Quernon d'Ardoise

Ingredients

• For the praline center
• 150 g hazelnuts, blanched
• 150 g almonds, blanched
• 200 g caster sugar, for caramelizing the praline
• For the nougatine layer
• 150 g caster sugar, for caramelizing the nougatine
• 100 g sliced almonds
• For the enrobing
• 400 g dark chocolate, tempered, for enrobing
• 30 g blue cocoa butter, food-grade, to tint the enrobing chocolate slate-blue

Method

1. 1
   Caramelize the caster sugar for the praline to a deep amber. Add the blanched hazelnuts and almonds, stirring to coat fully. Pour onto a silicone mat and allow to cool until completely hard. Break into pieces and grind to a smooth paste in a food processor. The praline is ready when the paste is cohesive, glossy, and smells of roasted nuts and caramel.
2. 2
   Caramelize the caster sugar for the nougatine to a light amber. Add the sliced almonds and stir briefly to combine. Pour onto a silicone mat, spread thin, and allow to cool until fully set and brittle. Break into irregular shards. The nougatine is ready when it snaps cleanly and carries a honey-gold color throughout.
3. 3
   Press the praline paste into a level slab approximately 1 cm thick. Distribute shards of nougatine evenly across the surface, pressing them gently into the praline so they are anchored. This is where the dish lives or dies: the layering of smooth praline against crunchy nougatine must be deliberate and even — too little nougatine and the defining textural contrast is lost; too much and the slab will not cut cleanly into tiles. The center is ready when the nougatine is embedded but still proud enough to fracture on the bite.
4. 4
   Refrigerate the slab briefly until firm, then cut into rectangular tiles approximating the angular shape of Angevin ardoise — the quernon form referenced in the original Angevin dialect word cornon, meaning corner. The cuts are ready when each piece holds its rectangular edges without crumbling.
5. 5
   Melt and temper the dark chocolate. Stir the blue cocoa butter into the tempered chocolate until the colour is uniformly slate-blue throughout — no streaks of brown remaining. Enrobe each tile by dipping or coating, allowing the excess to fall cleanly. Set on a wire rack at 16–18 °C. The enrobing is ready when the shell has set to a matte, slate-grey surface that does not yield to light finger pressure.
6. 6
   Store finished quernons at 16–18 °C — never refrigerated, as cold induces cocoa butter bloom, destroying both colour and surface. The quernons are ready to serve when they have rested to room temperature (18–20 °C), at which point the praline flavor develops fully on the palate.