Why "A Taste of Spring"? Well, because here in South Carolina, this is just about what we have been given….a few days of clement and mellow temperature, a smidget of wind and soft blue clouds. I love spring and since I moved to SC I have been deprived of it. Scorching hot summers and mellow winters, but no spring, and don’t get me started on fall!
I knew I only had a few days to celebrate Spring and since this is a perfect "entre deux" (in between) season, I aimed to combine my 2 favorites from winter and summer.
Cardamom screams winter to me and I go through huge supplies every year: in brioches, sweet rolls, hot teas, mulled spices, moroccan dishes, creams, custards,….
As far as summer goes it should be spelled "ice cream". I tend to agree that there is no season for it but a little scoop (make mine a big bowl) of ice cream on a sultry summer day is extremely refreshing.
For this dessert, you have an ice cream maker go ahead and use it but I did not have enough room in the freezer so I froze the custard base and took it out every couple of hours or so and give it a whirl with an hand held immersion blender and everything came out perfect.
Vanilla Cardamom Ice Cream, inspired by this recipe.
4 egg yolks
2 cups half and half
4 oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cardamom pods, broken in half
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick, add the vanilla.
In a saucepan, on medium heat, bring the half and half and cardamom pods to boiling point but do not let it boil.
Slowly pour the hot cream onto the egg yolks mixture and stir to combine (tempering). Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon. At this point you have made a custard sauce, also known as "creme anglaise".
Let cool completely, strain the cardamom pods and refrigerate until cold. Process the custard according to your ice cream maker manufacturer’s instructions or use the hand held immersion blender described earlier.
I wish I had made 2 gallons of this…so good…so sophisticated.
I believe I have to make more if I want to have at least a couple of scoops to take to Meeta's Monthly Mingle, appropriately celebrating spring. Participate as well, so I can live Spring vicariously through you!
If you are not a food blogger you probably do not understand why so many of us are creating and posting yellow foods…. We are all in for a good cause.
Barbara of Winos and Foodies is the driving force behind so many yellow dishes popping on your screen. Currently fighting cancer, she still finds the energy to create an event, A Taste of Yellow, to raise cancer awereness. Her idea has been recognized as an official event supporting LiveStrong Day and the Lance Armstrong Foundation on May 16th. So, whether you blog about food, cancer knows no boundaries and I urge you to make a yellow dish and post about it before May 7th, and visit Barbara’s page to learn more about it.
I have already mentioned how cancer affected my life. My brother died of oesophagus cancer at 38 years old, and recently my grandmother passed away from complications of breast cancer. One life cut too short, the other one well filled and ready for the next journey. Pain, anger and sadness are part of my daily routine but I feel comfort and strength in reading or meeting people fighting or surviving cancer. Whoever said the pain dimishes with time was wrong, way wrong, that’s why I jumped on the occasion to participate. I hope and pray that no one has to go through the pain of saying goodbye to a sibbling, child or relative who suffered through cancer and did not make it. Our family has grown stronger and closer being tested in their faith, love and friendship and not in our futile attempts at cheating death.
I was staring at all the yellow foods at the store when I found my hands grazing a crate of beautifully ripe and fragrant mangoes. A couple lemons and four mangoes later I was back in the kitchen putting my yellow dessert together.
For this, I drew my inspiration from Richard Leach’s Sweet Seasons, once again, adapting his "Lemon-Mango Coupe" to be easily made in a home kitchen.
The components can be made over several days and the whole thing put together the day you plan on serving it. From bottom to top:
-base of Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake
– lemon custard cream
– diced mangoes
– sour cream topping
– mango sorbet in spring roll wrapper tubes
Cut the slices using 2.5 inch metal rings (8 slices-8 rings). Set the rounds on a sheet pan. Set aside.
Lemon Custard:
1 cup (236 ml) lemon juice
1/2 cup (118 ml) sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup (118 ml) creme fraiche or sour cream
zest of 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.Combine lemon juice, sugar, whole eggs and eeg yolks in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the creme fraiche and lemon zest. Incorporate well.
Line the inside of an 8 inch round cake pan with plastic wrap. Do not worry, it will not melt. Fill the pan with the custard and place it on deep sheet pan or roasting pan. Fill the larger pan with water and bake the custard in this water bath for 30 minutes or until set. Allow to cool and refrigerate.
