Peter Greweling

Pistachio Homage

banner

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Medium

  • Yield:

    156

    Squares

Appears in

top 1000Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner

Chocolates and Confections

By Peter Greweling

Published 2007

  • About

Ingredients

Pistachio Gianduja

Dark chocolate, melted 300 g 11 oz 40%
Pistachio paste 300 g 11 oz 40%
confectioners’ sugar, sifted 150 g 5 oz 20%
Batch Size 750 g 27 oz 100%

Pistachio Marzipan

Pistachios, peeled 250 g 9 oz 22%
Almonds 250 g 9 oz 22%
Sugar 390 g 14 oz 34%
Water 140 g 5 oz 11%
Glucose syrup 130 g 5 oz 11%
Batch Size 1160 g 42 oz 100%
Dark chocolate, melted, tempered, for precoating and dipping as needed
Cocoa butter, melted as needed
Pistachio halves, for finishing 156 halves

Method

To Make the Pistachio Gianduja

  1. Combine the melted dark chocolate, pistachio paste, and confectioners’ sugar in a stainless-steel bowl. Mix until homogeneous.
  2. Temper the gianduja by tabling on a marble slab until cooled to room temperature and well agitated, about 5 minutes.
  3. Spread the gianduja into a frame 12 × 12 × ¼ in set on parchment paper. Allow to crystallize until set, about 20 minutes.
  4. Invert the slab and precoat the bottom with tempered dark chocolate. Turn the slab right side up again and return the slab to the frame. Place a second frame 12 × 12 × ¼ in on top of the one containing the gianduja.

To Make the Pistachio Marzipan

  1. Blanch the pistachios. Blanch the almonds and allow them to soak in the hot water for 5 minutes.
  2. Using a food processor, grind the nuts together coarsely.
  3. Cook the sugar, water, and glucose syrup to 122°C/250°F. Pour the hot syrup over the chopped nuts. Mix lightly and pour onto an oiled marble slab.
  4. When cooled to room temperature, use a food processor to grind the nuts into a fine-textured marzipan. Allow the marzipan to cool to room temperature before proceeding.

To Make the Pistachio Homage

  1. Brush the gianduja slab lightly with the melted cocoa butter.
  2. Roll the marzipan onto the gianduja to make a layer 6 mm/¼ in thick. Texture the marzipan with a ribbed rolling pin.
  3. Spray the top lightly with cocoa butter to seal and prevent drying.
  4. Cut into squares, using the 22.5-mm strings on a guitar.
  5. Dip up to the top face in the tempered dark chocolate.
  6. Garnish with a pistachio half placed diagonally across the top of each piece. (Affix the nut with a very small dot of chocolate.)

© 2007 All rights reserved. Published by Wiley.