Chouchou Dulcey, Praline and Caramelized Hazelnuts

Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water.

Melt the Dulcey chocolate in the microwave, then add the glucose syrup and hazelnut paste. Mix together.

Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the squeezed-out gelatine. Mix well.

Pour the hot milk over the Dulcey chocolate mixture, whisking continuously.

Add the cream and continue whisking until combined.

Pour the cream into a dish and cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface. Refrigerate overnight.

Soak the gelatine leaves in very cold water.

Pour the cream and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the squeezed-out gelatine.

Add the praline, hazelnut paste and hazelnut powder. Blend until smooth.

Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, loosen the mascarpone with a little of the praline cream.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the praline cream together with the mascarpone until you have a light, airy chantilly. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar and fleur de sel, then add the softened butter and knead for a few minutes until you have a smooth, homogeneous dough.

Roll the dough out to a thickness of 3 mm between 2 sheets of baking parchment.

Cut out small circles of the desired size using a round cutter (small circles for the small choux and larger circles for the large choux).

Freeze until needed.

Toast the hazelnuts in a preheated oven at 150°C / 300°F for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then rub off the skins.

Roughly chop the hazelnuts (not too finely).

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook to 118°C / 244°F. Check with a thermometer — if you don’t have one, wait for small bubbles to appear.

Off the heat, pour the chopped hazelnuts into the sugar syrup and stir well until they are coated in a white sandy sugar.

Return the pan to a medium heat. Stir constantly as the sugar begins to dissolve. The hazelnuts will caramelise gradually — be careful not to burn them.

When the hazelnuts are golden, add the butter and fleur de sel and mix well. Turn out onto a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat. Leave to cool and store in a dry place.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F (conventional/static heat).

Bring the water, salt, sugar and butter to the boil in a saucepan.

Remove from the heat and add the sifted flour all at once. Mix vigorously with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms.

Return to the heat for 30 seconds to dry out the panade — it should begin to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Leave to cool for a few minutes, or run the stand mixer briefly until the steam disperses.

Beat the whole eggs together in a jug.

Add the eggs gradually to the dough. The paste should be neither too thick nor too thin — it should fall from the spatula in a smooth ribbon. A line drawn with a finger in the dough should slowly close back together.

Pipe 4 large choux (4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter) and 4 small choux (2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. It helps to draw (or print) a template on the parchment and then flip it over.

If you have leftover choux pastry, pipe it into silicone moulds and freeze for another occasion.

Place the hazelnut craquelin discs on top of each choux.

Bake for 30–40 minutes for the large choux and 20–25 minutes for the small (adjust according to your oven). I recommend piping the large choux onto one half of the parchment and the 8 small choux onto the other half. When the small choux are done, quickly open the oven, remove them, then close the oven immediately — you need to be fast, as the large choux won’t be fully baked yet and must not deflate.

Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340°F (fan).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter to a smooth pomade.

Add the remaining ingredients one by one in the order listed. The mixture should be smooth and homogeneous.

Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking parchment and roll out as thinly as possible with a rolling pin.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Blitz the cooled sablé to a fine powder in a food processor.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bain-marie.

Add the praline and fleur de sel and mix. Add the sablé hazelnut powder and mix again until combined.

Spread 300 g (10.6 oz) of the mixture into the base of a 25 cm (9.8 in) pastry ring. Press down firmly with the back of a spoon to create an even surface.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

On a 25 cm (9.8 in) cardboard circle, draw and cut out a crescent moon shape with the point cut at a diagonal — the resulting form resembles a shooting star’s tail. Use this cardboard template to cut out the hardened biscuit.

Keep the crescent-shaped biscuit refrigerated and set the remaining biscuit aside for another use.

Fill the small choux with the Dulcey cream.

Cut each large choux in half horizontally using a serrated knife.

Using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe some light praline cream into each large choux.

Scatter over some caramelised hazelnuts, then place a small choux in the centre of each large choux and press gently. Finish with a rosette of light praline cream on top of the small choux to mask them completely.

Cover each large choux with its lid and dust with icing sugar.

Decorate with a few caramelised hazelnuts.

Arrange the 4 choux on the pressed praline biscuit.