Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Panna Cottas

                       

                        

As one chapter ends, another begins.

That phrase had been going through my mind for the past month. After four years of studying, reading, researching, and writing, I have finally graduated with a B.A. in International Studies. Now, things for the first time are like a blank page- waiting for us to fill it with splashes of color.

                       

Everyone says that, now, we are finally in "the real world" (although I was told that when I graduated high school as well so I don't know which version to pick really...). We're continually told that the toughest and most challenging is yet to come and that our college days mark the last of being absolutely carefree.



It seemed kind of paradoxical to us. We weren't exactly "care-free" while pulling all-nighters, and reading hundreds of pages a week, and racking our brains thinking critically. But in retrospect, although it's only been eight days that I've graduated, I can somewhat sense what everyone meant.



Our primary responsibility was ourselves, and our grades. And if we didn't really commit to that, we were ultimately the only ones who suffered. But now, with getting jobs and starting families- a lot of other people factor in the equation- and they all have to be taken into consideration when we make decisions in our lives.

The mouse disguised as a "present"

But I'm glad that I realize that while also having lived "in-the-moment" during my university years- especially during my last year. I tried my best to experience as much as possible and enjoy every little moment- because I'd heard so much from my older friends about how "these days never come back". Most of the time, experiencing and enjoying as much as possible simply meant sitting with friends and having a good conversation. Or doing something really laid back- like playing Carem- or something really silly- like accidentally flinging a lab rat on the department table and terrifying everyone around me with my screams. (Do not ask how a lab rat ended up in the department of international studies- where, I can assure you, no biological experiments of any kind take place).

Playing Carem outside our department

On my last day of classes, I felt extremely melancholic. How many of the tons of friends that I made would I see again? And even if I did, it wouldn't be in the same environment that I had grown to love. But we move on, and as with any milestone in life, it's marked with celebration. 

White Party Dessert Table

A few days ago I threw a small party marking our graduation and invited a few close friends. I had chosen the theme to be white (don't ask me why, maybe because it's one of my favorite "colors"). So everyone, almost everyone, (I can imagine the ones who didn't squirm while reading this, haha) wore white. I had some white balloons and had a white dessert table.

White desserts were mini vanilla cupcakes with white frosting, sugar cookies (which I wanted to ice with white royal icing but didn't have time to), white meringues, white chocolate cake pops (with ginger cake inside), white marshmallows, white rice krispie treats, white chocolate mousse, and white panna cotta.

It was the first time for me to make panna cotta and yes, I admit it's kind of silly making something for the first time just a few hours before you have guests over! But that's me and my idea of being daring. Also, I didn't even manage to try it before I pulled it out of the fridge and served it to my friends. But they liked it, and I had a few spoons and liked it. So there.

                      

I had never made panna cotta and did not realize how simple and easy it is to prepare. And more so, it's so versatile. You can be SO creative. The one I made for the party was rosewater scented with a dulce de leche topping (not exactly a combination you'd expect- but it worked-well!)

                     

Yesterday, I made some more. This time, I wanted it vanilla and passionfruit flavored. I love the crunchy seeds of a passionfruit. But all three nearby supermarkets were out. So I resorted to making the panna cottas dark chocolate and raspberry flavored- which I don't regret one bit!



Ingredients
750ml whipping cream
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
120g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 tsp vanilla essence
50g dark chocolate
2 tsp olive oil
200g raspberries

Procedure
Place one cup of the whipping cream in a deep pan and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. On low heat, stir the mixture until gelatin dissolves. Then, add the caster sugar and remaining whipping cream and stir until sugar is dissolved. Next, add the seeds of the vanilla pod and the vanilla essence and stir through.

Pour mixture into containers of your choice (I made 12 servings in 1/8 cup sizes) and refrigerate until set.
Before serving, melt the chocolate with the olive oil in a double boiler. Pour over the panna cotta and arrange with raspberries on top.

 

Lemon and Blueberry Jelly Cheesecakes

We all have our favourite ways to unwind. Yours might be to curl up with a book (I like that, too). Another person might go for a long walk (I also like that, too). I, for one, first head into the kitchen. There's nothing like shutting yourself off from the world for a while and indulging in your creativity. The scene is perfected if you have someone keeping you company who you can talk to or if you have some of your favourite music playing (what I like to play when I cook is some Chopin or Mozart, Arabian or Latin lounge music works too, though). 