Cut the custard using the 8 rings previously used for the cake slices. The custard should remain in the rings, place them on the sheet tray on top of the cake rounds. I did this tricky move by using a spatula, sliding it under the tubes, lifting them carefully with my hand and quickly setting them on the cake rounds.
Mango filling:
2 fresh mangoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 cups cream fraiche.
Lightly sprinkle the mango with 1/4 cup sugar and toss gently. Fill the rings with the mango to withing 1/2 inch of the tops.
Combine the creme fraiche with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Carefully spoon it into the rings and smooth the tops. Place in the refrigerator.
Mango Sorbet:
4 cups diced mangoes
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
Combine all the ingredients ina saucepan and brigng to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, remove from the heat and puree until smmoth. Pass through a sieve. Cool completely and process in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keepp frozen until ready to use.
Heat oven to 350. Cut the wrappers into strips 3 inches wide and 5 inches long. Butter the strips, with a pastry brush, leaving 1 inch unbuttered. Using 16 metal tubes 1 inch in diameter, roll the wrappers around the tubes. Brush the butter free space with the egg white and overlap a amll ostion of the wrapper, sealing it.Bake for a couple of minutes or until brown. Watch closely.
Slide them off the tubes and let cool completely.
To assemble: place some mango sorbet into a pastry bag and pipe it into the spring roll tubes. Place 2 on a plate, side by side. Unmold the mango dessert next to them. Decorate as you wish.
It’s hot here…really hot. Leave it to South Carolina to skip spring and go right into summer!
We are starting to crave ice cream…bad! I am impatiently awaiting David’s new cookbook, the ice cream maker is all polished and shiny but we need something to cool us down…now! Yes, we could go and buy some but what fun would that be when I can whip this little cuties out?!
The day I made the Banana-Chocolate Bonbons I doubled on the recipe since it was pretty tasty. Turned out that half of the chocolate pudding stayed in the fridge while I tended to other creations. To top things off, we did not really feel like eating it "like that", so I came up with these.
Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Pops:
Chocolate Pudding:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
2 Tb cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch. Add chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar mixture. In a bowl whisk together milk and egg yolk and gradually whisk into chocolate mixture. Bring mixture just to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, and boil 1 minute, whisking. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.Divide pudding between two 8-ounce ramekins. Chill puddings in freezer, surfaces covered with plastic wrap, until cooled, about 30 minutes.
1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks.
For the pops: once the pudding has cooled, gently fold the whipped cream into it. Pour the batter into 4 ice cram pops, or 4 glasses like I did. Put a wooden ice cream stick on the middle, and freeze until firm.
Easy to make on a hot day and easier to eat on a hotter day!
Well, it was another close call but all the votes for this Mousse round of Hay Hay it’s Donna Day have been added and double checked and I have the pleasure of announcing the winner:
Katie from Other People’s Food with her Le Kit Cat Mousse . Congratulations Katie! By winning Katie will receive this book by Trish Deseine and she will be hosting the next round of HHDD, so keep checking her blog!
It was a great pleasure to host this round and ya’ll made my blog look moussy good. Thanks again for the pleasure of having me as host!
Don’t be fooled by how cute these look…I am almost 100% convinced I will not make them again…at least not like this…
These three chocolate crepe cakes were actually part of a bigger group of 10, and shamelessly served to my dinner guests so I could complete my April Daring Baker challenge and tell you all about it. Remember the croissants or red velvet cakes? Yep, it is that time of the month again and our group grew even bigger this time so if you see 29 other Chocolate Crepe Cakes in various sizes and flavors, do not reset your computer. We decided to go big, go high…except with my never ending love of individual desserts I went small but high. But fear not, from all our discussions it appears that all of us have had very different experiences with the same recipe, so I urge you to read all the other Daring Bakers’ posts to have a idea and in some cases a good laugh.
Don’t get me wrong, the guests were delighted with the presentation, all those caramel dipped hazelnuts and mini caramel corkscrews. Yes, I could have gone another road and make it exactly asand I love crepes. For crying out loud, I come from the country of crepes, I make them every February for the Chandeleur, I even once made over 100 for our Girl Scout troups meeting! Yet, I hated these!
