Chocolate Passion Mille Feuille – Bruno Albouze

As fancy desserts go on, especially for Christmas and New Year's Eve, I am so thrilled to show you how to make this one-of-a-kind plated dessert. Chocolate millefeuille, passion, matcha. No kidding. When I put up this dessert on a menu when I was working up north in Laguna Beach, it was the best-selling dessert, period. I'm going to start making dacquoise biscuit. It's like a macaron-like texture. That's going to be the bottom of the cake. First, I'm going to blend my toasted hazelnuts. You don't want to go too far. Next, I'm going to add my powdered sugar and flour. Done. Same principle for the meringue. Room-temperature egg whites, a dash of cream of tartar. If you don't have it, use a few drops of lemon juice. It stabilizes the meringue. And one-third of the sugar. Beat your egg whites. As it goes, add the remaining sugar. And by the time you make your meringue, you want your oven to be turned on. Look at this meringue. So gorgeous. So now, I'm going to fold in my dry ingredients. And you want to spread it onto your baking tray lined with a silicone baking mat. All silicone mats that I am using, actually, are professional-grade, multipurpose, reliable, and durable. So what you are looking for here is to spread out the dacquoise mixture into a thick rectangle. The thicker, the better. Just slightly larger than the frame you're going to use. The reason behind is that during baking, it will shrink. So once cooled, trim it, and it will fit perfectly into the frame, avoiding gaps all around the edges. And of course, you want to save the scraps for the kids. They will love you more than ever. And then comes the secret mixture. The crunchy praline made with praline, melted milk chocolate and butter, and cornflakes. My first choice would have been using feuillantine. You know those dried crepes or wafers? So great. I'm going to use cornflakes instead. It works just fine. So remember, the praline has a nut spread combined with chocolate becomes Gianduja. So once set, it's going to be so crispy. Unbelievable. And by the way, any idea how to make your hazelnut spread and Gianduja from scratch? Well, watch the chocolate nougat torroné video, and you'll know what I am talking about. Next on the agenda, top dacquoise biscuit with the crunchy praline using an offset spatula, and cover the whole surface with crushed toasted hazelnuts. So right after, I am going to make my passion fruit cremeux. Cremeux means creamy. It's like a fruit puree-based custard emulsioned with butter, just like my lemon pie recipe. Passion fruit puree isn't cheap though, but pick the one that bartenders use for cocktails. It's way cheaper, and it makes the trick. So bring to a quick boil the passion fruit puree, eggs, and sugar, whisking constantly. It is going to thicken as you go, just like a sabayon. Turn off the heat, add the melted gelatin, and pass through a sieve. Then you want to let this cool to 136 Fahrenheit, 58 Celsius. Bazooka, and butter. Beautiful. Offers such a luscious texture. Cover the whole surface of the cake evenly, and freeze overnight. In the meantime, I'm going to make the tea matcha ganache. Very simple. Just blend the hot heavy cream along with the melted white chocolate and the tea matcha powder, and chill overnight as well. To temper the milk chocolate, melt chocolate to 113 degrees Fahrenheit, 45 Celsius. Then chill to 77 Fahrenheit, 25 to 26 Celsius. You just put your melted chocolate in a refrigerator for a few minutes until it begins to set on the edges. Then give a good stir, check the temperature, and warm it up to 84 to 86 Fahrenheit, 29 to 30 degrees Celsius. You will need 7 ounces of tempered chocolate per sheet. So what I'm going to use, I'm going to use the acetate plastic sheet. Very popular in chocolate making. So with a large offset spatula, let run the chocolate underneath without putting any pressure from 9 o'clock to 3 and 12 to 6, keeping the chocolate on board. The key here is to end up with a one millimeter thick chocolate plaque. If it's too thick, pas bien, no bueno. Though the quantity of the chocolate given per sheet should give you the right thickness anyway. Then carefully transfer the chocolate sheet on a countertop or a large upside down baking tray. Clean your spot and spatula when you work with chocolate. It requires a spotless area. So, and because my room temperature is a bit warm today, 74 Fahrenheit, 24 Celsius, I'm going to let my chocolate sheet to set in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes or until dry to the touch. Then as soon as it is set, divide it immediately into desired shapes. Next, cover your chocolate plaque with a baking mat and flip it, acetate side down. And you can stock as many chocolate sheets as you want and refrigerate for months. The weight on top, by the way, prevents chocolate plaque from curling. The chocolate plaque though should be ready to use after an hour. Keep in mind that real chocolate contains cocoa butter only and that's why it requires tempering to achieve that lustrous shine and crisp snap. Next, unmold the frozen cake and slightly trim the edges and cut into 22 bars and keep frozen. I hope as you've enjoyed this fantastic combination of passion fruits, chocolate and tea matcha. To get the full recipe and much more, go to brunoskitchen.net. Please subscribe, like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. See you next time. Meanwhile, I am going to whip my tea matcha ganache on high to soft peaks. Do not over whip or it will turn into butter. Now, the best part, the assembly. Spread some of the matcha ganache on top of each bar so the first chocolate plaque will stick into it. Then, pipe out five little hearts and top with a second plaque. Decorate with gold leaf if you wish. Voilà, the elegance of French dessert. When a dessert creates an emotion, you have conquered people's heart.