Crispy Chocolate Bars

Before starting this Crispy Chocolate Bars recipe, organise the necessary ingredients for the milk chocolate shells.

For the milk chocolate shells (can be made the day before): We're using the dome chocolate bar mould.

We're going to temper the chocolate using the seeding method. Divide the chocolate into two batches (2/3 and 1/3). Pour 400 grams of milk chocolate in a mixing bowl and melt it in the microwave, stirring every 20 or 30 seconds so it doesn't burn.

In the meantime, chop the remaining 200 grams of milk chocolate with a knife, until you get small, regular chunks.

Stir the melted chocolate with a rubber spatula, then melt again if necessary.

Chop the milk chocolate until homogeneous.

Stir the melted chocolate again.

Monitor the temperature, using a laser thermometer. The chocolate should reach 45°C. Make sure you don't exceed this temperature.

When the chocolate reaches 45°C, add the chopped chocolate chunks in one go...

... and combine with the rubber spatula...

... until the chocolate chunks are completely incorporated.

A few seconds later, we can observe the temperature has gone down by 10°C.

The chocolate is slowly melting.

Keep stirring the chocolate so the temperature continues to reduce...

... and press on the remaining chocolate chunks with a spatula so they melt faster.

The milk chocolate is now totally melted and has reached the ideal temperature of 29°C.

Transfer the tempered milk chocolate into a piping bag...

... and cut the tip of the bag with scissors to create a small hole.

Fill the cavities of the dome chocolate bar mould...

... up to the rim, even slightly overflowing. The chocolate should coat the whole surface of the cavities.

Tap the sides of the mould with a chocolate spatula to get rid of any air bubbles.

Flip the mould over the bowl and tap with the spatula to get rid of the chocolate excess.

Scrape the surface of the mould with the chocolate spatula to create perfectly neat edges. Keep the chocolate excess in a bain-marie, a chocolate melting machine or in the oven preheated to 28/29°C.

Place the mould on your kitchen worktop and scrape the surface again.

Flip the mould onto a sheet of greaseproof paper...

... and leave to crystallize in a cool room (17 or 18°C). Do not refrigerate.

For the filling: Place 200 grams of Cara Crakine in a bowl...

... and reheat in the microwave until soft. Make sure the caramel filling doesn't melt. Ideally, the Cara Crakine filling should get to a temperature of 29 or 30°C for an easy piping operation.

Transfer into a piping bag...

... and cut the tip of the piping bag to create a hole with a diameter of about 1cm.

When the chocolate has set, it should start coming off from the ends of the mould. This is a sign the chocolate was tempered correctly.

This is what the result should look like at this stage. The chocolate should be glossy.

Pipe the Cara Crakine filling in the chocolate cavities. Make sure the filling isn't overflowing from the top of the mould.

I recommend using a small cranked spatula to even the surface...

... as shown in the photo. Set aside at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours so that the surface of the Cara Crakine filling dries a little.

Sealing the chocolate shells: You can reuse the tempered milk chocolate excess if kept at the required temperature of 28/29°C (see step 23), otherwise you will need to temper 150 grams of milk chocolate. The method is the same as shown earlier. Melt 100 grams of milk chocolate in the microwave...

... and chop the remaining 50 grams with a knife.

When the melted chocolate reaches 45°C, add the chopped chocolate chunks...

... keep stirring until the chocolate chunks have melted completely...

... and the temperature goes down to 29°C.

Transfer the tempered milk chocolate into a piping bag...

... and cut the tip of the bag with scissors to create a small hole.

Pipe the tempered milk chocolate over the Cara Crakine caramel filling to seal the shells...

... and tap the mould with the spatula to even the chocolate and to fill any gaps inside the cavities.

Place the mould on a sheet of greaseproof paper and scrape the surface to create neat edges.

The result should be as shown in the photo. Leave to crystallize.

When the chocolate has crystallized completely...

... scrape the surface of the mould again. This will facilitate releasing the chocolate bars from the mould.

Flip the mould on your kitchen workbench, then give the mould a sharp tap. If the tempering was done correctly, the chocolate bars should come off easily.

These delicious chocolate bars are now ready to serve!