramel part and too low it'll just never set....

For those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible. Some larger branches of TESCO now also have a small American isle and now stock corn syrup.

METHOD

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside (if using instead of extract). Put the pod itself and the sugar, corn syrup, golden syrup and water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  to 250deg F. This will take about 15 to 20 mins.

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and vanilla / frangelico together.

Whip the egg whites to firm peak. With the mixer on full, pour in the hot syrup on to the egg whites. Now mix in the melted chocolate / peanut butter / vanilla / frangelico. Only mix for about 1 > 2 minutes after adding the peanut butter mix. 

Scrape into a well oiled 8" square silicone mould / pan and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Leave to cool and then refrigerate until set.

Remove from the mould and place between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Roll out to approx 14" square. You can now cut this into two pieces, or leave whole and cut later....  I put my nougatine (bottom paper still in place) on top of my tray. The tray I used is a vegetable roasting tray that came from Lakeland. It's very handy and big - also fits perfectly over my sink !

Pulse the salted peanuts a couple of times in a food processor to break up a little, then spread all over the nougatine and press into the surface.

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To make the ganache : scald the cream - ie put in a pan and bring just to the boil. Make sure to stir constantly so it does not catch on the base of the pan.

 Put the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute to start it softening. Take cream off the heat, and then pour over the chocolate. Add the glucose / corn syrup. Mix with a spatula until all the chocolate has melted and emulsified with the cream. Set aside to cool and thicken. It's ideal if you shove it in the fridge for an hour or two.

When spreadable (a bit like nutella out of a jar - actually - that would be a damn good cheat !), use all of it to spread over the nougatine.

Put in the fridge to harden up a bit for another hour or so.

I then trimmed up the end with a knife and cut it into two pieces.

Dust your hands and work surface liberally with icing sugar. Use the paper to help roll each piece up from the long end, much like a swiss roll. You'll end up with what looks like those marrowbone things for the dog !

Roll out each large sausage and then divide as required. I made 4 great big fat pieces about 8" long and 2" dia, plus 4 smaller ones - approx 6" long and 1" dia.

Wrap each piece individually in cling film / saran wrap and pop in the freezer for an hour or two to harden. They need to be quite firm and stay rigid when you handle them for dipping in chocolate.

When hardened (but NOT frozen solid !) remove from the freezer. Temper some Belgian couverture chocolate - either milk or dark - white will be much too sweet. I have no idea how much chocolate I used - but I'd guess around 500g.

Put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and dunk the whole bar in the chocolate, allowing excess to run off. Don't try dipping these with forks etc - at this size, you've no chance ! The gloves may stick to the chocolate a little, so take fingers straight back off and immediately re dunk.

Place on a silicone baking sheet and allow to harden. The chocolate will harden quickly as the bars are quite cold.

Store and serve the bars at room temperature. Slice with a warm, sharp knife into 1cm / 3/8" thick slices.

Enjoy !

Mum - one is on it's way to you. Oliver and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Nanny and Pappy last weekend. x

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013

Honey, Vanilla & Pistachio Nougat

I've seen a lot of stunning photos of nougat recently and really fancied making my own. My main sources of inspiration were Cherry Tea Cakes recipe that made Foodbuzz's top 9 Toasted Hazelnut Nougat Recipe and also Rachel Allen's Nougat

However, I had a play around and came up with a unique version of my own. I made it in my 8" square silicone bakeware mould. I'll want you now, this is the stickiest stuff you can ever imagine to work with. It's far stickier than marshmallow.... and THAT'S sticky !

I thought I had bought rice paper sheets. Obviously I hadn't - I'd just thought about it at some stage and not actually bothered. Right when I needed them - they were not there. Rice paper sheets would help a lot, believe me. Do oil or butter your silicone mould well to prepare for pouring in the nougat. We don't want pools of oil in the bottom.... you don't need that much.

You will need liquid glucose. Liquid glucose is very very thick and sticky - not unlike golden syrup I suppose - but totally clear and even stickier still. Most supermarkets stock it in 140g tubes, or you can buy it from Boots The Chemist. Do ask for it at Boots though as it is generally not on display. Alternatively, corn syrup is what is used in most American recipes for nougat. I've just found it on Ebay and Amazon in the UK, so if you are struggling for liquid glucose then you will need some corn syrup

You will also need a sugar thermometer. Don't even think of trying this without one - temperature is absolutely critical. Too high and you'll burn the caramel part and too low it'll just never set....

Recipe

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups granulated sugar

160ml / 2/3 cup liquid glucose (or corn syrup)

160ml / 2/3 cup runny honey (pale colour if possible)

1 vanilla pod

60ml water

140g > 240g pistachios (I used 140g and added 100g dried cherries)

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside. Put the pod itself and the sugar, liquid glucose, runny honey and water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  > 250deg F. This will take about 15 > 20 mins.

Just before the syrup mix is ready, whisk the two egg whites to stiff peaks in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Remove syrup from the heat and pour slowly into the egg whites with the mixer going at a medium / high rate. Try and keep the syrup from directly makeing contact with the whisk otherwise this can affect the texture I believe.

The mix will grow like meringue and look shiny. As soon as the syrup is all in, add the nuts and dried fruit should you have chosen to use it and let the mixer combine. You want it to stick to the beaters like a good meringue, but it will be much stickier. Don't let it cool in there too much. You need to work quite wuick with this one !

Use a silicone spatula to scrape into your mould (or prepared tin) and aggitiate (shoogle) it a bit to level.

Allow to cool. You may wish to refrigerate it for a while. Once it has firmed up, you can remove it from your silicone tray mould. If you've used a tin without wafer sheets.... good luck !!!

You can see this was really no big deal to get out the mould.

I dusted top and bottom with some cornflour on demoulding as the stuff sticks to every darn thing and it made it easy to work with when my hands were not welded to it's surface. Still - it made me laugh. I swear if I stuck a piece to the bottom of each shoe, I could have walked upside down on the ceiling !

Saying that, it's dreamy to eat and doesn't stick to your teeth. It's fluffy and light. It's not chompy and teeth gluing like toffee or fly paper when it's in your mouth. It's highly unlikely to pull fillings.

Don't let the stickiness put you off making it. This is the stuff that will help you make friends and influence people. Now I've made it once, I think I'll end up making it again and again. Definately one for the Christmas hampers !

 The harder it is at point of cutting, the easier it is. Had I used wafer sheets top and bottom, I think this job would have been far easier... but the cornflour on top of greasproof paper did a good job.

DO use a sharp knife. This is important.

I started off with an oiled knife...just as you would for toffee.

DO cut right the way through in one go. That knife isn't coming back out once you start cutting !

Don't bother oiling the knife. Run it under the cold water tap and shake off excess. Make a cut. It's far easier with a wet knife I fould than an oiled one. Each row you cut, wash the sticky bits of the knife. Promise....If you forget, you won't for the row after..

Once cut into nice big chunks, wrap each in baking parchment.

I made 3 great big bags (one for posting to Mum and Dad in Scotland, one for Victoria and one to send to my grandmother.) The remains were scoffed by work colleagues who are still alive and well :-)

Enjoy and have fun !

Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/, March 2011