Triple Chocolate Mousse... Three Ways

I should have titled this post "Triple Chocolate Mousse... Three Times Over". Remember when I posted about cleaning the freezer and making tarts with leftover doughs? It was perfect timing because a week later, I found myself with a freezer full of soggy, thawed out desserts and these mousses were some of them.

One of the reason why I cleaned out the freezer was so I could make more room for new desserts such as this one. I made a large batch of triple chocolate mousse last week and wanted to play with different presentations. Until I was ready to photograph them, I decided to store them in the freezer. Sunday morning, when I went out to the garage to pull them out, I was shocked to see that I had left the freezer door slightly open the night before. It doesn't take much to thaw out a freezer in a hot garage in Florida in the middle of summer. Everything that was on the bottom shelf was covered with water. I was able to salvage the shot glasses which were on the top shelf, but everything else was ruined.

I must admit it took me an entire day to get over the disaster, but the next day, I decided to make the mousses again. This is a recipe that is simple but requires getting messy in the kitchen and dishes are not my favorite chore, that's for sure. But I did it and here it is.

I made the mini spheres by sticking two half spheres together, after the mousse is frozen, and then rolling them in chopped pistachios and grated white and dark chocolate.



Pate a Bombe

4 oz sugar
1 oz glucose
2 oz water
3 egg yolks

Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to 240 degrees Farenheit. In the meantime, whip the yolks until they turn fluffy and pale. Add the cooked sugar to the yolks while the mixer is on low speed. Pour the sugar on the side of the bowl so you don't create spun sugar while doing this. Turn the mixer back to high and continue beating until light, thick and the bowl has cooled.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

1 oz pate a bombe
2 grams gelatin leaves
1.5 oz 70% chocolate, melted and cooled
4 oz heavy cream, soft peaks

Soften the gelatin in ice water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and mix with 2 Tbs of the heavy cream (it's ok if it's already whipped to soft peaks). Melt them together in the microwave for about 7 seconds. Add this mixture to the soft peak whipped cream and whisk together until mixed. But be careful not to overmix. Add the cream to the pate a bombe and fold. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the base and fold. Place the mousse in a pastry bag and pipe into molds.

Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate Mousse

Same amounts and same procedure as before but use milk chocolate and white chocolate instead.

Post Script: For all of you bloggers out there... Martha Stewart is having a blog contest. For more info, please visit her blog "The Martha Blog".

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Triple Chocolate Mousse... Three Ways

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Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse and Autumn Excitement

I have been daydreaming about autumn... leaves changing color, raspberry red coats, membrillo and figs. I cannot get to any of those at the moment except for the figs, so I have been indulging on them as much as I can, because I know the season is short.

I am going home back to Bilbao at the end of this month and I cannot wait to eat the figs when I get there. I have yet to find figs like those in my uncle's fig tree in his back yard. Pure sweetness.




I love how light and airy frozen mousses with a pâte à bombe base are. There is air incorporated from whipping the egg yolks and air incorporated from the whipped cream. They are lighter than ice cream or bavarian creams but still have a high fat content which makes them suitable for freezing without too many ice crystals. Just perfect.

When I make pâte à bombe, I always make extra and keep it in the refrigerator or even the freezer for the next time I want to make a quick mousse. This time I had figs that were a bit under ripe so I roasted them with a bit of sugar to make them tender and blended them in the food processor. I left the seeds and skin on because I like a bit of texture in the mousse and because it would take tons of fresh figs to get a small amount of fine puree.

I built the mousses in ring molds, froze them and then cut them in half for a different presentation. It is accompanied by a little quenelle of whipped mascarpone cream and some crumbled chocolate macarons.



Pâte à Bombe

4 oz sugar
1 oz corn syrup
2 oz water
3 egg yolks

Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to 240 degrees Farenheit. In the meantime, whip the yolks until they turn fluffy and pale. Add the cooked sugar to the yolks while the mixer is on low speed. Pour the sugar on the side of the bowl so you don't create spun sugar while doing this. Turn the mixer back to high and continue beating until light, thick and the bowl has cooled.

Roasted Figs

Pint of black mission figs

Cut the figs in half and place them on a sheetpan. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top if they seem not sweet enough. Bake at 325F for about 20 minutes. Puree them in a food processor or with a hand held mixer.

Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse

2 oz pâte à bombe
3 grams gelatin leaves (about 1 1/2)
3 oz roasted fig puree
8 oz heavy cream, soft peaks

Soften the gelatin in ice water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and mix it into the warm fig puree. Add the fig puree to the pâte à bombe and whisk until thoroughly combined. Fold in the whipped cream and pipe into the ring molds. Freeze the molds and serve the mousse slightly frozen.

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Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse and Autumn Excitement

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https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/09/roasted-fig-frozen-mousse-and-autumn.html

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