Vacherousse d’Argental Florentine-style Lollipops with Valrhona Equatoriale Noir 55% chocolate

Preparation steps

1. Start by tempering the chocolate – this is crucial if you want to have nice, shiny chocolate with a well-developed flavour. It’s important you get the temperature right at each stage.
2. Pour the chocolate beans into a round-bottomed mixing bowl, transfer the bowl to a bain-marie and allow to melt over a low heat until it reaches a temperature of 45 to 50°C, at which point take the bowl out of the bain-marie and leave to cool until it reaches 27°C. Now return the bowl to the bain-marie and bring the temperature back up to 31 – 32°C. You must use a kitchen thermometer when tempering the chocolate.
3. Cut the cheese and candied orange peel into little pieces.
4. Pour chocolate onto sheet of acetate to make flat circles. Before they set, insert the cocktail sticks to make lollipop sticks then add the garnish: pecans, pieces of candied orange peel, pistachios and cheese.
5. Leave to chill and serve when chocolate has set hard.

😉 Tip: For this recipe, you can use any of Valrhona’s dark chocolates with different percentages, or you could mix things up a bit and use white, milk and dark varieties.