Chocolate Pistachio Bar with TCHO Chocolate by Renee Cade

(This recipe originally appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)

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Dark chocolate and pistachio have always been some of my favorite components in desserts. I wanted to create a petit four that encompasses the fresh, nutty and subtle fruity flavor of the pistachio and the robust and smooth flavor of the TCHO 81% dark chocolate. This petit four pairs well with wines, cocktails and coffee.

Yield: 45 petit four bars

Pate Sucrée 

• 295 g unsalted butter
• 340 g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 10 ml vanilla extract
• 970 g bread flour, sifted

1. Cream the butter and granulated sugar together.
2. Add eggs slowly.
3. Add vanilla extract.
4. Add sifted bread flour in thirds.
5. Chill the dough and let rest for at least 2 hours.
6. When ready, sheet the dough to 3 and line a half sheet pan with dough, including the sides. Lightly dock and par-bake in a 350˚F oven, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Pistachio Bar 

• 190 g unsalted butter
• 82 g granulated sugar
• 190 g whole eggs
• 190 g almond or pistachio flour
• 32 g all-purpose flour
• 250 g pistachio paste

1. Cream the butter and granulated sugar together.
2. Add a little of the eggs first, then alternate adding the eggs and the dry ingredients (almond flour and all- purpose flour) to the creamed butter and granulated sugar.
3. Add the pistachio paste last.
4. Pour mixture into the par-baked sweet dough tart shell in the sheet pan and smooth with an offset spatula to level the pistachio bar mixture.
5. Bake at 350˚F for approximately 25 minutes. Cool and freeze until ready to use.

81% TCHO Chocolate Mousse 

• 400 g 81% TCHO chocolate
• 285 g egg yolks
• 197 g granulated sugar
• 900 g heavy cream

1. Melt 81% TCHO chocolate hexagons in a double boiler.
2. Begin beating egg yolks with a whip attachment in the electric mixer. Make a sugar syrup with the sugar and some water and cook to 250˚F. Immediately pour over the egg yolks in a steady stream, beating continuously until the egg mixture doubles and cools.
3. In a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside until ready to use.
4. Fold in chocolate into the egg mixture.
5. Gently fold whipped cream into the egg and chocolate mixture. (Mousse should be creamy.) Set in the cooler until ready to pipe.

Garnish 

• Pistachio nuts, shelled
• Sea salt
• 81%TCHO chocolate

1. Toast pistachios with sea salt and chop.
2. Temper 81% TCHO chocolate and, using a piping bag, create a delicate, lattice-like pattern on a large acetate sheet. Sprinkle the chopped roasted sea salt pistachio before the chocolate sets.

Final Assembly 

• Powdered snow
• 100 g TCHO Drinking Chocolate Crumbles

1. Cut the pistachio bar into 2.5 cm x 5 cm rectangles.
2. Use a straight edge and dust a quarter of the bar with powdered snow.
3. Pipe the 81% TCHO Chocolate Mousse with a flat tip on top of the pistachio bar. Break a piece of the chocolate lattice and place on the chocolate mousse at an angle. Finish with sprinkling TCHO drinking chocolate crumbles on the chocolate mousse.

About Renee Cade

Renee Cade is the Regional Sales Manager of Foodservice for TCHO in Berkeley, California. Her early influence was baking chocolate crinkles with her mother at a young age and since then her style has evolved to being “modern twists on classics – clean lines, not too fussy, but with an unexpected element in the dessert.”