Chocolate dipped strawberries
Posted: March 13, 2011 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert | Tags: Chocolate, Strawberries Leave a comment
Totally decadent dessert – it could even be classified as a capital sin.
Chocolate dipped strawberries
Ingredients
- Perfectly ripened strawberries, green caps intact (normally, the huge ones from Spain are the best for this).
- 100 g chocolate (I used Cailler Cremant Intense 64% – with silvery label)
- 1 spoon of butter
- cream (I used soy cream)
Method
Melt the chocolate you want to be a purist, the chocolate should be melted in bain marie. I put it on the microwate for 4min, at defrost. When half of it is melted, take it out and mix.The remaining bits will melt on its own. Do not let boil!). Add the butter and cream until you have the desired consistency. Dip the strawberries in the melted chocolate. Apparently, if you give it a little shake to the strawberry when you pull it out, u withdraw it, the little cracks will be filed and you will have a nice, even line of chocolate at the base (I found no noticeable difference). To drip the chocolate off, give it a quick, clockwise motion to spin it.
Chocolate mousse, take 2
Posted: January 4, 2011 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert | Tags: Chocolate Leave a comment
O. says describes it as being orgasmic, H. says it is ecstasy on a spoon. Officially, it is mousse au chocolat, and the recipe is over 40 years old (here). To enjoy with a glass of Port. Or two.
Pear and almond tart
Posted: October 24, 2010 Filed under: Dessert, Pastry and Baking | Tags: Almonds, Cake, Dessert, Pears, Sugar 1 Comment
I found this pear and almond tart recipe on my way home, on tram 11. Someone left behind a Food & Travel magazine behind, and curiosity made me pick it up to flip through. Two tram stops latter, I had already decided to try all recipes. As pears are at its prime around A.’s birthday, it has become her official birthday cake. Well, sort of.
Pear and almond tart
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 200g plain flour
- 2 table spoons caster sugar
- 100g cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
- a pinch of salt
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 100g ground almonds
- 2 table spoons flour
- 3-4 ripe pears
To make the pastry, put the flour, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor, and, using the pulse button, process until the butter is broken down (about 5-10 pulses). Add 3 tablespoons of cold water, and pulse just until the dough forms coarse crumbs; add one more tablespoon of water if necessary, but do not do more than 10 pulses. Transfer the pastry to a sheet of backing parchment, form into a ball and flatten to a disk. Wrap in the paper and let stand for 30-60 minutes.
Roll out the pastry to the diameter of the baking tin (a tarte tatin or other round flame proof baking dish). Turn the tin upside down and on the rolled out pastry and press down and trace around the edge with a sharp knife.
Alternatively, just use pre made pastry. It might not be so good, but it does the trick.
Preheat the oven the 200oC. Prick the pastry all over, line with baking parchment, and fill with baking weights. Bake for 15min, then remove the paper and weights (I used beans), and bake for 10-15min more, until just golden. Let the tart shell cool slightly before filling.
To make the almond cream, put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix with the electric mixer, until fluffy and lemon coloured (it takes some time and patience. I start with melted butter). Beat in the eggs one at a time. Using a spatula, fold in the almonds and flour until well mixed.
Preheat the oven to 190oC. Spread the almond cream evenly in the tart shell. Peel and core the pears, and slice into 8-12 pieces, depending on the size of the fruit. Arrange the pear slices on top of the almond cream. Bake for about 20-30min, until puff and golden. Serve warm.
Eccles cake gone mad
Posted: September 4, 2010 Filed under: Dessert, Pastry and Baking | Tags: Berries Leave a comment
The pastry was wrong, the filling was wrong, the cooking was wrong. Other than this, it was delicious. Maybe in a I wannabe-a-molecular-cuisine-blogger post, I could have called it deconstructed eccles cake on steroids. The recipe I used was not created in controlled conditions and cannot be replicated to obtain the same results. The original is here.
Chocolate mousse
Posted: August 30, 2010 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert | Tags: Chocolate 1 Comment
Mousse au chocolat, using a very traditional recipe from the O Livro de Pantagruel (a formidable cookbook, first edited in 1946, considered to be the bible of Portuguese cuisine. It is now on its 73rd edition. It has more than 5000 recipes and 1200 pages)
Chocolate mousse
Ingredients
- 200 g chocolate (I used Cailler Cremant Intense 64% – with silvery label)
- 6 eggs
- 6 tablespoons of sugar (I use sugar cane – no snobbery intended, I had no white sugar left)
- 50 g butter (no salt)
Method
Mix the melted butter and the sugar until you cannot feel the sugar granules
Add the six egg yolks, one by one. When the mix has an off white-ish color, add the melted chocolate (if you want to be a purist, the chocolate is melted in bain marie. I put it on the microwate for 4min, at defrost. When half of it is melted, take it out and mix.The remaining bits will melt on its own. Do not let boil!).
After well mixed, add the eggs whites, beaten until very firm (until you turn the bowl upside down and nothing moves. For extra fluffiness, add a few drops of lemon juice). The egg white should be added slowly, mixing slowly in the same direction with a wooden spoon. If you want to add Port or spirits, this is your opportunity.
Put in the fridge for a few hours.
Chocolate pudding cake
Posted: August 22, 2010 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert | Tags: Chocolate Leave a comment
My birthday cake: chocolate pudding cake, courtesy of S.. It was so delicious I forget to take a photo of the individually cut segment. Thank you S.!
Ice cream cake
Posted: August 1, 2010 Filed under: Dessert | Tags: Cake, Condensed milk, Family recipe, Sugar 1 Comment
As long as I remember, my Mother did this cake for my birthday. And before doing this for me, she did for my Father. A really old family recipe, that no one seems to remember where they get it from. Even at risk of being cut from the will, I reveal the old family secret… The ingredients and its conversions have been profusely discussed elsewhere.
Ice cream cake
Ingredients
- 250g of palitos la reine, or ladyfingers, or savoiardi
- 1 can of condensed milk
- 400ml of double cream
Methods
Let the palitos go dry (if you buy them fresh, it normally takes a couple of days). Then crumb them in a blender until they are pulverized.
Mix the condensed milk and the double cream until you have a fluffy and dense.
Line a pirex tin (or a tin that can go to the freezer) with baking parchment or buttered paper. Then, start layering the cake. The first and last layers should be of palitos powder. I normally end up having 1cm layers, about 3 big spoons of cream.
Put on the freezer for about 24h.
When about to serve just use a warmed knife to separate the cake from tin and pull the paper. It should come out without much dramas, hopefully.
Lucie Loves Food 