Archive for the ‘Desserts’ Category

The unfortunate fire that I told you about in my last post happened 3 hours after Daniel, Avi’s brother’s girlfriend and me finished preparing 3 kinds of desserts for the Passover evening dinner. We made macaroons (the American coconut cookies), macarons - it was my first time and they came out really good and with a great chewy center, as they should. It’s a real shame I can’t share it with you guys… But it’s a great reason for making my second batch sooner than I planned! We also made a no-sugar cheesecake for one of our dinner guests.

So all in all, after the fire, I remained with no dessert for the Passover dinner. That was definitely a situation that had to be fixed, and so I made this great chocolate fondant. I followed the recipe of a dear Israeli blogger friend of mine - Maya from Bazek Alim, adapting the recipe to fit the flourless Passover restriction. It’s a great recipe and it turned out great even in the Passover version! Thanks Maya for a yummy recipe, and also many thanks for oferring me to come and cook with you at your home! This is a really generous offer, and I think it also could be lots of fun. I’ll be in touch with you about that.

Since I baked it at my mother’s house, in an oven I didn’t bake in before, I baked one test fondant, it took 12 mins in her oven and the result was perfect! A liquid chocolate center wrapped up in a cloudy-like chocolate soft crust… So much YUM!
Unfortunately, thinking I’ve mastered the fondant art in just one try, when I baked the ones for the guests, I left them 2 mins more in the oven (each one of them was bigger than the test one), which resulted in a very small liquid center. It was still very tasty, no doubt about that, but it left me with a bit of a sad feeling for succeding on the test round and failing (or succeeding less) on the important round.

Baking time is crucial in this recipe. You should bake your fondant just until its margins have stabilized, but the center is still soft and hasn’t firmed up yet. It’s best to spend the last 3-4 mins near the oven, keeping a close eye on these little pieces of yummyness. Baking one of them in advance in order to test the time it takes in your oven is highly recommended.

Chocolate Fondant / Maya from Bazek Alim, with my adaptation for Passover
Makes about 6 regular muffin sized fondants

Ingredients:
150 gr bitersweet chocolate
150 gr butter
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
4 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp flour (Passover version: substitue with 3/4 Tbsp Matzos flour and the rest potatoes flour or corn flour)

Directions:
1. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a Bain-Marie or in the microwave. Stir well until a uniform mixture is formed.
2. Add in the 2 eggs and the pinch of salt and whisk well until incorporated.
3. Add in the egg yolks and whisk well until inpcorporated.
4. Add in the sugar and stir well, so that in the next step, when adding the flour in, only a minimal stir will be needed.
5. Add the flour and stir only until incorporated.
6. Pour into greased ramekins or muffins pan, and bake in an oven preheated to 356F (180 C). As mentioned in the final paragraph of the post, keep a close eye on your fondants and take them out when their margins have firmed but the center hasn’t yet.

פונדנט שוקולד / עיבוד של מאיה מבצק אלים למתכון של רוני ונציה עם התאמה שלי לפסח
עבור 6 פונדנטים בגודל של מאפין סטנדרטי

רכיבים:
150 גרם שוקולד מריר
150 גר חמאה
2 ביצים
קורט מלח
2 חלמונים
4 1/2 כפות סוכר
2 1/2 כפות קמח (לגרסת הפסח: החליפו את הקמח ב - 3/4 כף קמח מצה והשאר קמח תפו”א או קורנפלור)

הכנה:
1. ממיסים את החמאה והשוקולד ביחד במיקרו או מעל ביין מארי (סיר בתוך סיר).
2. מוסיפים את 2 הביצים והמלח וטורפים היטב עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
3. מוסיפים את החלמונים וטורפים היטב.
4. מוסיפים את הסוכר וטורפים היטב.
5. מוסיפים את הקמח וטורפים רק עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה, לא יותר מדי על מנת שהתוצאה הסופית לא תהיה צמיגית.
6. שופכים את התערובת לתוך כלי הפונדנט (או לתבנית המאפינס) המשומנים ואופים בתנור שחומם מראש ל-180 מעלות. כפי שכתוב בפסקה האחרונה בפוסט, כדאי להשגיח צמוד בדקות האחרונות של האפיה, על מנת להוציא את הפונדטנים בול בזמן - כאשר השוליים שלהם התייצבו אך המרכז עדיין לא.

For a while now I’ve been thinking about how many calories there are in mousses. And I’m talking about the ones that are cream-based, because the ones that contain uncooked eggs are off limits for me. I really love mousse but can’t eat it all that often because of how fattening it is.

The idea came to me while eating a super fluffy Muller Froop yoghurt - why not try and make a yoghurt based mousse? Obviously I didn’t expect it to taste exactly the same, and I didn’t doubt the fact that the yoghurt would definitely be felt, because its taste isn’t exactly neutral. But I was thinking that it’s worth the try, eventhough it would be just a fake, and not the real thing.

A few days ago I had the perfect opportunity to try it. Two very good friends of ours came to visit us - she is a nutritionist and he is on a diet (and has lost quite a lot of weight - very impressive!). So I thought they’d appreciate the relatively-low-fat dessert, as opposed to the ones I usually make. When I sat down to put a recipe together, I decided to use yoghurt combined with some sour cream, powdered sugar to sweeten things a bit, and vanilla flavoured instant pudding mix - in order to thicken the mixture. In the end I added strawberries, cause after all that WAS supposed to be a strawberries mousse
I beat the yoghurt and the sour cream for 10 minutes. Well, it didn’t exactly turn to whipped cream, to say the least. I didn’t want to use gelatin though, so I decided to wait until we eat it to see how the texture turned out.

The first thing I have to say is that it turned out really tasty, and was so easy to make. Our friends loved it as well. Also it was very fluffy, and the ratio of strawberries-yoghurt was perfect. The only problem was that it was quite runny. I initially wanted to pipe it nicely into the serving bowls, but the shape didn’t last.  Next time I’ll try to use some melted white chocolate though, I think it will get it thicker.

Strawberries Yoghurt Mousse / Self Recipe
Makes 5-6 portions

Ingredients:
300 ml yoghurt (I used 3% fat)
200 ml sour cream (I used 9% fat)
400 gr fresh strawberries, diced
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp vanilla flavoured instant pudding mix
4 Tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Beat the yoghurt and sour cream in the mixer for about 5 mins.
2. Add the lemon juice, pudding mix and powdered sugar and beat for 5-7 more mins.
3. Gently fold the strawberries into the mixture.
4. Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

מוס יוגורט עם תותים / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו
עבור כ- 5-6 מנות אישיות

רכיבים:
300 מ”ל יוגורט (השתמשתי ביופלה 3% שומן)
200 מ”ל שמנת חמוצה (השתמשתי ב - 9% שומן)
400 גרם תותים טריים, חתוכים לקוביות
2 כפות מיץ לימון סחוט טרי
3 כפות אינסטנט פודינג וניל
4 כפות אבקת סוכר

הכנה:
1. מקציפים את היוגורט והשמנת החמוצה במיקסר כ-5 דקות.
2. מוסיפים את מיץ הלימון, את אבקת האינסטנט פודינג ואת אבקת הסוכר ומקציפים 5-7 דקות נוספות.
3. מקפלים את התותים בעדינות לתוך התערובת.
4. מקררים שעתיים לפחות לפני ההגשה.