This was a fancy dessert. I follow a lot of pastry chefs who make desserts like this and they have the training and tools to make them. I do not. However, I did my best and I think it was a success.
I am someone who enjoys complex projects like this but if you are not, then this is not the one for you. It's not as though each component was particularly complex but there was a lot of making something and then letting it set in the freezer overnight. At the same time, a couple of the components--specifically the crumble and white chocolate gianduja mousse--had a lot of ingredients and steps.
There were five different components to this compilation of a dessert: white chocolate gianduja mousse, pecan cake, pecan praline, a crumble and caramelized white chocolate coating. The crumble had a surprisingly long list of ingredients and was more involved than any other crumble I have ever made. But it was the most interesting component of this dessert and the one I keep thinking about, the one that had had me at hello.
Crumble
Ingredients:
70g unsalted cold butter
70g powdered sugar
19g potato starch
70g corn starch
45g hazelnut flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
60g melted white chocolate cooled
70g chocolate puffed rice (cocoa crispies)
60g hazelnut praline
60g hazelnut paste
25g chopped hazelnuts
Instructions:
Position a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat the oven to 275 F.
In a large bowl and either using your fingers or a pastry cutter or two forks:
Combine the butter, powdered sugar, potato starch, corn starch, hazelnut flour, and sea salt into medium clumps. Then, spread the clumps evenly on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake for 20 minutes and then let cool to room temperature. Once cool, transfer to a large bowl.
In the bowl, break the mixture into small nuggets and then fold in the cooled melted white chocolate, chocolate puffed rice, hazelnut praline, hazelnut paste and chopped hazelnuts. Spread the crumble onto baking sheet and refrigerate so that it will firm up. Use as desired on any dessert you deem appropriate or just eat as is. I think that that it would be a great addition to a cake filling or adornment.
