Chocolate Salami
Course:
Dessert
Cuisine:
Italian
Seasonal Event:
Christmas
Yield:
One 10-Inch Log
Recipe By Dan Kohler 12/13/2020
INGREDIENTS:
- ~1 cup crumbled animal crackers or some other dry, crisp cookie (80 grams)
- ~½ cup raw, shelled, and unsalted pistachio kernels (60 grams)
- ~¼ cup packed almond paste, broken up into thumbnail-sized nubs (60 grams)
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons bourbon/rum (or ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
- ~ 1 cup 74% chocolate feves (125 grams)
- ¼ cup (½ stick, or 55 grams) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- Pinch kosher salt
- Powdered sugar, for garnish
- Butcher’s twine, for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
- Mix cookies, nuts, and almond paste in bowl, set aside.
- In small bowl, whisk together milk, alcohol, and instant coffee crystals until crystals dissolve. Set aside.
- Heat a few inches of water in the bottom of a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering.
- Place chocolate, butter, and salt in large heat safe bowl on top of the saucepan of simmering water.
- Using silicone spatula, stir chocolate and butter until smooth and completely melted.
- Remove bowl from top of saucepan and turn off heat. Whisk milk mixture into warm chocolate mixture. It may look grainy at first, but keep whisking until a smooth emulsion is reached. The final product should look thick and glossy.
- Fold in the bowlful of mixed cookies, nuts, and almond paste. It will look like too much, keep stirring.
- Place bowl with chocolate mixture in fridge for 1-2 hours, until mixture is chilled but still malleable.
- Remove chilled bowl from fridge and scoop mixture into the shape of a log onto sheet of parchment paper.
- Fold parchment paper over rough log of chocolate mixture and shape with hands or kitchen tools until log is uniform and about 10 inches long. Twist ends of parchment paper and put log back in fridge to chill for another 1-2 hours, until chilled and solid.
- Remove log from fridge and unroll parchment paper. Place powdered sugar in sieve and sprinkle all over log, turning to coat all sides. Pat sugar with hands to make surface of log look like salami. Using butcher’s twine, truss/tie the log.
- Slice log into medallions to serve.