Yields 24-30

Ingredients
100g chocolate block
300g dark chocolate
80g cream, if possible double
250g ground pure almonds
100g icing sugar
70g roasted hazelnuts, chopped
30 whole roasted hazelnuts
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsps dark rum

Method

Melt the chocolate block bain-marie or in a microwave.

Add the cream, the chopped hazelnuts, the honey and the dark rum. Mix well.

Add the ground almonds and icing sugar. Mix again well. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.

With a spoon, take some of the mixture, approximately 22g, and shape into a ball. Put all on a tray lined with baking paper. On top of each ball, put a whole roasted hazelnut and refrigerate again.

Melt the dark chocolate bain-marie or in a microwave safe bowl. I prefer using a small pan. Drop each ball in the melted chocolate and with a fork gently pick it up. Put back on the tray lined with parchment paper. If you want, while still melted, you can make two lines using white chocolate.

Refrigerate until solid and bring them to room temperature before serving.

Anton Dougall is an Expert on Maltese food.