White Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse Cups

As many of you will know from reading this month’s Friday Challenge posts I have found this quite difficult because I don’t have a sweet tooth and also I NEVER cook puddings! I feel really proud of this recipe so even though it may need a little tweaking, I think it makes a pretty impressive pudding or sweet canape!

I had the idea of making a white chocolate and raspberry mousse after making the dark chocolate mousse topped with raspberries (which you can see here)! I liked the flavours together but I thought the dark chocolate was very rich and I’d prefer a lighter mousse if I was going to make it.
I then thought of making the chocolate cups for the outside after making the marbled chocolate bars and realising that chocolate can be just as impressive if used for decoration as it is for its flavour! I couldn’t decide what kind of cup to make so I did three different ones (I made two of each type) -

A dark chocolate cup -

A White Chocolate Cup -

And a marbled chocolate cup -

The first time I made these cups I placed six square sillicon muffin cases upside down on a tray and drizzled the chocolate over the top, spreading it out thinly with the back of a spoon, then set them in the fridge. Well once they had set I realised I couldn’t get them off the tray because the chocolate had literally glued them to the tray once hardened. By the time I’d got them off the tray they were smashed to pieces. So… I ate the pieces… and tried again but this time I spooned the chocolate on to the inside of the muffin case and then again using the back of a spoon I made sure the layer of chocolate up the side was quite thick and even, I then placed these into the fridge quickly to set. (I put each one in the fridge as soon as I had coated the inside of the muffin case) I had thought the chocolate would simply run back down the sides however it didn’t and when I gently peeled away the cases I was left with these chocolate cups!

The white chocolate was more runny and I found it harder to work with but my favourite is the marbled cup! To create the marbled effect I took the white chocolate first and drizzled it in a zig zag into the muffin case, I then filled the gaps with dark chocolate and using the back of a tea spoon I spread it out so that the case was evenly coated. To be honest I had thought this would look terrible but I am pleased with the result!

The Mousse is balanced nicely between sweetness and sharpness of the fruit. I loosely based the recipe on the dark chocolate mousse however I omitted the yoghurt and replaced it with fresh raspberry puree. It is very foamy and light however after leaving it in the fridge over night this did firm up considerably!

Here is my recipe, this serves 6

For the cups:

60g White Chocolate
60g Dark Chocolate
Or 120g of just one type of chocolate depending on what type of cup you want to make! I used chocolate chips because they are very quick to melt.

Get 6 sillicon muffin cases (I imagine this will work with paper ones too but I didn’t try it). Melt the white and dark chocolate in seperate bowls by either placing the bowl into a pan over boiling water, without the bowl touching the water, and stir untill melted…or as I do, stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then for another 30 seconds and it will be perfect.

Spoon about 1 or 2 tablespoons of chocolate into the case and then using the back of a metal tea spoon start to spread the chocolate around the inside of the case. Spread the melted chocolate up the sides of the case creating an even layer. It is hard to explain but when you begin to do it you will see that it works! Once you have done each case put it straight into the fridge and begin the next case. You can drizzle abit of each coloured chocolate to create the marbled effect.
Leave them to set for an hour and then once you can see the chocolate has hardened gently peel back the muffin case untill it is completely removed, then place the chocolate cup back into the fridge.

For the Mousse:

85g White Chocolate chips
2 Egg Whites
1 tablespoon Sugar
125g Raspberries and a few extra for decorations

Begin by melting the white chocolate in a bowl and then put to one side.

Place the egg whites in a big bowl and whisk them with an electric whisk untill you have soft peaks, add the sugar and whisk untill the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are beautiful and glossy!

Puree the raspberries in a blender and then stir most of them into the white chocolate, but reserve some of the pureed raspberries to pour on top of the mousse when it is in the cups. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate and raspberry mixture using a metal spoon untill combined and then fold the rest of the eggs in. Try not to mix it too hard as you don’t want to loose the air in the mousse.

Take the chocolate cups out of the fridge and spoon the mousse into the cups, top with some raspberry puree and a few raspberries then place them straight back into the fridge for 1 or 2 hours (or over night).

I think the key to this recipe is to work quickly with the chocolate when making the cups and get them into the fridge as soon as you’ve made a layer within the cases. Also be very gentle when removing the cases and try to not press too hard on the base of the cup! Most of all have fun, experiment and enjoy!!

