I came across Durian at a Chinese restaurant in Richmond Hill nearly 20 years ago. When I asked what it was, my friend said I wouldn’t like it, so naturally I had to try it. I fell in love. Deep roasted almonds are common in Italian sweets, and so these chocolate palets are my take on a fusion of Chinese and Italian sweets.

For this I made a lovely durian white chocolate and combined it with a deep roasted almond praline that I ground just before the nuts began to liquify. I pipped them into crunchy little dollops. They are very buttery, and the durian is a background flavour to the intense roasted almond. Quickly melts while contrasted with a nice crunch.

Ingredients: Durian Chocolate (Cocoa Butter, Milk Powder, Sugar, Freeze-Dried Durian), Roasted Almonds, Sugar.

Contains tree nuts.

The SOC Test Kitchen are small-batch chocolate experiments for you to enjoy. Some products may be reoccurring, slightly altered in proceeding batches, or a one-off.