This week I'm on spring break. That means nine days of not attending class and also, in my case, not looking at anything remotely academically related. I think we all need to tune out for a while; it helps re-energize and motivate. 

After seeing this beautiful post I was inspired to create something with the same jell-o technique which I find absolutely gorgeous. But I made it cheesecake style. Because I had also seen a picture of  individual no-bake cheesecakes in jars on Pinterest. So voila I combined the two. And what better flavor combination than lemon and blueberry? Ok there's raspberry and white chocolate and pumpkin and sage and caramel and apple. But you get my point. The lovely thing about this is that it's so versatile- you can experiment with so many different fillings. 

I had to make my own jello as all the supermarkets were out of lemon-flavored jello, but it was healthier (if that's possible!) since the flavors were real and not artificial like the ones we get in sachets here. The result was fabulous at the end but I would've loved to have a deeper yellow for the jelly. 

Also, only after eating it did the ditz in me realize that gelatin is not vegetarian-compatible. And I was at 5 days short of 6 months of being vegetarian. 

Anyways, the past is in the past. Let's move on and get to the recipe. This makes 10 servings. I made four and turned the rest into a trifle.

for the lemon jello

2.25 tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

750ml lemonade

Juice and zest of one lemon

2tsp sugar

Soak gelatin with water. 

Boil the lemonade and pour over gelatin.

Add lemon juice and zest with sugar and stir through. 

for the cheesecake

300ml sweetened condensed milk

500g cream cheese

Juice of half a lemon

2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup blueberries

Beat together the sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla essence. 

Gently mash the blueberries and stir through the cheesecake mixture. 

Refrigerate until needed. 

Just before using, beat once more.

for garnishing

40g crumbled digestive biscuits

blueberries, extra

1 tsp lemon zest

Assembly

Place a quarter cup of liquid lemon jello in a 250ml glass. 

Place the glasses in a loaf tin at a slant angle and refrigerate until set. 

Once set, fill the other half of the glass with the cheesecake mixture.

Sprinkle the crumbled biscuits as a topping and garnish with some lemon zest and blueberries.

 This is what I did with the leftovers: made a trifle!

And this is post-munching status.....

Peanut Butter, Nutella, and Cheesecake Pudding

Helloooo everyone! I can't believe it's been more than a month since I posted.. I think this is the first time I've skipped an entire month of posting ever since I started blogging. 

Things have been quite hectic- I started my final semester at university four weeks ago and also moved in on campus. Prior to that, I was out of town for a while. 

 

It's the first time that I've lived away from home and I am learning quite a bit about myself. Especially how OCD I can be when it comes to cleaning. I can't seem to relax if I haven't scrubbed the sinks, made the bed, sweeped the floor, done the dishes, and generally made sure everything's clean and tidy early in the morning.

I've also had to be extremely resourceful when it comes to meals. I haven't relied on any recipes and make up my lunches and dinners from whatever is in the fridge (often a very creative process that I enjoy). Our dorm room also aren't equipped with ovens so I'm making a lot of scrambled egg and raw vegetable salads and crudites which I quite like. I've made it a goal that I don't want to order in any food while I stay on campus and I've stocked up my cabinets and fridge with things like wholewheat pasta and couscous, Greek yogurt, cherry tomatoes, capsicums, eggs, and baby spinach leaves.

I'm sure many of you must have read the "no-oven" part and thought, "Wait, what's SHE doing without an oven?" To tell you the truth, I do miss the transformative nature a baked good has while in the oven, and I miss the aroma of freshly baked cakes wafting through the kitchen but this has given me the chance to delve into something I've always wanted to try more of: no-bake desserts! 

I love no-bake desserts because they're quick and easy and creamy and just the perfect thing after a meal full of solids. I've invented some interesting things during the past few weeks and I have a slight feeling that the cashier at the university's mini supermarket thinks I'm insane because all I seem to buy are chocolates, cream, Nutella, biscuits, and sweetened condensed milk...

The other day I invented this layered trifle, pudding, dessert, or whatever you want to call it. Everyone seemed to like it although I do think it's akin to a calorie-bomb in a box.. 

