Home-made chocolate brazils

The festive period may have come to an end, but I don't believe in complete self-denial in January. No matter how many Toblerone bars or Terry's Chocolate Oranges or boxes of Roses you've consumed, a few home-made chocolate brazil nuts can still awaken interest.

I made these mainly as a birthday gift for a relative, but naturally, managed to make sure there were a few left over! I happen to think it's also a reminder of the difference in quality between home-made chocolates and most commercial chocolate boxes - the overwhelming majority of which I find too sweet and not chocolatey enough.

This was my first experience of tempering chocolate. Essentially, tempering chocolate is about controlling the temperature so that crystals form in a regular way - the result is a good "snap" and a shiny rather than dull surface, without an unsightly "bloom" from the cocoa butter. I'm not sure I've mastered the technique, as my finished nuts weren't as smooth as I would have liked, and a couple were a bit streaky. But the taste was - in my opinion - far and away beyond that of most chocolate brazils you can buy.

There's only two ingredients here. I haven't noticed much variation in brazil nuts (just make sure they're not stale), but the quality of chocolate is important. Everyone has different tastes, but I think a dark, but not overpowering, chocolate is about right here - something about 55-60% cocoa solids. You could go darker, but then you won't have as much sweetness. A good-quality couverture chocolate like Valrhona would work well.

When tempering (or even just melting) chocolate, life is easier if you start with chocolate in small pieces, so it melts more quickly and evenly. You can either buy it like this, or just chop it up with a sharp knife.

To temper chocolate, it helps to have a cooking thermometer. Put the chocolate in a bowl inside another pan with an inch or two of water in it, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Heat gently until it reaches 55C-58C (131F-136F ) for dark chocolate, or 45C- 50C (113F-122F) for milk or white. Remove from heat, then add the rest of the chocolate. Stir, and measure the temperature again until it falls to 30–31C (86–88F), or a couple of degrees cooler for white. (Not that you would wish to be using white chocolate, which is sickly stuff and abuse of the word chocolate.) Your chocolate is now ready to use.

The other, cheat's, way to temper chocolate is to put it in a microwaveable bowl and microwave it at a low moderate power (not full power), checking and stirring frequently to make sure it doesn't burn. When the chocolate is mostly melted but there are still a few small pieces left, take it out of the microwave and stir until it is all melted. It should now be ready to use.

To make chocolate brazils, dip the nuts into the tempered chocolate, and place them on greaseproof paper or kitchen foil to set. You'll want to work fairly quickly, so the chocolate doesn't cool too much and become too thick. That's it really.