Almost Mozart

I have always loved Mozartkugeln. Little chocolate coated balls with a pistachio marzipan filling with a core of dark nougat. There are two companies battling who produces the "real" Mozartkugel, so mine certainly are not. But we love them nonetheless. My mother found the recipe somewhere in a magazine or on TV - who cares where.

However, there was a small flaw with the recipe. It said "buy some dark nougat". Well, that doesn't work here in Bracknell. So I had to search YouTube to find out how to make it myself. And it is quite simple. You slowly melt 33g sugar to make a caramel and as soon as it got a lovely brown colour, you and 33g of a mix of 50% ground hazelnuts and 50% ground almonds. Once combined you spread the mix onto and an oiled tray and let it harden in the fridge. Once cooled you combine it with 33g of good milk chocolate in a food processor until smooth. You then form a role and let that set in the fridge again.

In the meantime you combine 100g of bought marzipan, 30g of unsalted pistachios, 130g icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of Kirsch (or Rum) in a food processor. You want this to combine to a thick dough consistency. If it's too crumbly then just add a little water (a tablespoon  at a time). Form a role and let it set in the fridge.

When both roles are set split each into 48 segments and role each into a ball. Then flatten the marzipan mix ball to a circle, place the nougat ball in the middle and mould the marzipan round the nougat.

Once all 48 are done, you need to do the chocolate. A tip I picked up from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, is how to cheat on the tampering: grate a third of the chocolate and reserve it. Break the rest up into small pieces and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time. After each time give it a stir and see if the heat is enough to melt the rest. Once you are at that stage through in the reserved grated chocolate and stir it through until everything is dissolved - I use about 120g of good dark chocolate (about 80% cocoa).

You can then roll the 48 balls in the chocolate and place them on baking parchment.

It's quite technical, but definitely worth it,.