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Dessert Incompatibility {CtBF}
As Howard and I say, we’re “dessert incompatible”. I’m far from a chocoholic. I’ll eat chocolate, but it’s never my first choice. On the other hand, for Howard, it’s chocolate all the way. When I try making a new dessert usually only one of us loves it. It’s tough…
Now that we’re cooking through David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen, I’m discovering new twists on familiar and new recipes. Take this week’s choice, for example. Chocolate Mousse is something that I always forget about. I’ve made it a few times before, and it’s always a crowd pleaser. However, it’s not something that comes to mind when I’m deciding what to make for dessert.
Discovering this week’s recipe Salted Butter Caramel-Chocolate Mousse takes things over the top. The name says it all. It’s not just chocolate mousse. It’s chocolate mousse that starts with a salted caramel. I used to be terrified of molten sugar, but the more I make it, the more comfortable I get. Melt sugar, whisk in butter and cream, and you’ve got caramel. Stir in chopped dark chocolate until it melts and you have chocolate caramel.
Once it cools to room temperature (we don’t want scrambled eggs in our caramel, do we?), you whisk in egg yolks. Finally, fold in stiff egg whites with some fleur de sel, and you have salted butter caramel-chocolate mousse. Spoon the mousse into glasses. Voilà! Who would think that something so good would be relatively easy to make? The hard part is waiting at least 8 hours for it to chill.
The mousse is packed with flavor. Both the chocolate and the caramel flavors come through. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. It’s light, so not too filling a dessert. The small juice glasses I used are the perfect size for a little treat after dinner.
So far Cook the Book Fridays’ new book choice hasn’t disappointed. I will have to remember to serve this mousse to company so it’s deliciousness can be shared.
If you want to try it at home, you can find the recipe on page 258 of My Paris Kitchen. The recipe has also been published on Epicurious. To see what my friends thought of the mousse, check their links here.
The core of Cook the Book Fridays are bloggers who met through French Fridays with Dorie, have remained friends, and enjoy cooking together (virtually anyway). All are welcome to join us as we continue the journey through another French cookbook, David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen.
waffles {ffwd}
Last month, my friends at French Fridays with Dorie made waffles with cream. That week, I had a momentarily lapse of confusion and made the cheesecake tart which wasn’t scheduled until today. So this week while the Doristas enjoy their tarts, I will share my waffles with you.
I grew up eating waffles at breakfast time. I’m not sure what the difference is between pancake and waffle batter, but my mother made them distinct by using Hungry Jack for pancakes and Bisquick for waffles. Waffles were a considered treat, I think because they are cooked one at a time, and when we had waffles, you didn’t have to wait for everyone, you just ate your waffle when it was hot off the iron. I even have memories of waffles for dinner occasionally, the same ones served at breakfast time but eaten at night.
In France, waffles are not the entrée but dessert. These waffles were more delicate than the heartier ones I sometimes make for breakfast. (I use my college friend Sara’s recipe, not my mom’s.) I’m not sure whether this recipe is typically French, but the waffles were super buttery and light and crispy. The lightness came from beaten egg whites.
I did have some trouble cooking these. I halved the recipe, and I didn’t do a great job of judging how much batter to pour onto the waffle iron. I ended up with three rather thin waffles instead of two. The instructions were a little confusing too. Dorie had us pour the batter and then spread it (straightforward), but unlike the savory waffles with smoked salmon we made last spring, she never says to close the waffle iron. She does tell us to flip them over. I tried both ways (with the waffle iron open and closed) and did flipped all of them, but they didn’t get quite as golden brown as they should have. I’ll attribute that to not using each batter for each waffle.
The waffles being dessert, I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and drizzled them with chocolate sauce (some leftover chocolate ganache that I reheated). Neither of us care for whipped cream, so I had planned to serve ice cream with the waffles, but, uncharacteristically, there wasn’t any in the freezer.
This wasn’t my favorite dessert recipe from AMFT, so I doubt I’ll be making them again. And for breakfast, Sara’s recipe is perfect so I’ll stick with hers.
If you want to read more about the other Dorista’s waffles, check here. If you want to know about the cheesecake tarts they made this week, check here. The recipes can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
After our brutal winter, spring is decidedly here. Here are a few shots from my garden.
My favorite daffodils: Barrett Browing
Assorted Spring Flowers
A Plateful of Happiness 