Warm Gooey Chocolate Cakes (Leon Baking Cookbook): Friday challenge!

I love reading the LEON Cookbooks because they are more like a scrapbook than a recipe book, they give you tonnes of information on the ingredients, the story behind the recipes and of course some great photos! I knew I’d find something good for my chocolate challenge in their “baking and Puddings” book and I was right – this warm gooey chocolate cake was so indulgent yet really simple to make! I was impressed and I’m actually wondering why I was so scared of cooking with chocolate before!

When initially reading the ingredients list I was a little baffled because the ingredients were very similar to the chocolate mousse I made – chocolate, egg whites, sugar so I wondered what exactly would make this become a cake!? Naive maybe but in my mind a cake had flour in it, needless to say I was a teeny bit chuffed when this ‘possibly a mousse’ cake came out of the oven and it had a cakey texture!! The main difference I can see is that this cake had ALOT of coco powder (I used Options hot chocolate powder, not sure if that’s what they meant but it was delicious!) and therefore was denser than the mousse recipe.

I cooked it in little ramekins and this is how it came out – (icing sugar added after cooking)

I wasn’t sure if I was meant to remove them from the ramekins but when looking at their photo I see that they had removed it and it looked delicious -

So I did too – behold the gooey mess of cake on my plate! -

I made half the quantity from their recipe because there are only two of us and it worked fine. I also melted down an easter egg instead of buying dark chocolate because I wanted to use up some of the chocolate we had left over! I’d love to try this with dark chocolate because with the Cadburys it was very rich – didn’t stop me licking my plate though!!

I can’t find the recipe online so I don’t have a link for it I’m afraid but I would recommend the books if you can get hold of them!

What I have learnt about chocolate:

I think I’m beginning to realise that puddings are not as hard as I’d imagined, you just need to understand the basics. Subtle changes can make two recipes which look similar very different!

The thing I find good about using chocolate is that it can be used in many different ways, it can be served runny as a sauce, set as a mousse, hard and chilled, grated as a garnish etc.

Also this time I used an electric whisk when mixing the egg whites with the sugar and it was a lot easier and the egg whites became lovely and glossy!

So far both of my chosen recipes have relied on melting chocolate and mixing it with whisked egg whites so next week I’m going to try something a little different and experiment with some flavour combinations!

 

Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries (Ultimate Makeover BBC Goodfood recipe): Friday Challenge!

I feel like this year is going really quickly, I can’t believe it’s already April let alone already being Easter! I’ve been married 6 months this weekend (yay) which feels like it’s flown by,  speaking of weddings I pre scheduled this Friday challenge post because I am at Scott’s cousins wedding today in the midlands. Congratulations Gemma and Nathan I hope today is truelly perfect for you!

I spent last weekend shopping for a new outfit for their wedding and as usual came home feeling stressed and over heated after battling the hundreds of other people that decided to go into town as well. I’m not a great shopper anyway as I get bored and tired easily but when your also trying to dodge screaming kids, pushchairs, slow walkers and huddles of teens it can be quite an assault course! Anyway I got a lovely outfit and also found a beautiful pashmina (scarf) reduced from £20 to £3!! When I got home I needed a treat and then remembered I’d put this weeks Friday Challenge in the fridge to set! I think maybe I will enjoy this month’s Friday Challenge after all….

I chose to make a chocolate mousse as my first recipe for April’s Friday Challenge because I had never made one before, and it looked quite simple! I chose Angela Nilsen’s recipe from the BBC Goodfood website because she had made a low fat version which suited me just fine! You can see the recipe and comments from other people who have made this recipe here.

The first thing to say about this chocolate recipe is that it really was easy to make! Also, I feel really silly admitting this, but I was amazed at what happened to an egg white after being whisked. I’ve seen people whisk egg whites to make a meringue on cookery shows on tv before but for some reason it just didn’t register in my mind that that’s how a  mousse is so airy. I have to admit I think my mousse looks a little flat because I got really bored of whisking the egg white! Also when I added the sugar I think I may have not whisked it enough because it’s still a little grainy…I was afraid of over working the egg but next time I’ll work a bit harder! It was still quite fluffy though.

I liked the addition of coffee, it helped give it a richness but it also made the mousse a bit too strong with the flavour of the dark chocolate as well. I think I’ll leave it out next time.

