Christmas Confectons

A good friend of mine is celebrating a birthday this week and I decided to prepare something special as a present.

Unlike most people I know he has a fondness for apricots that I share.  So after a bit of thought, I decided to put together a sacher-torte style confection as his birthday present.  As a by-product, I also assembled a small box of expresso-hazelnut-dark chocolate truffles for the rest of the group.

Sacher-Torte Confections

Chocolate cups

Foil Cupcake Liners
BitterSweet Chocolate (about 16 oz)

• Melt  Chocolate in a double boiler
• Place several liners in a stack, make sure the innermost is foil. 
• Place in the freezer to cool.
• Pour 2 tablespoons of  chocolate into the liner set.  Rotate for even coverage.  Place in freezer.
• Repeat every several minutes until you have at least 1/4 inch coverage covering the inside of the cup.
• Place finished cups in the freezer to keep chilled until filling.
• Leave chocolate on the heat.

Apricot Mouse Filling

8 oz of California Blenheim Apricots (I get mine from Trader Joes)
8 oz of whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 cup of natural sugar
2 teaspoons of gelatin
ice cubes
water as needed

• Place apricots in a pot or saucepan.
• cover with water
• Add salt and lemon juice
• Heat till mixture is simmering
• Let simmer until apricots fall apart while stirring, add water as necessary to float the apricots
• Add sugar and gelatin
• Let simmer until a thick mixture forms.
• Turn off heat
• Place whipping cream in the freezer for about 8 minutes.
• Place ice cubes in a metal mixing bowl to cool it.
• Take cream out of the freezer
• Empty cubes from the bowl and dry with a clean towel (paper works best here)
• Place cream in bowl
• Using a whip, whip the cream to stiff peaks.
• Fold in the apricot mixture
• Place mixture in the fridge to begin setting.

Expresso-Hazelnut-Chocolate Truffle Topping

2 oz of butter
1/4 cup of natural sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Leftover chocolate from the chocolate cups
4 oz of chopped hazelnuts
12 oz of freshly made hazelnut coffee

• In a small pot on low heat, mix butter, salt and vanilla and sugar.
• Place coffee in a  microwaveable bowl.
• Heat the coffee (3 minutes at a time at full power) in the microwave until it is reduce in volume by half.
• Add butter mixture to the coffee.  Continue the heating process until the mixture thickens significantly (about that of the melted chocolate).  The aroma of hazelnuts should fill the air.
• Fold the hazelnut coffee mixture into the leftover chocolate.
• Place the mixture into a mixing bowl and whip at high speed until the mixture forms feathers.

Assembly

• Take cups from the freezer and fill with apricot mousse mixture.
• Replace in the freezer to cool for 10 minutes.
• Take a spoon, top off the cup with the Hazelnut truffle mixture.
• Top with chopped hazelnuts

Leftovers

• Add frozen fruit to the apricot mixture and serve with a fruit sauce (raspberry works well).
• Roll the truffle mix into balls and cover with the leftover chopped nuts.  Cover and store immediately (Freeze if not to be consumed within 24 hours).

Happy Holidays!

For that special dinner dessert - Apricot Mousse

I use this mousse as the foundation of many apricot based desserts that I make.  Unlike most store bought mousse, it is a bit healthier due to the reduced amount of sweetner and also the flavor tends to have a bit more punch due to the fruit to cream ratio.  I typically either mix it with frozen fruit in a chocolate sack, or serve with a white chocolate mousse and drizzle bittersweet chocolate over the mix (a raspberry melba sauce is another optional component).

There are typically 2 types of mousse confection: those employing raw eggs and those employing whipped cream.  Of the two techniques, the cream is safer by a large margin.

Note that the mousse’s require a very good large mixer with a whip attachment and a 4 qt bowl with splash shield.  A food processor is also very handy.
Apricot Mousse
1. Go to Trader Joes and acquire:
a. 1 lb of unrefined sugar
b. 1 lb of dried California apricots (will get back to you on what the package says- they have several varieties)
c. 2 pints of whipping cream
d. 1 bottle of lemon juice
e. Powered gelatin (may not be available at TJ’s)
f. Sea salt
g. Crème of tartar

2. In a large saucepan at medium-high heat  add:
a. 2 cups of water
b. 1/2 teaspoon of salt
c. 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
d. 1 cup of sugar
e. Heat this syrup for 5 minutes until sugar is thoroughly dissolved

3. While the syrup is cooking, chop up the apricots in pieces as small as practical (a food processor works well for this).

4. Add apricots, reduce heat to medium.  Add enough water to cover apricots.   Cook until the apricots come apart and you can taste the flavor In the syrup.  Add water as necessary to keep from running out of fluid.  Syrup should be somewhat dense when you are done (cook off excess water).

5. (Optional: add 4 oz of peach brandy).

6. While the apricot syrup is cooking (about ½ way through the 75 minute process):
a. Put 2 pints of whipping crème in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
b. Put 2 cups of ice in the mixing bowl.
c. At 1 teaspoon of crème of tartar.
d. After 15 minutes, dump the ice and take the crème from the freezer and empty it into the bowl.  Scrape the containers as necessary to get the frozen heavy cream out.  Do not add water!!!
e. Attach the whisk and the splash shield and begin whipping the crème at max speed.  Continue until very stiff (peaks stand on own at room temperature) and then reduce to about 30% speed.

7. Slowly sprinkle in 4 teaspoons of gelatin into the apricot mix.

8. Take the apricot mixture off the heat.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

9. Slowly (with the whisk still turning at 30%), spoon in the apricot gelatin mixture.  Blend thoroughly.

10. Place mousse in container and refrigerate until ready for use.

11. Serve: 2 scoops of apricot mousse to 1 scoop of white chocolate mousse and add additional accent flavors as desired.

Next recipe: White Chocolate Mousse