Melancholy Mommy - Espresso Shortbread with White Chocolate

Yep, sooner or later you know it had to happen.  Another shortbread recipe.  This one is my mother's fault.  She purchased some shortbread at the grocery store after reading the ingredient list, which seemed to be OK, since if contained Flour, Sugar, Butter and Coffee.  Sounds OK to me too.  BUT (there's that big but again)  They had dipped the shortbread in fake white chocolate, composed of Palm Kernel and Palm oils with some cane juice and ground coffee.

While I applaud their use of cane juice, I really get annoyed when companies try to pass off Palm Kernel oil and Palm oil as being white chocolate.  (ie. Nestle White Morsels, Guittard "Au Lait" and several "White Chocolate" candy bars like Hershey's Cookies and Cream)  They aren't EVEN close.  White Chocolate, being made from Cocoa Butter, melts in your mouth at 98 degrees (just like regular Chocolate).  Palm Kernel oil doesn't "melt" until about 107F (I use to make soap).  Thus it leaves a greasy feeling in your mouth.  To make a long story short, it's like eating sugar laden Crisco. YUCK!

Needless to say, my mom was a little upset that they had ruined a perfectly good shortbread.  She thought she could power past the fake coating.  Alas, she could not.  I tried one, they were gross.

So I made these especially for her, to lift her from her melancholy state of mind.  Now she's all kinds of happy... and somewhat hyper for that matter.

Espresso Shortbread

1 1/2 tsp Espresso Powder
1 1/2 tsp Hot Water
Pinch of Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
4 oz (8 TB) (113g) Unsalted Butter
2 oz (1/4 cup) (57g) Brown Sugar (you can use Granulated Sugar if you like)
6 oz (1 1/3 cups) (170g) AP Flour

Coating:
1 1/2 oz REAL White Chocolate
1/8 tsp Espresso Powder

Combine Espresso Powder and Hot Water in a small bowl, stirring with a fork or spoon until dissolved.

the pinch of Cinnamon,

and the Salt, stirring to combine.

Place Butter in the bowl of a mixer along with the Espresso mixture.

Beat until well combined, then add the Brown Sugar.

Continue beating until everything is smooth and creamy looking.

Slowly incorporate the Flour, just until the dough begins to pull together into little clumps.

Turn the crumbly dough out onto a piece of waxed paper and press together into a disk with your hands.

Wrap the disk with the waxed paper, then wrap the whole thing with plastic wrap to retain moisture.

Chill the dough for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325F (162C) degrees and turn the disk out onto a well floured surface and roll to 1/4 inch (6mm) thick.

Using a well floured cutter, cut out shapes.

Move, with a floured spatula, to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 13-18 minutes or until the bottoms are just beginning to color and the shortbread feel firm to the touch in the center.

Move to a cooling rack.

Combine White Chocolate and Espresso powder in a small bowl.

Melt the White Chocolate in the microwave stirring until smooth.
Grab a large paint brush (I find it easier to paint than dip) and paint half the shortbread with espresso chocolate.

Let your imagination run wild......  :)

Allow the chocolate to sit for at least 1 hour to firm up again.

Then box them up and give them to your mother.  :)  Just don't let her eat more than 2 at any given time or you may find her bouncing off the walls.  ;)

Mangia!!
~~

When Irish Eyes are Smiling - Guinness Chocolate Mousse

'Tis that time of year again.  The Wearin' of the Green, Rainbows, Pots of Gold and Wee Little People scampering about.   Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Though try as I might, I can't seem to reconcile the idea of Green Beer.  What does green beer have to do with driving the snakes out of Ireland?  Did I miss something?  My  historical knowledge must be lacking.

While beer boasting some artificial chemical dye is not really my forte for this particular holiday.  I do still have my ongoing tradition of preparing some form of delicious treat from that famed Irish Stout... Guinness. 

I must admit that I had help though.  The Oregonian's Food Day had run a series of Guinness based recipes for St Patrick's day. So I sort of borrowed the recipe this year, instead of laboring in experimentation like I usually do.

Granted, all I really did was "borrow" the ingredient list.  I have my own methods for preparing mousse, just in case anyone who might be sensitive to any possible contamination of Salmonella happens to be consuming said mousse.  Thus, instead of simply beating egg whites with sugar and folding everything together, I made a Meringue via the Swiss Method (Cooking over simmering water)  This also creates a move velvety texture as well as stabilizing the mousse a little better if it happens to sit at room temperature for too long.  BONUS!