The raspberries were a nice touch though and I’d recommend using those when serving the mousse as it was a nice sweetness.

What have I learnt about Chocolate?

Well I learnt that chocolate and raspberries are nice together…although I kind of already guessed this! I learnt that egg whites are amazing and when whisked they become light and fluffy! I also learnt that by watching a lot of cooking on tv I knew what “whisk untill you have soft peaks” and “Fold the mixture” meant so that’s a bonus!

This was definitely a good starter recipe for me and I feel great that it was a simple healthy recipe too I already feel like I have learnt heaps more about the pudding world just from making a mousse no more shop bought mousse for us now!

ps do you like my pudding glasses? I bought them from a charity shop a while back (50p each!) and I love them. They’re so retro they look like they’re out of the 70′s!

Sugar and Spice Plums with Lemon and Cranberry Biscuits

Serves 2 (with plenty of left over biscuits)

4 Plums
3 Small Apples
2 tablespoons Demerara Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
3 pieces of Crystallised Ginger

Biscuits:
125g Butter
100g Caster Sugar
100g Demerara Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
squeeze of Lemon Juice
190g Plain Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
80g Dried Cranberries

I begin by making the biscuits to allow them to cool down before being served with your spiced plums and apples, so begin by beating together the butter, caster and Demerara sugar untill smooth and creamy (I’d recommend doing this in a food processor but if you don’t have one like me then use a wooden spoon and sit in front of a film and get working those arm muscles!)
Once smooth then add the egg, ground ginger and lemon juice.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking powder, stir then add the butter mixture and cranberries and fold it all together untill you get a smooth dough.

Wrap in Clingfilm and put in the fridge for roughly one hour. When you take it out roll the dough into small balls (about a heaped tablespoon of dough per biscuit) and put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, press them down with a fork so they are a flat disc.
Bake in the oven for around 12 minutes untill golden colour at 180c. Put them on a cooling rack and put to one side untill later. (These can be made in advance and it makes quite a lot of biscuits so they can also be frozen).

For the plums – Pour 200ml water in a large pan or deep frying pan. Add the Demerara sugar and stir untill it has dissolved. Stone and halve the plums and peel, core and slice the apples. Place the plums cut side down into the sugar water with the apples. Sprinkle over the ground cinnamon and sliced crystallised ginger.

Cover with a lid or tin foil and simmer for 5 minutes, then take the cover off and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and put it into the serving bowls, continue to cook the liquid untill it has gone syrupy and then pour it over the fruit.

Serve with a scoop of low fat ice cream and the cookies for dipping!

As you have probably noticed by now I’m a bit pudding shy but everyone needs a treat every now and then so this is a perfect way of indulging! Just don’t eat all the biscuits at once

Come back Autumn!

Over the last few days I think everyone has been enjoying the sunshine – but I haven’t!! I know it sounds grumpy but Autumn is my favourite season and as some of you may know I’m getting married on Friday! I planned a very autumnal wedding with marabou feather shrugs, autumnal golds and oranges, rustic wicker decorations and mulled ale as our reception drink! (we’re getting married in a brewery so ale is used alot through out our day!). So please please weather man make it a gorgeous cold, crisp, dry autumn day!

To encourage this suprise summer weather to slowly turn into beautiful autumn I have made the most autumn dish I could think of – Blackberry and apple crumble! As usual this does have a healthy twist on it as I’m not about to loosen the waist band with a few days to go! This recipe uses fruits from the garden so if you can cheekily ask your friends/ neighbours to forage their gardens it can be a very cheap dish!

Serves 6:

7 Apples
250g Blackberries
150ml Apple and elderflower juice|
1 tablespoon Crystallised Ginger

200g Plain Flour
55g Low Fat Spread
1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar

Peel the apples and chop them into small pieces, add to a pan with the juice and ginger and cook for around 15 minutes on a low heat untill softened and the liquid has reduced a little bit. Stir in the blackberries and cook for a further 5-10 minutes. Once cooked put in an oven proofed dish, cover with foil and put to one side.

For the crumble topping rub the flour and spread together untill it is the consistency of breadcrumbs, add the sesame seeds and the sugar and stir then pour over the fruit and pat down with a fork untill it is a nice even layer but not too pressed down. Sprinkle over a bit more sugar and cook in the oven for 25 minutes, uncovered.

Enjoy with a big scoop of good quality vanilla icecream! Easy Peasy!