Chocolate Nut Roll

By trf0ster

Ingredients

• 200 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped (preferably 70% cacao) (I used Scharffenberger)
• 100 g unsalted butter, in 6 or so pieces
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 T liquor of choice (I used Starbucks coffee liquor)
• 2 pinches of chile powder/flakes of choice (I used Turkish Maresh flakes, smoky sweet but not too hot)
• 40 g nuts of choice--I used hazelnuts
• 60 g broken up cookies of choice, the lighter they are the more they will mimic the fat in salami--I used traditional Scottish shortbread and chocolate wafers (the second storebought, I confess)--the
• 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder, good quality (I used Scharffenberger)
• 1 T granulated sugar, the finer the better
• 1 t coarse sea salt of choice, good quality (I used coarse French grey sea salt)
• confectioner's sugar for rolling

Preparation

Step 1

Place the butter and chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments at 50% powder until you can stir the mixture smooth. Be careful not to incorporate any air. Whisk together (gently) the egg yolks, chile pepper and liquor. When the chocolate is melted and smooth, whisk in the egg yolk mixture. Then whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar. Stir in the cookies and nuts. When the mixture is cooled but still mixable, stir in the salt (so as to prevent the salt from dissolving much).

I highly encourage you to head over to Le Petrin to watch her video of how the roll is put together. What I did was to wait (what felt like quite a while) for the chocolate mixture to firm up enough to hold some shape. Then I made a vertical slit in a paper towel ring (the cardboard that hold the towels on and is left when the towels are gone--I save them for just this reason). Place plastic wrap on a clean workspace. Working quickly, scrape the chocolate mixture into a log-shaped roll on the wrap, quickly shaping with your hands to be more log-like. Don't be too fussy Then wrap it with plastic wrap so that is forms a bulky roll--place that roll inside of the paper towel ring, forcing the roll to become perfectly (or nearly so) circular. This last step will be easier with a second person helping--my husband held the paper towel ring open while I placed the chocolate roll inside it. Wrap this in foil and place in the fridge to chill until hard enough to slice.

When it is firm enough, first un-roll it and roll the whole thing in confectioner's sugar. This keeps it from becoming sticky and beautifully mimics Old World salami. Thinly slice to serve.