Thus it was, for St. Patrick's Day 2011, Guinness Irish Stout and Bushmill's Irish Whiskey hidden in a French Mousse formed of Swiss Meringue.  Funny!

Guinness Chocolate Mousse with Irish Whiskey Cream

9 oz 70% Bitter Chocolate, finely chopped
5 large Egg Whites
4 large Egg Yolks
1 1/3 cups Heavy Cream; divided
1/3 cup Guinness Stout (not draught)
1 TB Instant Espresso
3/4 cup plus 1 TB granulated Sugar; divided
2 TB Bushmills or Jameson

Place the chocolate in a bowl and set over simmering water until melted and smooth.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, but leave the water gently simmering on the stove, for you will need it again to make the Swiss Meringue.

While the chocolate is cooling, separate the eggs.

Add the yolks to the warm chocolate and whisk briskly to avoid scrambling them. (it will look really thick and odd though)

 

In a small pitcher, mix 1/3 cup of the Heavy Cream with instant Espresso Powder.

Add both the Heavy Cream/espresso mixture and the Guinness to the chocolate and whisk until smooth and glossy

(think of it as a Guinness laced ganache)

Place egg whites in the bowl along with 1/2 cup plus 2 TB (130 g) of the sugar, then place the bowl over the simmering water.

Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the whites and whisk them while the warm, allowing the sugar to melt completely.

Once the mixture reaches about 130 degrees, begin whisking more forcefully until temperature reaches 140 degrees. (you need to keep it the whites moving or they may scramble)

Remove the whites from the heat and continue beating with whisk until firm peaks are formed and the bowl can be tipped without any of the meringue sliding down the side of the bowl. (voila!  Swiss Meringue)

Stir a small amount of the Swiss Meringue into the Chocolate mixture to lighten it.

Add the Chocolate mixture to the meringue and fold until all the white streaks are gone.

Divide mousse among 6 Irish Coffee Mugs, or Fancy cocktail glasses, the choice is yours.

Cover with Plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

To Serve:
In a clean bowl, combine Irish Whiskey and 3 TB Sugar, swirl them together to give the sugar a chance to begin dissolving.

Add the 1 cup Heavy Cream and whisk until stiff peaks are formed.

Gently spoon the Whiskey laced Cream over the top of the mousse and serve.

With a bottle cap if you like, but more importantly, with a spoon.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Mangia!!
~~

Interested in more Guinness Recipes? Check out Guinness Cake with Bailey's Frosting from 2009 or Guinness Ice Cream from 2010.

Let Them Eat Dirt... Cake - Dirt Cake/Triffle

Every once in awhile, I become the victim of my own "cleverness".

Case in point.....

Our Family reunion was this weekend and I was asked to make dessert. Pies are a given, but I wanted something special for the little ones. When I was younger, we use to love Dirt Cake (though it's not so much a cake, as it is a trifle). For anyone who has never had Dirt "Cake", it is simply ground up Oreo or Hydrox which is layered, with a instant vanilla pudding that has been fortified with butter and cream cheese which then has Cool-Whip folded into it. It's actually pretty darned tasty. BUT

There is that big "but" again.. ;)

If you read the instant pudding ingredients you will find a lot of junk that really is unnecessary. I mean, Vanilla pudding is white, so why does it contain artificial coloring. Evidently it's the wrong shade of white.... Which is insane, considering that vanilla pods and the caviar contained therein are brown. Apparently, "egg shell white" is not as appetizing as "ecru". LOL
Be that as it may, I come from a chocolate loving family. So the issue of the vanilla pudding color was kind of a mute point, since we always used chocolate pudding anyway. However, it is also artificially colored and flavored these days.

That being said, I decided that I was simply going to make the "chocolate pudding" from scratch. Then, somewhere in the twisted depths of my mind I suddenly decided that a simple chocolate pudding wasn't good enough for my nieces & nephews. That was how the mousse came about. And while I now have a Dirt Cake that is blessedly free of foreign contaminates and fairly low in sugar, it is extremely high in fat... I used a quart of whipping cream. This was an issue that I did not foresee.

