January 11th.. a day to celebrate

Twenty three years ago today, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl at a hospital in Sherman in the upper region of Texas. She is now turning twenty three and even though we are far apart, I think of her every day. Sometimes we do not see 'eye to eye' but (along with her sisters) I will love her always. In honor of her birthday, I have decided to make my Divine Chocolate Mousse.

This chocolate mousse is sugar free and lower in carbohydrates than most you will get. It is a little higher in fat as I have used butter and cream in the recipe. For the chocolate, I have used a Vitality Brands product called Well, Naturally Rich Dark Chocolate. In Australia, you can buy it at Woolworths, Coles, IGA, FoodWorks, or your local health food store. If you can't find it, then any good quality bittersweet dark chocolate will do. I like this particular brand for use in my desserts because it is sweetened with Stevia and I am trying to reduce my sugar intake. (Don't ask me about the sugar laden cinnamon rolls I made last week?!?!?!)

Divine Chocolate Mousse Recipe

• 4.5 - 5 ounces of sugar free dark chocolate
• 4 TBSP unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP strong espresso (or strong coffee)
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 2 TBSP of xylitol (or sweetener of your choice)
• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream

optional ingredients: top with more whipped cream or berries of your choice.

1. To begin with, melt the chocolate either in a double broiler or in the microwave being careful not to burn it. When it's melted, whisk in the butter tablespoon by tablespoon. Once all the butter is incorporated, stir in the salt, vanilla, and coffee. Whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, until they are completely incorporated. Set this mixture aside.
2. At this point, using a clean bowl over a pan of hot water, stir the egg whites until they are just warm. Remove the egg whites from the hot water bath and beat them with an electric mixer (set on medium speed) until soft peaks form. Set your mixer on high and begin incorporating the sweetener a little at a time. Once all the sweetener is in the mix and you have attained soft peaks, whisk a quarter of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites using a large metal spoon. If you need a refresher on how to accomplish this without your egg whites going flat, see this handy video.
3. Finally, in another clean bowl (yes I know, your kitchen is beginning to look like a disaster area... trust me, it's worth it) whip the cream to soft peaks. Once done, fold the whipped cream into the mousse much like you did with the egg whites. When everything looks nice and evenly colored, spoon the mixture into six ramekins, cover with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for three hours or more. Serve with additional whipped cream or raspberries (like I did). Mmmm mmm good.

Happy Birthday Kaylee. I wish you could share in this with me but I'm sending you the recipe so you can make it too. I love you. Mom

Passion Fruit Pudding

I found a six pack of passion fruit on sale at the fruit and veg market that was to good to pass up. Now I love passion fruit but I'm not to keen on the seeds.  So after an afternoon of thought, I came up with a quick and easy dessert that would make the best use of on hand pantry ingredients as well as highlight the passion fruit flavor. A dessert that doesn't require the oven or the stove top (for my friend Junko) sounded superb.

This is my own recipe that is loosely based off of a Brazilian Passion Fruit Mousse, or Maracuja, that I have made in the past. My version here has received the appropriate rave reviews from my husband. I hope that you like it too.

Ingredients:

6 passion fruits
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 tsp gelatin powder
1/2 cup near boiling water

Method:

To start with put the coconut cream, while still inside the can, into the freezer for twenty minutes.  This will help separate the cream from the water.

Next, pour half a cup of near boiling water into a Pyrex glass and add the gelatin. Mix thoroughly until combined and then set aside.

Cut five of your six passion fruits in half and spoon the pulp into a mesh strainer over a medium size bowl.  Once you have all five of them in the strainer, use the back of a large metal or silicon spoon to push the liquid pulp through the strainer leaving the seeds behind. Throw out the seeds or put them aside to possibly grown you own passion fruit vine... :)

Remove the coconut cream from the freezer and open the can.  Be careful not to shake the can as you want the water at the bottom and the cream on the top.  Using a spoon, gently remove the cream from the can and placing it into passion fruit liquid.  Be careful at this step to only get the cream. Leave the water in the bottom and use it for something else.

