Chocolate Mendiants with Nuts & Dried Fruit

📝 Ingredients

• 100 g dark chocolate 70%
• 20 g almonds
• 20 g hazelnuts
• 20 g dried cranberries
• 15 g pumpkin seeds
• ½ unwaxed orange (for the zest)
• 1 pinch fleur de sel

🍴 Utensils

• Small frying pan
• Chopping board, knife and fine grater
• Saucepan and heatproof bowl (bain-marie)
• Flexible spatula
• Baking tray and baking paper
• Cooking thermometer (optional)

📖 Steps

1. Dry-toast the almonds and hazelnuts in a small frying pan over a medium heat for 3 to 4 min, stirring, until fragrant. Leave to cool completely, then roughly chop the hazelnuts with a knife and keep the almonds whole.
2. Halve the cranberries if they're large and zest the orange with a fine grater. Line a baking tray with baking paper: everything needs to be ready before the chocolate, which sets quickly.
3. Finely chop the chocolate with a knife and set a third aside (about 35 g). Put the rest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing 3 cm of barely simmering water, without the bottom of the bowl touching the water.
4. Melt over a low heat, stirring gently with the spatula, until the chocolate is smooth and reaches 50 °C (hot when touched to your lips). Make sure no drop of water or steam gets into it, or it will seize and turn pasty.
5. Take the bowl off the bain-marie, wipe the underside and add the reserved chocolate. Stir for 2 to 3 min until it has melted and the whole lot has cooled back down to 31-32 °C. Test: the tip of a knife dipped in it should set glossy within 5 min.
6. Drop 1 tsp chocolate onto the baking paper and spread it into a 4 to 5 cm disc with a circular motion using the back of the spoon. Make 4 discs at a time so you have time to top them before they set.
7. Immediately top each disc with an almond, some hazelnut pieces, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, a little zest and a few flakes of fleur de sel, pressing down lightly. Carry on until all the chocolate is used up (about 16 mendiants).
8. Leave to set for 10 min at room temperature, then 15 min in the fridge, until the mendiants come away easily from the paper. Store them in an airtight container in a cool place.