So here's the recipe, adjust things as you see fit, this mainly works by instinct. (Plus, my version saves a lot of washing up.. just one bowl, a whisk, a spoon, a pan, and the actual serving dish used)

100g digestive biscuits

80g butter, melted

300g cream cheese

250g heavy cream

200g sweetened condensed milk

200g nutella

200g peanut butter

12 Oreos

4 sticks of Kit Kat

1 packet Maltesers

Take a deep 9"x6" serving dish and place the Digestive biscuits at the base. With the back of a glass, crush the biscuits and stir in the melted butter. Press the butter-biscuit mixture down all over the sides of the dish. 

In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, a quarter of the sweetened condensed milk, and a third of the cream. Spread over the biscuits evenly. Next, separate the two halves of the Oreos and place each half over the cream cheese mixture. 

In the bowl, mix together the nutella, a third of the cream, and half of the sweetened condensed milk. Spread over the Oreos. Break up the Kit Kats into tiny pieces and scatter over the Nutella mixture.

In the bowl, beat together the peanut butter, the remaining cream and remaining sweetened condensed milk and spread over the Kit Kats. Scatter Malteser's on top. 

Refrigerate around one hour before serving. 

Sorry for the picture quality- I only have a phone camera with me! 

How the Aztecs did it..

Have you taken part in my blog giveaway yet? Details here!

Choclette is hosting this month's We Should Cocoa challenge with the wonderfully exotic theme of chili and chocolate. It's my second time participating after I made a triple chocolate party cake for last month's challenge.



I love chili with chocolate but have only ever had it in chocolate soups (as I did at Hotel Chocolat in London) and or hot chocolate shots (In Dubai's Vintage Chocolate Bar) and I wondered what it would taste like in ice-cream.



I could sort of imagine the play of the flavours and textures. Velvety chocolate ice cream that cools the throat but has a strong chili aftertaste after you've swallowed it. Seemed so heavenly to me. And so I tweaked a normal chocolate ice-cream and added some thinly sliced red birds-eye chilies.




Ingredients
120g chopped dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
2 tablespoons single cream
300ml double cream
2 tbsp milk
50g icing sugar, sifted
2 red birds-eye chilies, thinly sliced
80g chopped dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, extra
2 tsp single cream, extra

In a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the chopped chocolate and single cream until mixture is smooth and incorporated. Allow to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the double cream and the milk until soft peaks form. Stir in the icing sugar and chilies.
Add the first batch of melted chocolate and beat until combined. Place the mixture in an ice-cream maker and churn for around 20-25 minutes.
While ice cream is churning, melt the extra dark chocolate and single cream in a bowl over simmering water.
Spoon the ice-cream in a small airtight container.
With a teaspoon, drizzle the extra melted chocolate over the ice cream.

Place the lid on the container and refrigerate it to firm up for at least 90 minutes before serving.

Rose Custards

Perhaps I'm being too much of an Orientalist here, but any dish to do with roses immediately evokes an Arabian Nights-esque vision in my mind...

You know what it looks like: a large marble balcony, lit delicately by the full moon. There's a fountain in the centre, made of the most intricate and beautiful turquoise tiles, and it slowly gushes out water. A large chaise longue rests beside it, amply supplied with plush cushions with glittering gold edging. At each end of the balcony is a large terracotta pot filled with water and topped with rose petals and floating candles. The scent of roses gently wafts up to the balcony from the rose bushes below, and on the chaise longue sits a beautiful princess with the darkest eyes and richest curly hair, savouring each mouthful of a rose custard...made from roses plucked right from the bushes below...

Yes that's what I imagine when I read any recipe to do with roses. That and the colour pink. I think I'm falling in love with it all over again. I had a pink phase when I was five, and then was I was thirteen, and now... I think there's a cyclical pattern in there somewhere.

This rose custard is somewhat like a rose creme brulee and tastes so succulent you'll want to close your eyes and savor it each time you taste it. And the best part is that it is fairly simple. This recipe makes six individual custards. Make sure you ovenproof glass dishes for this.

