Daring Bakers June 2010 – Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

It is a delicious recipe, thank you Dawn and everyone in the Daring Bakers for all your support and kind words.

Mandatory items: The recipe is comprised of three parts, four if you include the crème anglaise. You must make the chocolate pavlovas, the mascarpone mousse and the mascarpone cream using the recipes provided.

Recipe 1: Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder

Directions:

• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
• Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)   

 

• Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)

 

• Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. ( I baked mine for 2 hours and they were  perfect)

Recipe 2: Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream (cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (or orange juice)

Directions:

• Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
• Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
• Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.  

 

Recipe 3: Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling):

1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)
½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Directions:

• Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Recipe 4: Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream above):

1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

Directions:

• In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
• Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs.
• Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium.
• Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.
• 

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

I made things a bit different:

Since we are only two I used half the recipe. I prepared all the recipes but I’ve made some things a bit different from the original challenge recipe. I divided the Crème Anglaise, to one part I added the whole cheese and cream, I used it as a second filling for my cake, the rest I served as a dip. 

Instead of Sambucca I used  one of my husband´s favorite Portuguese drinks – Ginja. A liqueur prepared with sour cherries.

And here is the final result, a small pavlova wedding cake to celebrate our 6th months wedding anniversary.

Mutant Strawberry

 

The strawberry business in Sweden is something taken very seriously. The strawberries are sold in boxes 200-500 grams and are very expensive, in Portugal I used to make strawberry jam, here not so much. This year I have so far bought strawberries from Belgium, Spain, Italy and, amazingly,  from the United States.  Swedes love strawberries, the traditional dessert for Midsummer’s evening, which is maybe the most important and unique Swedish celebration. The other day, among the strawberries I bought, and which were large and sweet, I found this! I had never seen a strawberry this big, can you guess where it came from?

Meringue with peach and lemon sauce

Meringue with peach and lemon sauce

Another suggestion for bakers who, like me, seem to always have dozens of frozen  egg whites.

The recipe is really simple,  bake some meringues, using your favorite recipe, I used this one

To create these little towers I piped the meringue in 3 different size circles.

For the sauce, whip together 1 cup crème fraich3 and 1 tablespoon store bought lemon curd.

Before serving pile up meringue, sauce and slices of fresh sweet peach. (You really have to do this just before serving, otherwise the meringue will absorb the sauce and get too soggy)

Chili chocolate cookies

Chili chocolate cookies

A cookie just for grownups.

Ingredients (+/- 20 cookies)

100 grams butter
1 deciliter  sugar
1 pinch salt
1 pinch of dried chili
0.5 deciliter cocoa
3 dl flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg
1 deciliter coarsely chopped dark chocolate

 Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) with rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in egg.In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt cocoa and chili. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated, adding the chocolate chips about half way through mixing. If you find the dough very soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).  

For large cookies, use about a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop or with two spoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough  onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake about 12 – 14 minutes.

Sourdough – My fourth attempt

“I do not recommend baking bread, it can become a dangerous passion.” – Isabel Allende

 

In my case, and when it comes to sourdough it has become an obsession.

My fourth attempt went much better, I managed to get a good starter and my sponge rose in a couple of hours. The final result wasn’t good, the bread was too hard and dry, didn’t taste good either. I believe I used too much rye and whole wheat flour, which made my bread really heavy.  I am almost almost there!

Here are some pictures of my super starter. (I use some tape to mark the size of the starter before the big bacteria party.)

Broccoli Soup

Broccoli soup 

“If I could uninvent anything, I would uninvent Hitler’s mum, guns and broccoli. “- Domonic Monaghan
 

 ….which would be sad since we would never be able to try this delicious soup. 

  

• Ingredients:
  1 tablespoons butter
  1 finely chopped onion
  1 finely chopped celery stalk
  3 cups broth (use the water where you have boiled the broccoli)
  1 kilo broccoli florets (a bag of frozen broccoli)

  

• (Bechamél sauce)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• Salt & pepper
• Lemon zest  

Preparation
Melt the 1 tablespoons of butter in a pan. Add the finely chopped onions and celery and sauté until soft. Add broccoli and water; simmer until the broccoli is tender. Do not overcook, it spoils both flavor and light green color) Puree the soup.

  

In a separate pan make a béchamel sauce: 

Heat the 2 tablespoons of butter until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour. When the butter and flour are combined return to the heat for a short while. 

Slowly add the milk until all of it is combined. If it becomes lumpy use a whisk to smooth it out. Return the mixture to the heat and gently heat. The mixture will gradually thicken. 

Add the béchamel sauce to your cooked broccoli and gently reheat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with lemon zest before serving. I also like mine with some  basil or fresh orange, my Viking, of course, has his with bacon! 

Sweet and Spicy Corn Muffins

I usually don’t over adjectify my food, but these muffins are really, really delicious, sweet, light, and with a final touch of  smoked paprika.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 corn meal
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup  canned sweet corn
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 egg

.

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350*F (180*C)

Place all ingredients except the dry ones in a blender and blend until smooth, Add wheat and corn flour, cinnamon, paprika, baking powder and salt, stir everything together until it is barely mixed in.

Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan and bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, drizzle with honey just before serving.