Last month, we launched two(!) brand new Collections: Single-Origin Caramels and Single-Origin Pralinés. To learn more about each, we went down to the Confections kitchen to talk with Nicholas about how these texturally rich Collections came to be, and why neither would exist without our Single-Origin Truffles.
From left: Dillon, Nick, Ajani, Shelby, Martha, and Madison in the kitchen.
Let’s jump in with Single-Origin Caramels. Nicholas, how did those evolve into the final product, which showcases five different sugars?
Our early iterations looked at caramels with different origins of chocolate, as well as different sugars and spices to complement or enhance the various chocolates. We tried it and hated it. The spices were too much. They took away from the chocolate. The general consensus from our Confections team was “this isn’t really us.”
When I joined Dandelion last year, I thought How do we build a cohesive language around our Single-Origin Truffles? If those are the foundation, how do we extend that?
The answer was rooted in simplifying. In stripping away some layers. When we were experimenting, we bought a bunch of different sugars. And each of these sugars has its own origin story, so we thought we could build the Collection around that. We decided not even to change the chocolate origins. The nuances in the sugar flavors can be subtle, and we really wanted to keep the focus on their flavor notes. We coated each in Tumaco, Colombia chocolate — our most creamy, chocolatey, nutty origin. Once we set down that path, the Collection came together pretty quickly.
Backing up, will you tell us about the inspiration behind these new Collections?
Our inspiration was really the Single-Origin Truffle Collection. Of all our confections and all the collaborators we work with, they’re the one thing that really looks like ours when you enter our stores. The aim of the Truffles is to provide a tasting experience that showcases the complexities of each distinctive origin, not unlike our single-origin chocolate bars.
I wanted to take that same approach and apply it elsewhere. A really classic French chocolatier will have not only truffles or ganache, but also caramels and pralinés. Those are the three basic categories.
You describe the texture of the Single-Origin Caramels as “buttery,” and it truly is. How did you achieve that?
I don’t like a caramel that’s super liquid. I want something that’s creamy and buttery — something you can bite into. Each of the Single-Origin Caramels has the same proportions and is cooked to the same temperature, 107°C, but the technique varies slightly.
The cane sugar is more refined than the others. We caramelize that one in a very classic way, starting with water, sugar, and glucose in a pot, and bringing it to 185°C. When it reaches that temperature and becomes sort of an amber caramel, we deglaze it with boiling cream, which we stir in slowly. Then we cook that mixture to 107°C. That’s the point at which caramel cools off, hardening to the correct consistency. If you cook it to 108°C or 109°C, it will be more thick, sticky, and chewy, tending toward softball at 110°C.
Palm sugar, in comparison, we bring up to 120°C instead of 185°C, and we only go to 112°C or 113°C for the darker sugars, because of all the solid matter. With higher temperatures, they’ll start to burn and scorch. All of the molasses doesn’t allow them to truly caramelize. We tried to bring jaggery to 120°C and it burned.
Once the caramel is cooked, we pour it into a container and emulsify that with butter, which helps preserve it and adds more fat, giving the caramel that buttery flavor and keeping it from getting sticky. We also add fleur de sel to all the Caramels.
Melted chocolate being poured into one of our cubic molds.
Your recommended tasting order for the Caramels goes from lighter to darker notes. How was that determined? Did color play a role?
The recommended tasting order — Cane Sugar, Palm Sugar, Jaggery, Okinawa Sugar, and Muscovado — begins with the lightest expression of sugar flavor, and culminates in deeper, more complex notes. Color wasn’t a main factor. It was more about the darkness in flavor. For example, palm sugar is a bit lighter in molasses flavor but has a darker color.
The shape and design of both the Single-Origin Caramels and Pralinés ties in to the Truffles. Can you tell us about that evolution?
Our bonbon shape was decided with the debut of the Single-Origin Truffles a few years ago. The cube is fairly unique in chocolate circles, as it’s a difficult mold to work with. The payoff is a cool aesthetic, but also texturally fun. The sharper corners create a great snap.
For the Caramels, the square design of the decoration is meant to evoke the crystalline structure of sugar. Compare this to the circles on the Pralinés — those were inspired by the molecular structure of liquid fat, which is round.