Pudding is made with milk, mousse is made with whipping cream (and raw beaten egg whites, but I left those out) The original Dirt Cake then has whipping cream (Cool Whip) folded into the pudding, thus I had to fold MORE whipping cream into my already whipped cream laced mousse. Not my most brilliant of endeavors, but it was REALLY good. :)

Oh, and I hunted down Newman's Own, Chocolate sandwich cookies. Not so much because they are Organic, but because they lack High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated oils. That was another one of those "things" that I climb on my soapbox about. Cool Whip is nothing more than sweetened whipped hydrogenated shortening (Crisco) so I avoid it like the plague. But the filling in Oreo & Hydrox cookies is also sweetened shortening. This along with the artificial colors, flavors, & preservative chemicals.... It was clear that I needed a less "deadly" cookie.

Don't get me wrong... I love Oreo & Hydrox, but I'm an adult and I am fully aware of the consequences when I introduce "counter-productive" foods into my system. Children are not, thus it is our responsibility to protect and educate them, so when they grow up they can make informed bad food choices too. LOL

OK, That is enough of my insane babble. Let's get this Mousse on the road!

Dirt Cake

Chocolate Mousse
16 oz Bittersweet Chocolate (at least 62%)
3 oz Espresso
1 TB Cointreau
1 1/4 tsp Gelatin
2 1/4 cup Light Whipping Cream; Divided

Cream Cheese mixture
4 oz Butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 cup Confectioners' Sugar

To Complete the cake
1 3/4 cups Light Whipping Cream
a small bag of Gummy worms
24 oz Newman's Own Sandwich Cookies
1 Clean plastic flower pot (run it through the dishwasher on the top rack)
1-2 bunches of silk flowers (wash the stems with soap and water; you can insert a straw and slide flowers down the tube, but I had a "bunch" and it was too big in fit in the straw)

Makin' Mousse...
Begin melting Bittersweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler.

Add Espresso and Cointreau.

Stirring until smooth. (you can add a pinch of cayenne as well, if you like)

Remove from heat and let cool a little.

Place 1/4 cup of the Whipping Cream in a small heatproof cup and sprinkle with gelatin, allowing it to bloom.

Melt Gelatin over low heat (I use a small Corningware dish filled with water over low heat)

Pour the melted Gelatin into the cooled melted chocolate and stir to combine.

Move the mixture to a large shallow bowl and let it continue cooling (this will make folding easier)


NOTE: Normally, if I were only making this as a mousse, I would have whipped the 2 cups of light cream, folded it in and spooned it into old fashioned champagne glasses and chilled it for at least 1 hour and up to 4 without covering. But since I was making the dirt cake I had to switch it up a little bit.

Place Butter, Cream Cheese and Confectioners' Sugar in a medium bowl.

Beat them until they are light and fluffy.

Fold in the cream cheese mixture into the gelatin laced chocolate in 2 additions.

Now, whip 2 cups of Light Cream until light and fluffy (do not add sugar to the whipping cream)

Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate in 3 additions.

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface, and chill.

Final Assembly:
Remove the chocolate/cream cheese mixture from the refrigerator and let it warm up a little bit.
Take your Newman's O's and toss them in a food processor (24 oz is 1 1/2 packages, which leaves 1/2 a package for you to enjoy with a big glass of milk)

Pulse them until you have fairly fine crumbs.

Place 1 3/4 cups light whipping cream in a bowl and whip until firm. (Again, don't add any sugar)

Fold the whipping cream into the Chocolate mousse in 3 additions, to further lighten it.

Grab the flower pot (make sure you ran it through the dishwasher)

Sprinkle the bottom with 1/3 of the cookie crumbs.

Spoon 1/2 of the Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse into the pot.

Sprinkle with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs.

Add some gummy worms.

Spoon the remaining Chocolate Mousse into the pot and cover the worms.

Add a few more worms.

Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs over those worms, making sure that a couple of them are peaking out of the top.

Cover with plastic and chill for 8 hours.

Before serving, grab a bunch of silk flowers and wash the stems and insert into the "dirt" and set it on the table as a center piece.

Serve with a washable plastic trowel for the ultimate effect. The kids were a little suspicious at first, but once they realized there were gummy worms in it, they were ALL over it. LOL

Mangia!!
~~