Chocolate mousse with fiery ginger shortbread and candied orange peel
[vc_row][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1411071182930{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_text]***This post is a reposting of a recipe that got lost in my blog transfer – sorry!***
If you follow me on Instagram (or you’ve seen the photos in my feed on my blog) then you may already know that yesterday our new Kitchen Aid mixer was delivered! I can’t believe we actually got one, after so long saying ‘I’d LOVE one of those!’. We chose the pistachio colour in the end, as it will look so lovely with our new kitchen when we get it done in a couple of months. That’s another exciting project to tell you about, but that’s for another time!
We wanted to try out our new gadget today, so chose this chocolate mousse recipe because it meant that we could make the mousse and the shortbread in it! 🙂 If you want to make it for a special occasion, you could easily make this a day ahead. I love the combination of flavours – the coffee and chocolate, the orange and ginger. Yum!
Ingredients (makes 6)
For the chocolate mousse
30g/1¼oz unsalted butter, chopped
100g/3½oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 free-range eggs, separated
25g/1oz caster sugar
1 shot espresso
For the fiery ginger shortbread
100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened until very soft, plus extra for greasing
80g/2¾oz plain flour
30g/1¼oz icing sugar
30g/1¼oz cornflour
drop of vanilla essence
50g/1¾oz fresh root ginger, washed, unpeeled, finely grated
2-3 pieces crystallised ginger, sliced
For the candied orange peel
1 large orange, peel only, white pith removed, sliced into 0.5cm/¼in strips
80g/2¾oz caster sugar
150g/5oz demerara sugar
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the chocolate mousse, bring a little water to the boil in a pan, then reduce the heat until the water is simmering. Suspend a heatproof bowl over the water (do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the water). Add the butter and dark chocolate and stir until melted, smooth and well combined. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until nearly white and thick in consistency.
4. Gently stir the whisked yolks into the butter and chocolate, then add the coffee.
5. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then gently fold them into the chocolate mixture, until just combined.
6. Transfer the mousse to small cups or ramekins and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours, or overnight.
7. For the ginger shortbread, cream the butter until pale and fluffy in a bowl. Sift in the flour, icing sugar and cornflour and beat again until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla essence and grated root ginger.
8. Place walnut-sized balls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray, about 2cm/¾in apart (you should get about 18 from this mixture). Spread each ball of the biscuit mixture out slightly using the back of a spoon, until flattened into biscuit shapes. Top each ball with a slice of crystallised ginger, then transfer to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the shortbread biscuits are pale golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes, then carefully lift them off the tray and onto a wire rack, using a palette knife, and set aside to cool completely.
9. For the candied orange peel, fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the orange peel and bring to the boil again, then drain well.
10. Re-fill the pan with water, bring to the boil, return the orange peel to the pan, return the water to the boil, then drain again.
11. Re-fill the pan with 150ml/5fl oz of water, add the caster sugar and bring to the boil, stirring well. Add the orange peel, reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid resembles syrup, stirring occasionally.
12. Tip the demerara sugar into a shallow bowl. Once the syrup mixture has thickened, remove the orange peel and coat each piece in the demerara sugar. Shake the peel in the sugar until it is completely covered. (NB: Once cool, keep the candied orange peel uncovered until needed.)
13. To serve, place the ramekins of chocolate mousse onto serving plates. Place one or two shortbreads alongside each. Sprinkle the mousse with the candied orange peel.
Enjoy! 🙂
This recipe was taken from the BBC website.
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