Recipe:

Ingredients
200ml low fat milk
250ml thickened cream
6 egg yolks
85g granulated sugar
4 tablespoons pink rose syrup
3 tablespoons rosewater
6 rose petals
1 egg white
6 teaspoons caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C.
In a saucepan, mix together cream and milk until it boils. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for one minute. Remove from heat.
In a bowl, mix together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until pale. Sieve the milk mixture into the bowl. Add the rosewater and rose syrup and beat everything together thoroughly.
Divide equally among six 100ml ovenproof glasses.
Place the glasses in a roasting tin and fill the tin with water up to the 5mm below the rim of the glasses.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the edges have set but the middle is slightly loose.
Remove from oven and remove glasses from tin. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating for at least two hours.
Meanwhile, gently wash and dry the rose petals. With a paintbrush, delicately brush one petal with the egg white, sprinkle one teaspoon of caster sugar on top and slowly shake off the excess. Allow to dry and set. Repeat with other rose petals.

Chocolate Caramel Slice

I like the idea of making slices.
They're cute and dainty. They're not your usual cake, or your usual biscuit.. they're something it between. And the idea of it being triple layered is pretty cool.

I made these super quick chocolate caramel slices this morning. And when I attempted to photograph them outdoors the chocolate topping started to melt in the 45C+ degree weather.

Nonetheless, it's delicious. I kept munching on them as a I photographed....... oops...

Ingredients
0.5 cup plain flour
0.5 cup self raising flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup soft brown sugar
125g melted margarine
395g sweetened condensed milk
30g margarine, extra
2 tablespoons golden syrup
150g dark chocolate
3 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm baking dish.
In a bowl mix together the flours, desiccated coconut, sugar, and margarine.
Press into the base of the baking dish and smoothen the top with the back of a spoon.
Back for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the sweetened condensed milk, golden syrup, and extra margarine in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until well incorporated and color is a medium golden brown- it should take around 10 minutes.
Take the baking dish out of the oven and pour the caramel mixture evenly on top.
Bake for 7 minutes or until just set.
Allow to cool slightly.
Melt the chocolate with the olive oil in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Once completely melted, pour over the caramel mixture and refrigerate for at least three hours.
 Before serving, cut into slices.

Crème Brûlée

So who here doesn't like crème brûlée? Hardly anyone, as far as I know- maybe even no-one. Alright, well maybe I'm generalizing. But I, for one, love crème brûlée. There's something about biting into crisp, tart topping followed by a wonderful creamy goodness. I love creamy desserts: panna cotta, tiramisu, chocolate mousse, crème brûlée, all of that.. and this is one dessert that I will undoubtedly order if I happen to see it on a menu anywhere.

And crème brûlée is wonderful to serve at a dinner party. It sounds so elegant and sophisticated. Alright, let's admit it- anything in French sounds elegant and sophisticated. Imagine this scenario: "Oh, what do you have for dessert?" "Umm, a pound cake." How does that sound compared to "crème brûlée"?

With a name like crème brûlée you'd think it would be extremely difficult to prepare but it isnt.. it has four ingredients.. it can be part of one those Australian Women's Weekly books called "TAKE FOUR INGREDIENTS" or "QUICK SUPPER TONIGHT".

The two places which I've found have really good crème brûlée in Dubai is La Petite Maison in DIFC and The Market Cafe in Grand Hyatt. La Petite Maison's is quite a large serving and you might need around 3 people to share it but the Market Cafe one is in individual little glasses. Both amazingly good.

And quite surprisingly- although I had this intense love for crème brûlée- I never made it. I kept on thinking I'd need a blowtorch and there was this whole hassle of getting one and setting it up.. and then making sure the water comes halfway up the ramekins etc... anyways I never really had this intense urge to make it until a few weeks back.

You really don't have to read this italicized bit- it's just a little story of my hunt for the Crème Brûlée Set.


A few weeks back I was in Divertimenti on Marylebone High Street in London. Divertimenti is this absolutely fantabulous kitchen store- until this year I only knew about the Brompton Road one but when I stumbled across the Marylebone one early one Saturday morning I was smitten. Huge, airy, bright, and fully stocked with all sorts of kitchen gadgets, Divertimenti is a shopaholic-cum-chef's (aka my) dream store. I saw a crème brûlée set and was instantly attracted to it. A nice compact little box with four ramekins, a wire rack, and an oven dish... all very nicely and ergonomically structured so when you add the water they're held up halfway around the ramekins. All very nice. I decided I would buy it- but not right then. When I went back a week later (after having thought of it countless times and somehow fallen in love with it), it was gone. I spent ages describing it and asking if the Brompton Road branch had one. Which apparently they did.. except with three ramekins instead of four. NO PROBLEM, I said. I'LL TAKE IT. 


