In this collection of turrones (Spanish chocolate bars), Adrià Rodón once again demonstrates some of his many talents, such as absolute neatness, perfection, and meaningful creativity.

When coming up with this collection, the junior chef of the Chocolate Academy in Barcelona set the goal of creating a different mold that would stand out from the traditional bar nougat or turrón. To do this, he had the idea of ​​making a round mold with a curve at the top that sinks inward. At first, he explains, “I was inspired by the traditional Galician octopus dish, which has this small hole on the inside, but I wanted to get a mold where I could perfectly mark this curve since it is the main protagonist in the design of these nougats ”. To achieve this, he made plates in the shape of a hemisphere that measure just half of the mold. “Once I have the mold filled and closed, I attach this plate with tempered chocolate in such a way that it seems that it is part of the same mold. Thus, I am able to mark this shape a lot more and play with the shadow caused by this plate ”, he assures.

For the creation of the mold, he designed a matrix, first with chocolate with the help of silicone molds. Later he passed it to plaster and used a thermoforming machine.

The collection consists of three pieces, each with a type of chocolate (dark, white, and milk) painted with a velvet effect and with unusual textures that work very well together. Below we share the recipe for the milk chocolate nougat “which is made up of a maple syrup gel, reduced to 84º Brix and accompanied by a very tasty praline of peanuts and honey”, he adds.

Peanut turrón chocolate bar and maple syrup

For ten nougats, 11 cm in diameter

Caramelized salted peanuts

• 161 g salted peanuts
• 129 g powdered sugar
• 9 g butter

Chop the peanuts into small pieces. In a saucepan, mix with the powdered sugar and stir until you get a perfect caramelized finish. Once caramelized, add the butter and spread on a silpat. Reserve in an airtight container.

Peanut and honey praline

• 700 g caramelized salted peanuts
• 250 g sucrose
• 70 g honey
• 40 g peanut oil

Caramelize the sucrose using dry method and add the honey. Cook until all the water in it evaporates. Add the warm peanuts and roll out on a silpat. Let cool and grind in a blender together with the peanut oil until the desired texture is achieved.

Old-fashioned peanut and honey praline

• 759 g peanut and honey praline
• 76 g cocoa butter
• 182 g milk chocolate 39% Jade
• 182 g caramelized peanuts in pieces

Mix the peanut praline, cocoa butter and Jade milk chocolate and pre-crystallize at 24ºC. Add the caramelized peanuts in pieces and pour into the mold.

Maple syrup gel

• 714 g maple syrup
• 285 g glucose D40

Cook the maple syrup with the glucose over medium heat until 85º BRIX. Reserve in a container covered with cling film touching the surface of the gel until use.

Milk chocolate spray 60/40

• 600 g milk chocolate 39% Jade
• 400 g cocoa butter

Melt the couverture and the cocoa butter and mix. Reserve in a stove at 40ºC until the moment of use.

Milk chocolate plates

• 500 g Jade milk chocolate

Pre-crystallize the chocolate at 29ºC. Spread between two 2-millimeter slats. Cut hemispheres the size of the mold used.

Montage

Line the molds with Jade milk chocolate. Place 55 grams of the maple syrup gel into the mold. Place 100 g of peanut praline on top of the maple syrup gel. Allow the praline to crystallize and close the nougat with milk chocolate. Stick the chocolate plates on top of the nougat, let it freeze for 10 minutes and paint them with the 60/40 milk chocolate paint so that it has a velvet effect.