For crafting the Single-Origin Praliné Collection, what was that process like?
We started with two classic Pralinés we knew we wanted to make — peanut and hazelnut. The peanut Praliné is based on a recipe I’ve been making for a long time. It’s a very comforting, nostalgic flavor. We make the nut and sugar mixture into a paste, and then make our own chocolate to set it. Most of our Pralinés have milk powder, which helps trap the oil in the nut. Nut oil is liquid at room temperature, which means it would eventually travel through the chocolate shell. The milk solids help to lock in the liquid fat. That and cocoa butter keep it from being liquid.
If you were to go to France or Belgium, you’d find the pralinés are usually a milk chocolate shell because it helps hold in the fat. Our dark chocolate shells, while more difficult to pull off, give the Pralinés a roundness of flavor. For the peanut Praliné, we use Costa Esmeraldas, Ecuador chocolate, which gives a nice fruity balance. It adds some interest to the peanuts.
Hazelnut is another classic flavor. Our hazelnut praliné paste is 60 percent nuts, 40 percent sugar. We caramelize the sugar, pour it over the nuts, then process the nuts in a large food processor, and melange them just a little bit so they stay crunchy. We also blend and melange that with Linea Caffe Colombian coffee beans to complement the Tumaco, Colombia chocolate in that one. For a Colombian bonbon, you have to have coffee.
What about the other Pralinés? How did those come about?
We wanted to do one with pistachio because it’s another classic flavor, and a beautiful color. But what we do is very unusual — we buy Sicilian pistachios that are sold raw. The raw flavor is a little fruitier. It’s milder and sweeter. We melange the raw pistachios with sugar until they’re completely smooth. Then we toast and salt some pistachios and fold them in, but it’s mostly smooth. That one is melded with Maya Mountain, Belize chocolate.
For the Quicos-Almond one, we wanted to do something with corn nuts but couldn’t figure out what. To me, Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania, chocolate smells like red wine, or almost red-wine vinegar. That’s how this idea of tapas came to mind. Marcona almonds are a kind of tapas snack, and quicos are sometimes seen in tapas bars. We add a little piment d’espellete — a pepper from the Basque region. It’s mildly spicy and very floral. We melange all this together with caramel, and that’s set with Kokoa Kamili chocolate. It’s very salty and very crunchy, and has a lot of acidity from the chocolate. It’s the most savory of the group.
For the Black Sesame Praliné, Dillon found these roasted Japanese black sesames from Wadaman. Their depth of flavor is phenomenal. We make this Praliné completely smooth. There’s no crunch. Ambanja, Madagascar chocolate works well with it.
On the topic of “no crunch,” how did you decide which Pralinés would be crunchier, and which would be smooth? That’s one of the most enticing aspects of this new Collection … the textural journey.
This happened organically. We knew going in that the Hazelnut-Coffee and Quicos-Almond would be crunchy. The others were more of an evolution. The Black Sesame we thought would have some whole seeds, but in the end we fell in love with the silky texture.
You have a recommended tasting order for this set too. How did that come about?
It’s always a bit of a struggle. I think of it like a savory menu: hot-cold-hot-cold, a mixture of textures. The first time someone is trying the collection, our recommended tasting order is: Quicos-Almond, Peanut, Hazelnut-Coffee, Pistachio, and Black Sesame.
I put the spicy one in the beginning because it kind of opens you up. The corn nuts are a good introduction, like an amuse-bouche or a little crunchy snack you have while waiting at the bar. That’s followed by the peanut bonbon next. It’s smooth and very chocolatey, the highest percentage of chocolate in the collection. It balances out any of the heat and savoriness of the Quicos-Almond. We put Hazelnut-Coffee in the middle because it’s a popular and familiar flavor profile. The Pistachio is the most subtle tasting of them all, so we didn’t want to have that following something spicy. And we ended on the Black Sesame because it has a very round, very smooth finish. A lingering goodbye …
Thank you, Nicholas! It’s always a delight gaining a glimpse into the confectionery process.
We love everything you make, but I think with the box we just received, we’ve ordered the Pralinés three times since discovering them last summer!