And so during my lunch hour, I walked down from work to Brompton Road's Divertimenti and asked about the crème brûlée set. They had kept it aside and brought it out for me. As soon as I clapped eyes on it I was disappointed. It was just a normal oven dish used for crème brûlée- none of that fancy schmancy wire rack holder thing going on. I decided then that I would hunt this crème brûlée set down. And so I was told that Peter Jones might have it. So there I went, somewhat ricocheted back to Sloane Square which was close to the office. Checked with Peter Jones, they had nothing. They didn't even know such a thing existed. I was then told to go to David Mellor across the street (I did even though I highly doubted they would have it)- which they didn't. Then I heard that there was a wholesale catering store on Shaftesbury Avenue which might have it- and so after work I went there. They had no idea what it was. 


Anyways by now my rational little self kept telling my other more idealistic more dominant self that maybe I should give up. I mean how important is a little crème brûlée set? I admit, it isn't- but I'm the kind of person that if I decide I want to do something, I will do it. Even if it has to take me halfway across the world, or in this case all over central London. I kept admonishing myself, telling myself that I had become a slave of capitalism and materialism. That what kind of a person was I that I had to have this crème brûlée set or else I'd be eternally restless. There were more important things in life, Sid. But right now, this was an interesting adventure that would have been entertaining regardless of whether or not I found that blessed set (although if I didn't find it that would sort of have been a buzzkill).


Anyways, I gave up actively searching for it- but I kept an eye out wherever I went. Harrods, no. John Lewis, didn't even try. But one day, several days later, I was in Selfridge's- just walking around- when I remembered that Crème Brûlée Set. I had forgotten about it, to be honest. And so I tried my luck. And there it was. In Selfridge's.. five minutes away from my apartment. 

Anyways so back here in Dubai I decided to make Crème Brûlée. The recipe at the back of the box was extremely simple- I modified some of the measurements and I am sharing it here with you today. And getting a blowtorch is a good idea. The first time I made it, when I wanted to burn the sugar on top I put the ramekins in the top half of the oven for a couple of minutes but then it turned into a pudding/souffle kind of weird mixture. Not good. So get a blowtorch. But be careful how you use it. I also tried using both a cigarette lighter and a candle lighter but neither worked.

Recipe

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
240g heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 tsp granulated sugar (for the topping)

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 160C. Fill an ovenproof dish halfway up with water.
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar until pale and thick. Add the cream and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Spoon into the ramekins and place the ramekins into the oven dish filled halfway with water.
Place in the oven and cook for around 35-40 minutes until the edges are set but the middle is slightly loose.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the oven dish.
Remove the ramekins from the dish and refrigerate for around 6 hours.
Half an hour before serving, sprinkle 2 tsp of granulated sugar on top of each ramekin and with a blowtorch, caramelize/burn/whatever-you-want-to-call-it the sugar.  Make sure you move the blowtorch in circular motions over the ramekin to equally caramelize.
Re-chill in the oven until you're ready to serve.

It was the first time for me to use a blowtorch and somehow most of the golden dark bits ended up in the center of the Crème Brûlée instead of all over. It still tastes really good though!

Tip: if you get little shot glasses, you can even make mini versions of these- which will look wonderful.

Chocolate Cheesecake/Ice Cream Cake

A two-in-one! Which is fabulous? Sometimes I really do believe that making mistakes has its benefits- Such as this time when the mixture curdled (and the dish ended up becoming an ice-cream cake almost magically!)

So this is actually a cheesecake which works as an icecream cake if you just tweak a couple of the steps around..

The basic recipe is here:

Ingredients
115g digestive biscuits, crushed
4tbsp melted unsalted butter
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
800g mascarpone cheese
200g sifted icing sugar
175 plain milk chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
Juice and rind of one orange

Procedure
Grease a 8" cake tin.
Place the crushed biscuits, cocoa powder, and melted butter in a bowl and stir until well combined. Line the base of the cake tin with biscuit mixture and press with the back of a wooden spoon to flatten.
Mix the icing sugar and mascarpone in a bowl with the melted chocolate (the heat from the chocolate will melt  the mascarpone and make mixture smooth and runny). Mix until just combined to avoid mixture from curdling.

If you're making the cheesecake:
Place the chocolate mixture in the cake tin and refrigerate for at least 5-6 hours.

