EAT: Homemade Daim Bars.

Homemade Daim Bars.

So, I got a sugar thermometer for Christmas. You may have heard; by which I mean that I may have told you for some totally valid reason, or that you may have witnessed me singing magnificent arias about it and skipping around my kitchen tempering every bit of chocolate I can get my goddamn hands on. It’ssuper shiny. I’m delighted.

I’m also on a sweets-and-chocolate kick thanks in part to watching Shitsuren Chocolatier, a Japanese drama about a broken-hearted chocolate maker. I am pretending to watch it for the narrative. I’m really watching it for the chocolate closeups, and Kiko Mizuhara’s face.

While I’m figuring out how to make ripoff versions of every chocolate bar I’ve ever eaten, I’m going to start here. These are Daim bars - although I now realise that they are essentially almond praline, never mind - and they’re super quick and easy to make (although you do, of course, need the sugar thermometer). They’re also as goddamn addictive as freaking crack cocaine, and I have eaten the best part of a whole tin of them in like, two days. I have daim bar in my mouth right now. I’m not even sorry.

Adapted from here.

100g (3.5oz) blanched almonds
100g (3.5oz) vegan margarine
240g (1 1/4c.) white sugar
50ml (3 Tbsp) golden or corn syrup
150g (5oz) vegan chocolate

In a food processor, chop the almonds very finely. You could finely chop them by hand, or buy pre-ground almonds, but I think you’d lose a lot of texture with the latter.

In a thick-bottomed saucepan, mix the sugar, margarine and syrup, and allow them to melt together. Bring to a boil and allow to bubble until your thermometer reads 150C - you don’t need to stir this while it’s caramelising, but if it looks or smells like it’s sticking you can just swirl the pan around a little. Once it reaches 150C and is a medium brown, remove the pan from the heat to add the chopped almonds, then bring it back to 145-150C again.

Pour onto a sheet of baking parchment or silicone paper and allow to spread out a little. You’ll wanna move fast cause it’ll be super hot at first but cool fairly quickly. When it’s just tacky in texture you can mark out where you plan to cut - which I did, but to be honest you can break the whole thing into shards when it’s chilled later and it’s just as cute.

Melt the chocolate and pour over the top of the praline. Smooth with a flat knife or offset spatula, and allow to set in the fridge overnight. I dusted mine with edible gold glitter because I am out of control, but sadly it didn’t show up in the photos very well. So good.