When I was a child, I stayed a lot with my grandparents in Holland. At our breakfast table, there was something there called Duo Penotti, a brown hazelnut and white vanilla striped chocolate sandwich spread and it was absolutely delicious. Of course I tried to apply it to my sandwich as tidily in the commercial – but it always ended up messy and swirled, so that’s what’s in my childhood memories and that’s what inspired me to these bars.
I don’t know if there is a vegan version of Duo Penotti in the making, but for now we can have these duo pretzel bars and they capture the taste mixture of white vanilla and hazelnut so well!
The duo pretzel bars are also perfect if you can’t decide between my chocolate pretzel bars and my white chocolate raspberry pretzel bars.
Can you serve the duo pretzel bars the next day?
The little pretzels on the cookies become a bit stale over night. So if you have some cookies left, I recommend replacing the pretzel. Remove it, run a hot spoon over the chocolate and put a new pretzel in that place.
The cake can also be baked in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge before decorating or even be frozen.
Why should you temper the chocolate for the duo pretzel bars, and what is the seeding method?
Tempering chocolate is an essential step to achieve a perfect result when working with chocolate. During tempering, the chocolate is carefully heated and cooled to specific temperatures to stabilize the crystal structure of the cocoa butter. This process gives the chocolate a beautiful shine, a crisp texture, and a uniform appearance.
The seeding method is a simple and effective technique for home use. First, the chocolate is melted to dissolve all the cocoa butter crystals completely. Then, finely chopped, unmelted chocolate is stirred into the warm mixture. These solid pieces contain stable beta crystals, which evenly distribute through the chocolate and cool it to the desired working temperature. This method allows you to temper chocolate quickly and easily without multiple cooling and reheating steps. The result is glossy, stable chocolate, perfect for pralines, coatings, and decorations.
Here’s an excellent YouTube video on tempering chocolate by CupcakeJemma.
DUO PRETZEL BARS
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 240 g flour
- 90 g coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 240 ml plant milk
- 80 ml plant oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 bar of brown chocolate with rice or oat milk
- 1 bar of white chocolate
- 20 mini pretzels
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350° Fahrenheit.
- Now, gather all your ingredients and prepare them in the right amounts. That makes it so much easier and more fun and you're less likely to forget anything.
- Mix flour, sugar, salt and vanilla well and mix plant milk, oil and apple cider vinegar well, then pour together and combine quickly.
- Spread the dough out in a greased square baking tin, the one I use is 24 x 35 cm/ 9,5 x 13,7 inch.
- Bake for 30 minutes and let cool off, remove from tin.
- Now you're tempering the brown chocolate for a shiny and crisp cake glaze using the seeding method. Don’t worry—it’s not as complicated as it might seem at first glance.Start by finely chopping the chocolate, as this helps it melt evenly and ensures proper heat distribution. Prepare a double boiler by filling a saucepan with a little water and heating it gently so that it simmers but doesn’t boil. Place a melting pot or a heatproof bowl over the saucepan, ensuring the bottom doesn’t touch the water.Melt about 3/4 of the chopped chocolate in the pot, stirring regularly until fully melted. Keep an eye on the temperature, aiming for 40-45°C (104-113°F).Remove the pot from the heat and stir in most of the remaining chocolate, which will lower the temperature and begin the crystallization process. Leave a small portion of the chocolate aside in case adjustments are needed. Aim for a final temperature of 27-29°C (80.6-84.2°F)
- Then melt the white chocolate following the same method. Swirl the brown and the white chocolate on the cake and place the pretzels immediately.
- Cut into pieces, put in the fridge for 10 minutes and serve.
