Christmas Chocolate with Roasted Almonds by Tiroler Edle
Christmas Chocolate with Roasted Almonds by Tiroler Edle is a milk chocolate filled with soft almond nougat and cinnamon. It captures the scent that wafts over Christmas markets during Advent in a single bar, with a pinch of salt keeping the sweetness in check.
Christmas Chocolate with Roasted Almonds is a bar from "Oh du edle," the Advent series by Tiroler Edle from Landeck in Tyrol. Beneath the milk chocolate lies a soft almond nougat, spiced with cinnamon. The series name evokes the Christmas carol "O du fröhliche," and it also includes Baked Apple and Mulled Wine varieties.
Almond nougat with cinnamon under light chocolate
With the first piece, the milk chocolate snaps briefly, then the almond nougat gives way, settling softly on the tongue with the cinnamon.
In the nougat, the almond tastes of roasting and the caramel that roasted almonds naturally possess. The cinnamon rests on top as a warm spice, while the vanilla remains in the background to round it all off.
The milk chocolate contains 39 percent cocoa, well over half as much again as the food regulations require. This allows it to hold its own against the sweetness of the nougat, and alongside the almond, the cocoa remains clearly perceptible.
In the copper kettle, the sugar changes state twice
Roasted almonds are made in an open copper kettle, where almonds, sugar, and water are stirred over a fire until the sugar has changed its state twice.
First, the water evaporates, and the sugar coats every kernel in a white, matte layer. Then it melts a second time in the heat, coating the almonds in a glossy caramel before they are spread out on a tray to cool. This double transformation distinguishes the roasted almond from the toasted one.
At the Christmas market, cinnamon is often added to the kettle, and its fragrance drifts through the streets long before the stall is in sight. This is exactly the taste that the Tiroler Edle bar captures in its soft nougat.
How the roasted almond gave the praline its name
The French "praline" is still an almond in burnt sugar, and it is from this that the filled chocolate praline inherited its name.
It is named after the French Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, whose cook is credited with its invention in the 17th century. Later, the word was applied to chocolate, and in 1912, the Brussels chocolatier Jean Neuhaus cast the first filled chocolate shells, which are still called pralines to this day.
In this Tiroler Edle bar, the almond in roasted sugar and the chocolate that eventually became the praline are reunited.
For Santa boots, Secret Santa gifts, and Advent coffee
At fifty grams, the bar fits perfectly into a Saint Nicholas boot waiting by the door on the eve of December 6th.
For a Secret Santa among colleagues, it serves as a small greeting from Tyrol, and for coffee on Advent Sunday, it is broken into pieces and passed around. On a warm baked apple, the bar melts into a quick sauce of chocolate and nougat.
If you want to keep it for longer, store it in a cool, dry place away from the radiator; this way, the nougat remains supple and the cinnamon fresh. Darker and featuring red wine in the filling is the Christmas Chocolate with Mulled Wine from the same series. The remaining varieties from Tiroler Edle are available alongside many other chocolate bars in our shop.
