Chocolate and prune galettes

Method

1. Line a board or a large baking sheet with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl resting over a pan of simmering water – make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir until smooth, then pour onto the baking paper. Using a palette knife, spread the chocolate thinly into a rectangle measuring about 36 x 24cm. Set aside in a cool place to set and harden.
2. Dip a long, sharp knife in boiling water, then cut the chocolate into 24 x 6cm squares. Dry the knife and re-dip in boiling water each time you cut the chocolate. Use a palette knife to lift the chocolate into an airtight container. Layer up with baking paper. Store in a cool place for up to 2 days.
3. Finely chop the prunes and add to the Armagnac. Put in the bowl of a processor with the icing sugar and purée as finely as possible. Stir in 150ml cream. Put in a sieve over a bowl and push through with a wooden spoon. Add a further 50ml cream to loosen the purée. Finally, add the remaining cream to the creamy purée and beat until stiff enough to pipe.
4. Put the prune mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle. Lay the chocolate squares out on a surface and pipe 8 with a fairly generous layer of the prune mixture. Stack a chocolate square on top, pipe another layer of the prune mixture, and top with a final chocolate square to make 8 galettes in total. Lift onto a baking sheet with a palette knife, spacing them apart in 2 neat rows of 4 (this makes dusting them with icing sugar easier). Chill if the chocolate is a little soft.
5. Cut 4 long strips of baking paper, each about 5mm wide. Lay evenly spaced over 2 of the galettes and sift a little icing sugar over the top. Carefully take off the strips to reveal stripes. Repeat until each galette is topped with stripes. Decorate each with a few crystallised violets and carefully slide onto plates to serve.