Crispy almonds:
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Bring the water and sugar to the boil. Pour into a bowl with the slivered almonds, stir to combine and sprinkle with sugar. Transfer to a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, turning the almonds half way through baking. Set aside.
Crunchy orange praline:
Chop the chocolate and melt over a bain-marie; remove from the heat. Blend in the praline, followed by the butter. Fold in the candied orange peel, then the feuilletine (crushed Gavottes® crêpes). Roll out on a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with a second sheet of paper and roll to 4 mm thick. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove the sheets of paper and cut the crunchy orange praline into 6 x 3 cm rectangles. Set aside.
Praline ganache:
In a saucepan, bring the cream and honey to the boil. Melt the milk chocolate over a bain-marie. Pour the hot liquid onto the milk chocolate and mix gently with a whisk. Fold in the praline, then the Cointreau®. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Coating - Temper the milk chocolate:
Coarsely chop the milk couverture chocolate. Prepare a large bowl with cold water. Place the chocolate in a bowl; melt over a bain-marie of gently simmering water. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water; shine and smoothness may be lost. Heat until the temperature reaches 45°C on a cooking thermometer.
Remove the bowl from the heat and place over the bowl of cold water; stirring continually with a spatula to cool and until the temperature decreases to 26°C.
Remove the bowl from the cold water and return to the bain-marie to reheat, stirring gently, on and off the heat if necessary to avoid over heating the bowl and heating the chocolate too fast. When the chocolate reaches 29°C, remove immediately from the bain-marie. The chocolate should be smooth and shiny; it is ready to be used.
To finish:
Use a brush to coat the lollypop mould imprints with tempered milk chocolate. Refrigerate for 5 minutes or until the chocolate is set. Keep the tempered chocolate at 28-30°C. Whisk the praline ganache to emulsify and lighten in colour. Transfer to a pastry bag. Pipe the ganache into the chocolate coated imprints to half full. Position the wooden sticks into the space for the sticks. Place a crunchy orange praline rectangle into each imprint. Fill each imprint with remaining praline ganache. Smooth the surface with a metal spatula to remove excess ganache. Pour a little tempered chocolate onto the imprints and immediately smooth with the metal spatula. Transfer to the freezer for 2 hours. Keep the tempered chocolate at 28-30°C.
Unmould the lollypops, and one by one, dip into the tempered chocolate. Leave to drain, then place the bars onto a clean work surface. Add the crispy almonds straight away.