If you're making the ice cream cake:
Place the chocolate mixture in a heatproof bowl (in stages if bowl doesn't hold entire mixture) and set over a pan of simmering water till mixture melts and becomes liquidy and runny. Wait for it to slightly cool and then place it in the cake tin. Place in fridge till chilled and then in freezer for 3 hours.

Yes, it's starting to melt but doesn't it look soo good?

Profiteroles

I've been wanting to make profiteroles for the longest time ever. I had never made them before and the technique seemed so different from other things I had baked. I just love those quirky little tips you get when it comes to making certain things, like knowing that the macaron batter is ready when it slides off the spoon like a ribbon. Or in this case, when a wooden spoon stands upright in the choux pastry. And I think the part I was most looking forward to injecting the custard cream into the little spheres. What I didn't realize however was that I wouldn't know when I had injected enough pastry into each profiterole. But I just kept on squeezing it in. Surprisingly these are extremely simple to make and really fun, too. I think my favorite time is watching them rise in the oven. They go from tiny little spoonfuls of batter to puffy little dough balls. Like magic!

Ingredients
for the choux pastry:
50g unsalted butter
90g plain flour, sifted twice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
for the filling:
375ml milk
4 egg yolks
90g caster sugar
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
for the topping:
110g dark chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoons vegetable oil

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 210C. Place the butter in a large pot with 185ml of water and stir until butter has melted and mixture is reaching a boil. Remove from the heat and quickly beat in the flour and then return to heat until mixture comes together and leaves sides of pot. Leave to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl and gradually add the egg, one tablespoon at a time, beating well throughout. Beat with a wire whisk until mixture is thick and glossy and a wooden spoon stands upright in the center of the mixture. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto two lightly greased baking trays, leaving room for spreading. Sprinkle with water (steam helps profiteroles rise) and place in oven for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the custard. Put the milk to boil in a pan. Meanwhile whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy. Whisk in the flour. Pour the hot milk slowly onto egg mixture, whisking constantly throughout. Return milk and egg mixture to pan, stir constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Let boil for around one minute, while stirring constantly and then stir in the vanilla essence, transfer to a bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and leave to cool in a refrigerator.

Once it's cool, place the mixture into a piping bag and with a 1.5 nozzle, gently pipe cream filling into the sides of each profiterole. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and oil in a bowl over simmering water. Once profiteroles are filled, dip the top of each one in the melted chocolate to coat the top half. Leave to set.

Best served cold, in my opinion.

What I did with the leftover filling and chocolate topping...

Maple Mousse in an Edible Chocolate Container, A Daring Bakers Challenge

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at  http://thedaringkitchen.com

So I made these today. On the day we had to post them. The actual recipe called for maple mousse in ham containers... and since I don't eat ham and to be honest found the meat/maple taste mixture a bit odd, I opted to make edible chocolate containers.

I had seen a technique for this in one of my many cookbooks and decided to recreate it with some variations of my own.

For the edible chocolate container:


200g milk chocolate (I used Van Houten's baking chocolate)

Turn small glass bowls upside down and place on a tray.
Scrunch up some baking paper and form it over the upside down bowls.
Melt the milk chocolate on a double boiler and leave to cool for five minutes.
Pour the melted chocolate over the bowl covered with baking paper. Use a spatula to evenly coat the bowl with the chocolate. Leave to set for half an hour and then place in a fridge for two-three hours to completely form.

For the maple mousse:

Ingredients: 

1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)

4 large egg yolks
1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

  

Directions:

1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to
temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5
minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and
check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the
gelatine has completely dissolved.
5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten
raw egg white.
7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the
remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

The maple mousse was heavenly. I don't think I've had anything moussey apart from chocolate or lemon mousse and this just gave me the idea that I can make tons of different types of mousse! And all sorts of flavours! The more cream I added, the lighter the color became, but the taste stayed wonderful.

Here are some pictures, which I'm not too happy with.. they took me a total of 3 minutes to snap. I'm still horribly jet-lagged and just wasn't bothered to spend lots of time taking photos. But enjoy.

OH! And the edible containers? Yeah, make sure you pop them back in the fridge after each attempt to peel the paper off. Chocolate bits kept on breaking off and the entire thing was starting to melt in my hands, so I put them in the fridge after every attempt to peel and eventually peeled the whole thing off while it was all still the fridge.. I was half in the fridge as well...