What are mendiants?

They are a traditional French confection, pronounced “mong-dee-ong”.

I first made them while doing a ‘stage’ in the Pastry section at the Mandarin Oriental.

They are an attractive ‘petits fours’ to have with coffee after a meal.

I temper dark chocolate and pipe it into small discs. Before the chocolate hardens, I set nuts, seeds and candied fruit on top.

They’re basically posh chocolate buttons but ‘mendiants’ sound better when you’re writing fine dining menus!