Buttercream Almond Bonbons: A new family favorite

Sweet and a little salty. Creamy and a little crunchy. These melt-in-your-mouth bonbons are unbelievably tasty treats.

I come from a family of frosting lovers. You know those people who scrape the frosting off their cake and leave it on the plate? Well, that wasn’t anyone in my family.

I love frosting, too. But it can’t be overly sweet and needs to have a little flavor. So I was always trying new recipes, in search of a perfectly balanced frosting.

I finally found it: French buttercream. Well, my version of French buttercream, anyways.

I don’t have a stand mixer and I don’t want to mess around with hot sugar syrup, so I use a different method of preparing this egg yolk-based buttercream. And then I add a little powdered sugar – a sin in the eyes of true buttercream fans, maybe, but it greatly improves the texture. The resulting buttercream always gets fabulous reviews.

Paired with basic yellow cake, the kids think it is so good that Dan told me I should enter it in a baking contest.

I had a different idea for the frosting: making buttercream candies for the holidays. The idea evolved a little more after I dipped an almond in some leftover frosting. I chopped up some almonds, added them to the leftover frosting, and created a candy filling fit for a frosting-lover’s dream.

I made the filling into centers, dipped them in chocolate, and had my family test the result. Everyone loved them. What’s not to love about a bite-sized dollop of buttercream frosting enrobed in chocolate?

And they loved that they’re served on a frilled toothpick like a treat at a fancy party.

Dan and Monika have already asked me to make these for their birthday parties. All Daphne said after trying one was, “More, please.” I think I’m raising a new generation of frosting lovers.

Buttercream Almond Bonbons

time: 1 hour (prep time, divided); 2 ½ hours (chill time, divided)

yield: 3 dozen bonbons

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons milk (I use whole milk)

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 3 egg yolks

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature

• 60 grams powdered sugar (½ to ¾ cup, depending upon how you measure)

• ¾ cup whole, lightly salted, oven roasted almonds (100 grams), finely chopped

• 6 ounces white chocolate baking squares

• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon shortening

Directions

To make filling:

In medium (3-quart) stainless steel bowl, thoroughly whisk together milk, sugar, and salt. Then whisk in egg yolks. Add 1 inch water to medium (3-quart) pot and heat on low setting. When water starts to barely steam, set bowl of egg yolk mixture on pot. Using rubber spatula, stir constantly, but slowly – sweeping bottom and sides of bowl – until egg yolk mixture reaches a temperature of 160°F. This will take about 8 minutes.

Immediately remove bowl from pot. Fill a shallow bowl with ice and set bowl of egg yolk mixture on top of ice. Using electric mixer, beat egg yolk mixture until lightened in color and cooled to room temperature, about 1 minute. (You can also beat mixture without ice bath; without ice bath, this will take about 5 minutes.)

Once mixture is cool, add vanilla and two tablespoons of butter. Beat until butter is completely incorporated. Continue, adding two tablespoons of butter at a time and mixing completely, until all butter is added. Add powdered sugar, in two parts, mixing well after each addition. Fold in finely chopped almonds. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).

Once filling is chilled, scoop onto waxed paper lined baking sheets using small (#100) cookie scoop. Place one frilled toothpick in each scoop of filling. Freeze scoops of filling for several hours (or overnight).

To dip bonbons: 

Place white chocolate and shortening in small (2-quart) stainless steel bowl. Add 1 inch of water to small (2-quart) pot and bring to a boil. Remove pot from heat, set bowl of chocolate on pot, and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir to finish melting chocolate. Place pot of water and bowl of chocolate back on burner set at lowest possible heat.

Working with half of the bonbon centers at a time (leaving the other half in freezer), dip bonbon centers in chocolate. Holding a bonbon center by the toothpick, use a spoon to pour melted chocolate over center. Make sure chocolate covers center all the way to the toothpick. Dip the bottom in chocolate, if necessary. Once covered, tap the toothpick against the handle of the spoon to shake off excess chocolate. The goal is to cover the centers with the thinnest coating of chocolate possible – too much chocolate will overpower the flavor of the centers. Place covered center on baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

Once first half of centers are dipped, place sheet of bonbons in refrigerator to cool. Repeat with second half of centers.

Store bonbons in airtight container in freezer or refrigerator.

Serve frozen, chilled, or allow to sit at room temperature for several minutes before serving. Leave the toothpicks in the centers; once these bonbons warm to room temperature, they will be very soft, but they can still be moved by grasping by the toothpick.