I had no major trouble making the crepes, except that the batter was thicker than what I like to work with and the chocolate flavor did not really come through despite the 70% Lindt chocolate that I used. I like crepes on the lighter side, the ones I can swirl easily in a hot sauté pan with a slight and graceful wrist movement (or so I like to think!); the ones that have tiny microscopic holes in them once cooled thanks to a little added beer to bring some air into them. In my case, Martha’s crepes were on the heavy side, kind of gummy, took longer to cook and required much patience while being flipped and handled. I ended up with about 30 crepes. To make the mini cakes, I took out 3 inch metal rings, cut out rounds in the crepes and began alternating filling and crepes until I had used all the crepes.
The icing was the part that I liked the least. It was a thin ganache, which made it easy to spoon on top of the cakes but it slid down the sides way too fast to cover them nicely. Looking at Martha’s picture I understand that it was to show the essence of the cake, kind of like “rustic ingredient (crepe) goes to the ball (caramel work)”, but that did not do it for me…I like smooth when it comes to chocolate icing….
Now the filling was another story! “Awesome” pretty much describes it. When Brilynn chose the recipe (Martha Stewart’s) this month, she was kind enough to let us play with the original and some of us decided t go another route. I originally made a blood orange cream, inspired by a lemon one from Pierre Herme , but it was so good we ended up spooning it on toasts, brioches, scones, anything but the crepes…shame on us, but that cream is so good it deserves its own post, so I went for the filling given in the recipe but made my own hazelnut paste (see end of post) because unlike Martha I did not find any “hazelnut cream” anywhere…that was too vague for my taste. I could eat this filling simply with a spoon and it would be fantastic in a macaron or sandwiched in 2 thin shortbread cookies.
The final component of the cake was the caramel….and this is when I usually do a happy dance. I absolutely love working with caramel, but was not always the case but I had a great teacher in Old Chef and I am continuously learning from him. He is the same one who made me handle boiling hot sugar with my bare hands (burning them) almost 8 years ago so I “would get used to it”…(crazy old French man!) and yet I love him and love working with him. I disgress… To me caramel is as confusing, fun, tantrum-prone, and alive as yeast. There is always room for improvement and always thousands of way to handle it. At home, I use all kinds of weird contraptions to play with hot sugar. I duct tape 2 wooden spoon to my countertop above the dishwasher, open the door and spun my sugar in between the spoons. Once I am done, close the dishwasher door and turn it on…and voila…clean up done.
I thought about doing it nice little nest of spun sugar but I had already done that for the Chocolate Intensity challenge and I feared the mini cakes would get drowned under them, so I kept it pretty simple and clean. (Very Martha said B.) For the caramel hazelnuts I attached them to long skewers dipped them into the caramel, stuck the skewers into an apple and balanced the apple above the dishwasher. For the corkscrews, I lightly oiled a metal skewer and twirled the caramel around it. Let it dry a minute and let it slide off onto a lightly oiled parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make sure the caramel is thick enough to play with. One easy cooling method is to put your pan into a larger one filled with ice as soon as your caramel has taken on the right color on the stove. If it gets too thick, simply reheat on low for a minute. Oh, and have scissors near by in case those caramel strands start taking on a life of their own!
To sum up: it was kind of a mixed bag of feelings for me this month. Too much fuss for an okay cake. I can’t talk for the other gals just yet but I suspect that there were as many different experiences and opinion as they were Daring Bakers involved. The techniques employed are not difficult to master even for a novice ( ok-ok- I am the weirdo that thinks that practicing flipping crepe should be a Sunday activity!), but the batter consistency makes it a pain. Texture wise, I am guessing that unless you use good quality chocolate you won’t taste it much in the final product. Taste wise, it is a shame to say but the filling makes the cake.
To see what my fellow Daring Bakers have done, check out the drop down menu on the right side of this blog.
Hazelnut Paste, from Cook’s Thesaurus
Coarsely chop one pound roasted hazelnuts. In a food processor or blender, finely grind about 1/3 of the nuts at a time, until mealy. Add egg whites from 3 large eggs, 2 cups powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur. Blend until paste forms. Wrap and store in a covered container, up to 2 weeks. Makes 2-3 cups
Update: per Lisa’s request here is my unprofessional technique to let my caramel dry…:
Chef Louis here is keeping track of your votes on my chalkboard pantry door and he is not very busy at the moment.
