Chocolate mousse with truffle oil (Serves 6)
See photos with a special Easter serving suggestion, below the recipe
| Ingredients | Method |
| 220g Chocolate (70% cocoa solids) | Melt the chocolate over simmering water. |
| 2 Eggs | Create a sabayon by whisking the eggs, salt and sugar in a bowl over simmering water until light and airy (around 5 min). Add a few drops of truffle oil and whisk to combine.
Fold the melted warm chocolate into the warm sabayon. |
| 80g Caster sugar | |
| Pinch of salt | |
| A few drops of truffle oil | |
| 200ml Thickened cream | Whip the thickened cream (be careful not to over-beat).
Use a large metal spoon to carefully fold the cream into the chocolate mixture, trying to keep the mixture as light as possible. Spoon into 6 serving glasses and chill in fridge. |
Chocolate soufflé (Serves 6)
See a video of Galit making this souffle, below the recipe
| Ingredients | Method |
| 40g unsalted butter melted | Prepare soufflé dishes: Brush the soufflé dishes with melted butter–brush the sides of the dishes using upward brush strokes. Sprinkle and coat the base and sides of the buttered soufflé dishes with sugar. Keep soufflé dishes in the fridge. |
| 1/3 cup (80g) sugar | |
| 150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa) chopped | Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of gently simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool slightly |
| 40g unsalted butter | |
| 3 egg yolks (55g) | Place egg yolks vanilla and water in a bowl and whisk until thick, pale and doubled in size.
Fold the whisked egg yolks into the chocolate mixture. |
| 1 tablespoon (14g) vanilla extract | |
| 20g water | |
| 7 egg whites (260g) | Place egg whites and salt in a bowl, whisk until they are foamy, add the sugar gradually and whisk until egg whites are shiny and form stiff picks. Do not over whisk.
Fold the whisked egg whites gently into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the batter into the prepared soufflé dishes and smooth the top with a knife. Run your thumb along the outer edge of the dish, about 1cm deep to allow the soufflé to rise evenly. Bake in a pre-heated, fan forced oven, at 180°C for around 10min, until they have puffed up (~2cm above the edge of the dish) and a crust has formed–but they should still be moist in the centre. |
| pinch of salt | |
| 1/3 cup (80g) caster sugar | |
| icing sugar | Served baked soufflés immediately, dusted with icing sugar. |
Chocolate earthquake cookies (~50 cookies)
| Ingredients | Method
|
| 350g Dark Chocolate | Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool slightly. |
| 70g unsalted butter | |
| 3 extra-large eggs | Place eggs in a bowl; whisk and add sugar gradually. Continue whisking for 5 minutes or until mixture is pale, thick and doubled in volume.
Fold in cooled chocolate until combined. |
| 1/2 cup (100g) sugar | |
| 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla essence | Fold Vanilla into the chocolate mixture. |
| 3/4 cup (120g) plain flour | Mix flour and baking powder together; sieve and fold into the chocolate mixture. |
| 2 teaspoon (8g) baking powder | |
| 1 Cup (100g) almond meal | Fold almond meal into the chocolate mixture, cover bowl with cling wrap and cool in the fridge for 2 hours (or overnight). |
|
For Coating |
|
| ~1 cup of sieved Icing mixture | Roll the cold chocolate mixture into balls 3cm in diameter (20gr) and roll into the icing mixture until coated completely.
Place balls, 5cm apart, on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake at 190˚C for around 8 minutes; the cookies will crack and will form a crust, the centre should still be moist and soft. Cool on rack and serve. |
What I love about them is that when you bake them in the oven the air bubbles that are trapped in the cookies expand in the heat. I love to watch them with my kids and observe how the white icing sugar coat cracks and exposes the dark chocolate cracks in the cookies.
Chocolate:
Different types of chocolate:
Dark chocolate contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar and usually lecithin. Lecithin is produced from soy and helps to emulsify the chocolate. The chocolate flavour will be more intense as the cocoa % is higher.
Milk and white chocolates contain milk solids and usually more sugar then the dark chocolate.
For this recipe choose a good quality dark chocolate (50%-70% cocoa solids). Make sure to use chocolate couverture and not chocolate compound (chocolate couverture contain only cocoa ingredients while compound contains added vegetable fats); have a look at the ingredient list on the packaging.
It is important to store chocolate in a cool place, 15°C-18°C to keep its quality. Sometimes stored chocolate will develop grey powdery looking appearance; the chocolate is not off and will not make you sick. This happens when chocolate is exposed to heat. The cocoa butter in the chocolate melts, migrates to the surface and solidifies there.
When you make this recipe, melt chocolate and butter together. It is important to melt it over gentle heat; melt over a pan of gently simmering water rather than in a saucepan directly on the stove, as the chocolate can be burned. It is important to stir the chocolate and butter together to ensure even distribution of the heat.
Eggs:
Eggs should be kept in the fridge to maintain their quality. If the eggs are stored at room temperature, their quality will deteriorate 4 times faster, in comparison to fridge storage.
Fresh eggs have a thick white and a firm yolk; older eggs have a thinner white.
The egg shell is porous therefore the yolk and white get more alkaline and additionally lose moisture with time. This will result in a bigger air pocket in the egg.
For poaching eggs use the freshest eggs you can find as this will help to keep the poached egg intact together.
If you need to whisk your egg whites (e.g. for meringue), it is better to use older eggs at room temperature; the white is thinner and as a result will foam more quickly. While whisking, you create egg foam air bubbles that are trapped in the proteins in the egg whites. Egg whites can expand eightfold of their initial volume. The addition of sugar will influence the egg foam and will help to make it more stable and glossy.
Baking powder:
Baking powder is a chemical levitating agent. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into the dough through combining a mild acid with a mild alkali. While baking, those bubbles of gas will expand to give aeration in the pastry. The effect is similar to the result of yeast fermentation, which also releases carbon dioxide.
This page is still under construction. I will soon start publishing recipes for delicious and nutritious food.
