Nutella Chocolate Dust

bailey's chocolate truffle cheesecake, raspberry sorbet and nutella dust

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"The sorbet was melting, the truffle cheesecake momentarily pushed to one side... all were distracted by the Nutella dust."  the lone baker 

A little bit of fun today with Nutella chocolate dust. Nutella chocolate dust is a touch of molecular gastronomy magic in the form of maltodextrin powder mixed with Nutella chocolate spread.

What I love about the Nutella dust (or dirt/sand) is the smile it brings to peoples faces when they taste it. The powder melts in your mouth and you have "Nutella".

You can do this with peanut butter too, just make sure it's the old fashioned natural kind of peanut butter that needs a mix to bring the oil/paste back together.  Also works with any fat, such as cream based caramel dust or say a flavoured olive oil dust with steak etc.

Maltodextrin

Maltodextrin is starch derived from either corn, wheat or tapioca.

Maltodextrin comes in different grades;

Maltodextrin (DE18) this is one you will most likely see around, it's cost effective and available in many sizes including bulk amounts. 

Tapioca Maltodextrin (N-Zorbit M) top of the range in quality and price. With a very low bulk density N-Zorbit M will give you a lighter and fluffier result than other Maltodextrins on the market.

Tapioca Maltodextrin (DE10) this one falls in-between the (D18) and (N-Zorbit M), one to consider when N-Zorbit M is out of your price range. 

I used a tapioca derived Maltrodextrin (DE18)  today to create the Nutella Chocolate Dust. Want to give it a try?? 

Ingredients

80g (2.8oz) Maltodextrin 

120g (4.2oz) Nutella chocolate spread

formula from MolecularRecipes.com

Method

With a metal spoon mix the Nutella and Maltodextrin together in small bowl. Transfer mix to a blender and process for a few seconds, stop the blender and shake to make sure ingredients are evenly distributed (you can turn the blender off at the power point and scrape bottom of blender rather than "shaking" if preferred). Repeat a few seconds at a time until you have a fluffy Nutella chocolate dust. Pass through a fine seive for an even lighter result. 

Storage

Stores in a sealed air tight container until ready to use. The dust darkens a little on storage (see top photo) to bring it back to a lighter colour re-sift. 

The dust dissolves with moisture so add it to your plated dessert at the last minute or serve in small seperate bowls to sprinkle over sundaes etc. All my guests took home a small container of Nutella chocolate dust. 

Happy Baking :) 

Stockists: Where to get maltodextrin.... 

in Australia DE18, DE10, and N-Zorbit M all available from The Melbourne Food Ingredient Depot

also in Australia tapioca maltodextrin and N-Zorbit M also available from The Red Spoon Company

Elsewhere... Amazon has the N-Zorbit and searching maltodextrin whilst there will give you a range of types and sizes

Love your choc hazelnut, then how about Baci ice-cream... recipe here

Weird Science

If the names: Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal, Wylie Dufresne roll off your tongue you already know what a syringe, and three white powders are going to produce. 

If not, welcome to world of culinary Molecular gastronomy. Since the 1990's some of worlds greatest chefs have passionately embraced the use of science, technology and cutting edge equipment to produce food in new surprising flavours and structure.

Hot coffee and iced coffee in the same cup yet both elements stay separate, inside out boiled egg, a sculpture of fruit foam tasting more like fruit than fruit itself but disappearing on your tongue, it's all possible with molecular gastronomy. 

Curious? Then why not start out with "fruit caviar or pearls", gel on the outside, liquid on the inside.

Liquid, usually fruit, but it can be alcohol to tomato juice go through a spherification process to produce small balls or "caviar" to be used desserts, savoury dishes and cocktails. 

For my first attempt I made red plum fruit caviar.

Fruit Caviar technique

500ml of chilled Red Plum juice (or 500ml of any liquid)

1.5g Sodium Alginate

1g Sodium Citrate

500ml chilled water

3g Calcium chloride

Combine the first three ingredients in a jug, whisk together. In a separate bowl stir the calcium chloride into the water until dissolved. 

Using a syringe or an eyedropper, drip drops of the fruit mixture into the calcium chloride bath. Allow to set for up to 5 minutes before rinsing in cold water. They are now ready to use. I paired the plum caviar with mini matcha & black sesame pavlovas but they could just as easily topped tarts or cupcakes. 

Starter spherification kit from The Red Spoon Company