Remember to vote for your favorite mousse to complete this round of HHDD. Voting ends tomorrow at midnight. Drop me an email at marinette1ATcomcastDOTnet with your favorite number!
It 's not like I need a reason to make brownies, but Myriam's invitation to her Browniebabe of the Month event, prompted me to try my hand at a very much lusted after recipe: Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies.
The thing is that I make brownies every other day or so, if not they are definitely in th menu on sundays…why? They are easy to keep around of a friend stops by, if the neighbors' kids are outside playing , see me and run toward my shopping bags asking "are you baking us something?", and let’s be honest because B. and I have a huge sweet tooth when it comes to brownies.
After many years of brownie baking I have adapted and combined many different recipes to come up with one that turns plain chocolate into a square of deep dark fudge, and allows me to play with additions if flavors, liqueurs, nuts, dried fruits, etc….but to me the recipe is not original anymore as I make it so often. I will write it here someday but for the event I started dreaming about Ina’s brownies (allright, Lisa, get your mind out of the gutter…).
Why "revisited"? Well, for starters there was no way I was going to use 1 pound of butter! Why? There are ways to have outrageously good brownie without an artery blockage. But I still wanted an "outrageous" factor so I decided use diced salted butter chocolate caramels as an add-in and cut the recipe in half. If you don’t want to go through the troubles of making the caramels, you could use diced soft caramels or crushed hard ones.
Outrageous brownies with Salted Butter Caramels, adapted from Ina Garten:
Servings: depends on your gluttony
1/2 pound unsalted butter (8 oz)
8 oz plus 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips, divided
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1 tablespoons real vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour, divided (1/2 cup for batter and 2 in the chips)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups diced salted butter caramels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x13 baking pan.
Melt together the butter, 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Cool slightly.
Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
Stir together 1/2 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the caramles and 6 ounces of chocolate chips with 2 Tbs. flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.
Want to know the truth? They are so good, they made me wish I had made the entire recipe…!
Fudgey, fudgey and again fudgey and they disappear faster then the neighbors' kids can "what did you bake today?"
So if you were ever tempted to make them , run to your kitchen and make a full batch! You won’t regret it.
Update 4/26: Let’s try this one more time: I figured that the picture file was too big so I had to downsize the pictures, not as pretty but more colorful!
As a host I want to thank you all for making my blog look so good…just look at this: 54 gorgeous entries! I can’t begin to tell you how thrilling it was to host such an event. Thank you all for trusting me with your precious entries.
I realized that a lot of people had never made mousse before or had very rich experiences. It was great to see all go beyond the norm or/and reveal a bit about themselves.
I have read every one of your great posts and forgive me if I have forgotten to comment. My head was starting to spin, and if you have received more than one round up notification email, that’s because I was on a sugar high…!
So without further introduction, here is the round up with entries appearing in the order they were went to me.
Voting begins April 24th and runs until sunday April 29th midnight. A winner will be announced May 1st. Anybody can vote just email me your vote at marinette1ATcomcastDOTnet. Good luck!
Entry # 1
Paul from Eatnz starts us off with a delicate and sophisticated Belgian Chocolate Mousse Mille Feuilles. Deep dark scoops of chocolate mousse layered with golden puff pastry and cognac flambéed orange segments.
Entry # 3
Arfi from Homemades tries her hand at a deep dark Chocolate Mousse for the first time. The results could almost make your sugar count run over!
Entry # 7
Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas made a lovely combinations of two mousses and shares them with her family and us instead of her dinner guests (eat cake!) Check out her Chocolate and Lemon Mousse.
Entry # 10
Valentina from Trembon In English tries a few different mousse recipes before settling on this Chocolate and Chesnut version…a feast for the eyes.
Entry # 12Cheryl from Gruel Omelet, prompted by her husband to divide and conquer serves up a velvety Neapolitan Mousse.
Entry # 13Jenny from All Things Edible makes mousse for the first time and comes up with a dessert fit to please her entire family with this Lime Curd Mousse Cake.
