"Ground Level"-Lime Mint Chocolate Bonbons

Chocolate has never been my forte but I've recently tried to tackle it. When it comes to tempering chocolate, it's super technical, and patience is definitely a key factor. Once that part has been perfected, it's a whole lot of fun to work with.

The design of the bonbons were inspired by chef Graham Mairs, who does wonderful work with chocolate. The 'Essence of earth' bonbon that he had created included blue and white colours, which really captured earth tones and had a very organic look to it. His filling also reflected that idea but I decided to go in a different direction for that part.

Since I had started growing my own herbs at home, including fresh mint, I wanted to make a filling using those plants. So I went with a lime mint ganache, lime pâte de fruit, and a chocolate streusel for extra crunch.

Lime Mint Ganache

Yield: 16 individual bonbons

Ingredients

Cream 28g

Lime peel '1'

Fresh mint leaves '12'

Honey 7g

Soft butter 14g

White chocolate, tempered at 30C 144g

Lime juice, warmed to 40C 19g

Directions

1. Lightly boil cream, lime peel, and honey. Set aside to cool and once it reaches 50C, soak mint leaves in the cream. Infuse for 5 minutes then drain to remove lime peel and mint leaves. Keep the cream at a constant temperature of 40C.

2. Lightly massage the butter into the tempered white chocolate making sure there are no lumps.

3. Pour cream infusion over the chocolate mixture and stir gently.

4. Whisk in the warm lime juice and emulsify.

Lime Pâte de Fruit

Ingredients

Tartaric acid 1g

Water 2g

Lime juice 80g

Corn syrup 12g

Lime zest 2g

Sugar 40g

Pectin 4g

Directions

1. Combine the tartaric acid and water until dissolved and set aside.

2. In a pot, bring the lime juice, corn syrup, and lime zest to a quick boil. Meanwhile mix the pectin and sugar and gradually add it to the liquid while stirring vigorously. Boil until the mixture has reduced about 2/3 or approximately 48g. Remove from the heat and whisk in the tartaric acid.

Chocolate Streusel

Ingredients

All purpose flour 18g

Cocoa powder 3g

Brown sugar 23g

Ground hazelnuts 23g

Butter 23g

Salt 0.5g

Baking soda 0.5g

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160C/320F.

2. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together until combined, then crumble over a silicone mat.