Crunch is an essential ingredient in a pastry kitchen, and a scattering of dark Crispearls brings it. Each pearl is a light, toasted cereal centre wrapped in a dark Callebaut coating, about 4mm across, so it holds its shape and its snap through glazing, piping and freezing.

Our dark version is the one to reach for when the dessert is already sweet and needs an edge to cut through it. The coating is 84% of the pearl and leads on cocoa mass rather than sugar, which is why it tastes truly bitter alongside the milk and white pearls rather than simply darker in colour.

What Are Crispearls? 

Crispearls are Callebaut's take on a classic confectionery idea: puff a cereal centre until it is dry and brittle, then enrobe it in chocolate so the crunch is sealed in. The centre here is a crisped wheat cereal at 15%, the coating is the remaining 84%, and a thin glaze finishes the outside so the pearls stay loose in the bag and glossy on the plate. They are sold as a decoration, but they also make a great inclusion, which is why they turn up inside mousses and ganaches as often as on top of them.

How to Use Dark Chocolate Crispearls 

Fold them in cool and towards the end. Anything much above 30C will begin to soften the coating and bleed colour into whatever surrounds it, so add them at the end of mixing, off the heat, and stir just enough to distribute. On a glazed entremet or a dipped bonbon, scatter them while the surface is still tacky and they will set in place without a piped dot of chocolate to hold them. For a finished dessert allow roughly 5 to 10g a portion as a garnish, or 30 to 40g a kilo folded through a mousse to create texture.

Troubleshooting 

Thanks to the chocolate coating, these cereal balls maintain their crispiness and crunch even when used in chilled or creamy applications. High water content applications such as fruit purées will cause them to soften over time, so leave it until the last minute to add them.

If the pearls clump in storage they have been too warm. Keep the bag closed at 12 to 20C and away from anything strongly scented, since the cereal centre may pick up an aroma through the coating.

Pairings and Ideas 

Dark Crispearls pair well with coffee, orange, raspberry, salted caramel, hazelnut and anything malted, and they hold their own against a strong spirit.

• Scattered over a dark chocolate marble cake, as in our Triple Chocolate Marble Cake
• Folded through a coffee mousse just before it is piped
• Pressed into the base of a bonbon before the ganache goes in
• Through a soft caramel for a textured centre
• On top of a chocolate tart or cheesecake
• Stirred into a vanilla gelato at the end of the batch