Entry # 14Brazilian Patricia at Technicolor Kitchen sends us these lovely Individual Passion Fruit Mousse in tiny chocolate cups, after thinking about 100 recipes she wanted to make. Aren’t we glad she settled on this one?!
Entry # 16
Eunice from Lemon Almond makes 2 types of White Chocolate Mousse with a lovely Chai spice mix just to make sure she does not pass on “the” one…glad she found her happiness as we have more to try!
Entry # 19
Another mousse novice, Ellie from Kitchen Wench picks up an inventive cooking technique and come up with a Triple Chocolate Mousse adorned with the cutest sugar work.
Entry # 20Brigitte in Singapore, combats humidity to serve up her fresh lemon Ginger Mousse with Pistachio Tuiles. Thanks for braving the elements!
Entry # 22Another new kid on the food blogging block is Brooke from bear necessities enters her first blog event with this scrumptious take on a pie favorite: "Key Lime Mousse".
Entry # 23Y from Lemonpi serves up a classy deep dark and velvety Chocolate Mousse, which also happens to be dairy free, and finds out that traditional is never boring when it comes to chocolate.
Entry # 24Melody from Fruittart uses a Donna Hay mousse base to give her limes a friend in this Mango Lime Mousse.
Entry # 27Minko at Couture Cupcakes in Australia goes savory on us and offers Lemon Mousse Sauce. She uses shrimp as the dipper but I can see raw vegetables or other seafood too. The possibilities are endless with this recipe.
Entry # 28Vero from the delicious Swiss blog delimOOn helps fellow French readers to discover Donna Hay and the event with a versatile Grand Marnier flavored white chocolate mousse in her white chOcolate mOusse, sO simple.
Entry # 29Gilly at Humble Pie is inspired by a weekend trip to a local sugarbush and maple syrup harvesting to make the snow white and velvety Maple Mousse with Salted Butter.
Entry # 41Australia based JenJen from Milk and Cookies tried her hand at mousse for the first time and puts her spin on a restaurant inspired multi layered dessert with these delectable Chocolate Delights.
Entry # 42
Inspired from a recent trip to Thailand Mia from Nosh creates a very spring refreshing Ginger and Grapefruit Mousse, adorned with fresh mint, more grapefruit and fresh flowers.
Entry # 46Talida author of Talida Bakes gets her inspiration from one of her favorite drinks, taro bubble tea, and offers as a first time making mousse this lovely Taro Mousse.
Entry # 47In Germany, Meeta from What’s For Lunch, Honey? puts some French pizzaz into her mousse and serves a healthy serving of Mousse de Truite…smoked trout? Mousse?…intrigued? read more about it here.
Entry # 48
In sunny California, Anita from Dessert First gives the perfect description of mousse and a show stopper illustration of her idea in this Maple-Star Anise Mousse.
Entry # 49Lolotte, a French expat based in Virginia enters her first HHDD with a scrumptious Creamy Cherry Chip Chocolate Mousse with…read the rest of her entry to find out!
Entry # 50Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms, avoided near disaster with her first attempt but quickly recovered and made a delicious, light and smooth Apricot Mousse with a touch of brandy.
Entry # 51Kate from Applemint in Hong Kong, prepares this stunning a Green Apple and Passion Fruit Mousse Cake for a Monopoly night that never took place… wouldn’t we be at her place in a heartbeat if we could?
Lychee Rose Parfait Topped with Strawberry Sorbet, served with Orange Blossom Macarons filled with Blood Orange Curd.
I was truly excited by this month Sugar High Friday theme set out by Monisha and I have been playing with ideas in my mind ever since she wrote it was all about Flower Power for this 30th edition. I did not intend to wait until the last minute but I am in the middle of a round up myself and other baking activities so I apologize to my fellow South Carolinian for being among the last entries.
I knew I wanted something light and springy, something that reflect who I am when I think about desserts for dinner parties. I like light flavors, I like individual and miniature. I use orange blossom flower water on a (almost) daily basis. I am a serious ice cream fanatic. I eat fruits like they are going out of business. I love making macarons and I love citrus anything. Most importantly I always try to use flavors I do not tend to gravitate towards like rose extract. I bought a bottle a long time ago and I stare at it everyday….I am not too fond of it or at least I have not come up with a dessert that would allow me to appreciate it, until today…
I tried to get fresh lychees but here it is nearly impossible so I used canned ones and they did the job just as good. They are a little sweeter than fresh ones of course but the texture and final taste was the same. All the components can be (and were) made ahead of times and refrigerated so it gives you plenty of time to tend to more important activities.
