Homemade Chocolate Twists

It has been raining cats and dogs over the last 24hrs in Melbourne. I was hoping for a reprieve this afternoon in order to take my little one outside to play. But to no avail. It’s been raining and raining and raining. Winter is here and we can feel it. In the higher mountains of Victoria it has already snowed close to 40 cm. I quickly check the local newspapers and learnt that I was awfully wrong according to the latest headlines: “Get your snow gear ready, because Victoria's alpine resorts are more than knee-deep in snow - with some experiencing their best snow depth in almost two decades. Mount Hotham has recorded the deepest snow depth in 18 years.” They are at a season total of 75cm at Mount Hotham, 50cm at Mt Buller and 30cm at Lake Mountain, which is not too far from where I live. Winter is well and truly here.

In such a weather I felt like I needed more comfort food. Last night we had some family friends over and I prepared all of the recipes that I’ve previously prepared for the Cook With Us competition. The week before I made a chicken roulade and with the left over homemade puff pastry I made some chocolate twists. It was just something random I did and didn’t have high hope of how it would turn out. But weirdly enough it tasted amazing. Confident that the recipe was a winner I made it again last night for my guests and all of them were gone midway through the night. My husband thought that we needed more and he managed to convince me to make some today.

In case anyone of you feel like trying it, please do not hesitate to try the recipe I provide today. It is very simple and quick and all you need is some patience when making the plot. You can save it for a couple of days and they taste just as good as the first day. I’ve tried the recipe with both Nutella and Hazelnut spread. They both are as good but I have a slight preference for the Hazelnut spread. Just as I was preparing the twists my sister-in-law was doing the same based on my recipe. And hers turned out really good as well.

Ingredients:

• 250g butter
• 250g flour
• 100ml cold water
• Hazelnut spread

 

Methods:

1. On a cooking board, mix the flour and butter into a dough. make a well in the centre and add the water and combine well to have a firm rough dough.

 

2. Roll out on a lightly floured board into a rectangle. Fold a third of the pastry into the centre, then fold the bottom third up over that. Give dough a quarter turn and roll out again. Repeat folding and rolling four times. Chill pastry for 30 minutes before using.

 

3. On a board, roll the dough flat and add the hazelnut spread.

     

4. Then, starting from one end, roll the dough up tightly into a log.

   

5. Slice it lengthwise to expose layer after layer of the hazelnut covered dough.

 

6. Then just twist the pieces to form a braid and pinch them securely on the end.

     

7. Apply egg york on the pastry, coat with either sugar or almond flakes, and bake in the oven for 30mins at 180 degrees celsius.

     

8. Finish off by sprinkling some sugar on the twists and you should have something great to dip in your tea or coffee for breakfast.

 

I hope you enjoy it!

Bon appétit!