Chocolate & praline cookie brioche – Tristan Rousselot

Method

Brioche dough :

• 1)

  First cut the butter into small cubes of 1cm and place them in the freezer until needed.

  Put the grated vanilla, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour and freeze for 45 minutes with the hook attachment.

  Take out of the freezer, add the yeast, the eggs which come out of the cold and lightly beaten. Knead the dough for 6 minutes on low speed (2), (for this I used the paddle attachment it was easy to bring all the ingredients together).

   

  

  Once all the ingredients were incorporated, I replaced the paddle with the hook and continued kneading for about 6 minutes on medium speed (5).

  Add the very cold butter, knead until fully incorporated (at slow speed).

  The batter should be smooth and shiny and pull away easily from the sides of the bowl. It’s very important during kneading that the temperature of the dough remains below 23 – 24°C.

   

  

  Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a ball. Place it in a lightly floured bowl and cover with a cling film to prevent a skin to form on the surface of the dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.Then place it in the freezer for 30 minutes before letting it rest for 12 hours or even overnight in the refrigerator.

  

   

To make the hazelnut praliné :

• 1)

  Start by roasting the hazelnuts for 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 150°, remove from the oven and let it cool.

  Then make a dry caramel with the sugar, pour on a silicone mat or on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

  Once the hazelnuts and caramel have cooled, place them in a food processor with the salt and mix until you obtain a smooth and fluid consistency.

  Check Here to see how all steps to how to make praliné .

   

To make the ganache :

• 1)

  Melt the chocolate, then place it in a medium bowl, add the Gianduja (click HERE for the Gianduja recipe / tips and tricks section), the hazelnut paste and the salt (mixture 1), leave aside.

  Boil the cream with the glucose and the honey, then add them in three times over the mixture (1). Using a spatula, stir from the center until you reach the edges of the bowl, creating an emulsion.

  Add the cocoa butter and mix with an hand blender to be sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated and to have a very smooth and glossy ganache.

   

  

  Pour the ganache into half-sphere molds 4cm in diameter and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Use a piping pastry bag without a nozzle to pour the ganache into the cavities, it’s easier.

   

  

  That’s how it looks after overnight in the freezer.

   

The cookie dough :

• 1)

  In a medium bowl, mix the softened butter with the sugars but without emulsion, (don’t over mix).

   

  

  

  Then add the hazelnut paste, the fleur de sel (salt) and the egg at room temperature, once incorporated, add the sifted flour and baking soda (as well as the crushed hazelnuts if used).

   

  

  Roll the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment papers until thin ( 3mm ), then freeze for at least 4 hours (or overnight) before cutting out circles 7.5 cm in diameter.

   

  

   

Assembly & Baking :

• 1)

  Form balls of brioche dough of 40 – 41g each, place them in well-buttered metal molds 9 cm in diameter. I didn’t have these kind of molds, so I put the balls on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and placed an 8cm circles around them.

   

  

  Leave to rise for 2 hours at 27°C, until the balls double in size.

  After the rising time, place the half-spheres of ganache in the center of the buns, flat side up, and press down to the bottom.

   

  

  Place the frozen cookie discs on top.

   

  

  Bake for 12 minutes in a preheated oven at 160°C Fan.

   

  

  Remove from the oven, let it cool for few minutes before you remove them from the tins (if using) or remove the rings. Decorate with two different chocolates and put them back 5 seconds in the oven. (I did not do this step, I preferred to decorate with small chocolate shavings ).

  Pipe praline in the center of the brioche and decorate with hazelnuts.

• 2)

  Enjoy !!