Lychee Rose Parfait with Strawberry Sorbet:
Makes 8
Cookie Base:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Divide the dough in half and refrigerate. Roll out one half to 1/2 inch thick and put the sheet of dough on a parchment lined abking sheet. Bake8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 2 minutes. While still warm cut out 8 rounds with a 3 inch cookie cutter. Set aside. Use the remaining half for regular cut out cookies if desired.
3 cups fresh diced strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup wildflower honey
1 cup water
3 Tb lemon juice
Combine the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve then freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s directions. Keep frozen until ready to use.
1 14oz. can lychees
2 tsp. rose water extract (or to taste)
2 eggs, separated
6 Tb sugar
3/4 cup creme fraiche (can substitute sour cream)
1/4 heavy cream
Drain the lychees and keep or discard the juice. Puree in a food processor with the rose extract. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and 2 Tb. of the sugar and whisk until pale and thick. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm peaks are formed. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and whip for one more minte, until glossy. Whip the creme fraiche and heavy cream together until firm peaks are formed.
Fold the whites into the egg mixture. Add to the lychees. Lastly, fold in the cream mixture. Place the parfait in a piping bag.
Using 8 3 inch metal rings, place a sugar cookie at the bottom of each ring. Pipe the parfait mixture evenly between the 8 rings, leaving some space for the strawberry sorbet. Set in the freezer for 30 minutes or until firm. Fill the remainder of the tubes with the sorbet. Smooth the tops and keep in the freezer until ready to use.
Orange Blossom Macarons with Blood Orange Curd:
For the shells:
120 gr. egg whites, divided
35 gr. sugar
150 gr. finely ground almonds
150 gr. powdered sugar
1 Tb blood orange zest
For the boiling syrup:
150 gr. sugar and 50 gr. water
Sift the ground almonds and powdered sugar. Add the blood orange zest. In a stand mixer, whip 60 gr. egg whites to soft peaks, add 35 gr. sugar.
In the meantime, in a saucepan on high heat bring the water and sugar for the syrup to 230 F. on a candy thermometer.Slowly add the boiling syrup to the egg whites and continue to whip on medium – high speed until they are completely cooled and you have a shiny meringue (10-15 minutes).
Mix the remaining 60 gr. of egg whites and the sifted almond/sugar and carefully fold into the meringue.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the mixture and pipe macarons about 3 inches in diameter on parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes if desired. This is often done to assure those little feet at the bottom but I found that I can skip this step with this recipe and still end up with the same result.
Bake at 320 for 15 minutes. Let cool.
grated zest of 1 blood orange
2/3 cup strained blood orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
Combine the zest, sugar, juice in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs until light.
Beat some of the orange mixture into the eggs to temper. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it thickens up, about 5 minutes.
Strain and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap until ready to use.
Fill the macarons with about 1 Tb of the curd and refrigerate.
The final decorating step was to melt some white chocolate and form rose petals to set the parfaits on to them in a flower like manner.
I have to say I am acompletely in love with this dessert. The rose flavor is not too strong and it is really "ice cream for adults". Sophisticated, yet simple to make. All the steps are easy and let you set your own cooking pace.
Note: metal rings can be quite pricey so when it comes to assembling cold plated desserts like this one I use pvc pipe. Go the hardware store and select the diameter you need (I like having 2, 3, and 4 inch diameter rings around) and have one of their sales associate cut it for you. If you promise them a few brownies, they will do so without a problem.
This is the last call for you to get me your entry to HHDD 11 Mousse!
I know that a lot of us have had internet connection issues (me included) so I am extending the deadline to sunday…LAST DAY….after that get ready for a round up of the most intriguing, gorgeous, mouth watering mousses I have ever seen!
The recipe for the mousse in the picture is just a variation of this one. I added grated fresh ginger and a dash of nutmeg…delicious!
