Chocolate-Dipped Croissant ‘Biscotti’

Makes many!

6 day-old croissants, frozen 500g thickened cream 300g caster sugar, plus extra for

sprinkling

4 tsp sea salt flakes

TEMPERED CHOCOLATE

1 kg dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

10g cocoa butter

Preheat your oven to 170°C (150°C fan forced) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Remove one croissant at a time from the freezer to keep the pastry as frozen and solid as possible. Slice a croissant in half lengthways through the nose and then, using a mandoline or a very sharp serrated knife, cut very thin slices of croissant widthways across each half.

Place the cream, sugar and salt in a saucepan and warm over a low heat, whisking to dissolve the sugar and salt.

Working one slice at a time, pick up the croissant thins and coat them in the warmed cream, drain off any excess and arrange the slices in one layer on the lined baking tray.

Sprinkle the cream-coated slices with a little extra sugar and place in the oven to bake until they have reached a medium to dark golden brown colour. Start with 30 minutes on the timer and check them at the 30-minute mark. They may need a little longer to become really lovely and caramelised. Cool completely, then transfer to a container until you are ready to dip them in the chocolate.

To make tempered chocolate

Set up a double boiler: bring 5cm of water to the boil in a medium saucepan then reduce heat to a simmer. Place a heatproof metal bowl over the top of the saucepan, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl isn’t actually touching the water. Make sure that the bowl fits snugly, because if any condensation coming from the simmering water makes its way into the bowl, it will ruin the tempering of the chocolate.

Place 750g of the chocolate in the bowl with the cocoa butter and melt, monitoring the temperature. Once it reaches 50°C, carefully remove the bowl from the saucepan and gradually add the remaining 250g of chocolate, stirring constantly with a clean, dry spatula and continuing to monitor the temperature.

Reduce the temperature of the chocolate to 28°C, then place the bowl of melted chocolate briefly back over the saucepan, continually stirring, and bring the chocolate up to 32°C.

Your chocolate is now perfectly tempered and ready to use immediately.

Finishing

Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.

Take a cooled slice of croissant ‘biscotti’ and dip one end into the melted tempered chocolate. Twirl the piece of croissant around to allow any excess chocolate to drip off, then lay the slice of croissant onto one of the lined baking trays. Allow to set completely. If you have tempered your chocolate correctly, the surface of the set chocolate should be shiny, and the chocolate will snap when you break it or bite into it.

Repeat with the remaining slices of croissant biscotti.