Once all the coconut cream is in the bowl, add the vanilla paste and sweetened condensed milk and whisk it all together.  Slowly pour the slightly cooled gelatin water mix into your pudding while whisking.  Once all ingredients are incorporated, spoon into four larger or six smaller individual size ramekins.

Cut your last passion fruit in half and top the puddings with the pulp. There are not many seeds in one passion fruit and it adds a visual aesthetic to the dessert that wouldn't otherwise be there.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Try this out and let me know how you like it.  Leave a note or drop me an email. 

Bon Appétit!

Mango Season!

It's mango season in New South Wales.  The mangoes are beautiful, delicious, plentiful, and cheap this time of year. With that much delicious fresh fruit around, I bought a package of twelve.  I had eaten a few of them and still had plenty left to go, so I looked around for something to do besides just having fresh mango for breakfast.  Not that that is a bad thing mind you but a little variety never hurt.  :)

I found a recipe for Mango Syllabub that I thought I would like to try. Since then, I have made it three times and I believe I have it worked out to a fantastic, easy, dessert recipe that even a child would love.

First, you start with the sugar syrup. Place 1/2 cup of water, two whole star anise, and 1/3 cup of white sugar in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove top. Turn the heat to low and stir until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved however, STOP stirring and turn the heat up to medium high. Set a timer for five minutes and let it go to come to a soft boil. When the timer goes off, check the consistency. It should be like thin syrup. If it is, take the star anise out and let it cool. Once cooled, place in an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator until cold. You can make this portion a full day ahead of time if necessary.

Next, take six med mangoes and cut them up, removing peel and seed. Place most of the mango, reserving out the flesh of one, in a food processor with the juice from 1/2 of a lemon and pulse until smooth. (If you have never cut a mango or would like a refresher, take a look at this video.)

Once the mango is done, pour 300 ml of whipping cream in a cold (tall) bowl and whip until soft peaks form.  Fold the cold syrup (you made earlier) throughout.

Place a couple of tablespoons of the mixed cream into the bottom of six ramekins, spoon mango puree over that, place the mango pieces in next and top with remaining whipped cream. If you have extra mango pieces, you could top the final product.

Refrigerate for at least an hour and then enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup water

2 star anise

300 ml whipping cream

6 fresh medium to large mangos

juice of 1/2 lemon

Apple and Cherry Crumble

Hello, you are in for a special treat.  We went to the grocery store last weekend and found cherries on sale.  They were delicious by themselves so I knew they would make a great dessert too.  I decided to use them in a hot crumble and present them as a contribution to a lovely meal our friends served us last night. So, back to the store on Saturday to buy a few more ingredients and now we have a fabulous Apple and Cherry Crumble.

For the first step, peel and core five medium to large Granny Smith apples.  Place them into a saucepan and add about three to four cups of cherries that have been pitted and halved.  To that, add one third cup of white sugar, and the juice and zest from half a lemon.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat on the stove-top until the fruit gets slightly soft.

Fruit starting to cook

Fruit slightly soft after about 10 - 15 minutes of simmering

While the fruit is simmering, create the crumble topping.  Start by putting oats, brown sugar, rice flour, butter, pitted dates, sunflower seeds and cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until crumbly... then top the apple/cherry mixture and cook in a preheated 180 degree Celsius oven for fifteen to twenty minutes or until topping is brown and bubbly.

Crumble ingredients

NOTE:  The recipe I made here makes plenty of crumble topping.  (I doubled the crumble portion of the recipe) I happen to like a lot of topping but if you don't, you can make the single recipe or double it and save some for later.  :)

Crumble once pulsed/mixed

Take it out of the oven and let it cool slightly.  Serve with ice-cream or double whipped cream.

Completed Apple/Cherry Crumble

Presto...  a wonderful use of apples and cherries!

Ingredients

5 med to large granny smith apples
3 - 4 cups pitted & halved cherries
1/3 cup white sugarjuice & zest of 1/2 lemon

Topping:

½ cup rolled oats
3 Tbsp brown sugar

¼ (or less) cup rice flour
3 - 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
¼ cup of pitted dates

¼ unsalted sunflower seeds

1/2 tsp of cinnamon