Room for Dessert - Food Blog

Whenever I’m going to the store and I see fresh strawberries, I can’t help myself, and I always end up with at least one box, if not two. What can I say? They are sooo tempting, sitting there in their comfy box, looking all beautiful and shiny - how could I resist??

So every so often I find myself with some strawberries in the fridge, wondering what I am gonna prepare with them next. But this wasn’t the case this time. This time I planned to buy them for this specific pie. A friend of mine from work left our company after 10 years. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even have the time to grasp that she’s leaving, so the reaction I’ve had instinctively when I’ve heard she was leaving was offering to prepare her some sweets for her goodbye party.

This is one of the cakes I brought that day. I’ve been wanting to prepare this tart for a long time, since the first time I saw it on one of Magi’s posts on the Israeli food forum I’m a member of. Remember Magi from the pizza post (where, unfortunately, I misspelled her name, so I’m really sorry, Magi!).
One of the ground rules I have about baking is to never bring an un-tried cake to an event. But this being Magi’s recipe, and me knowing that all her recipes are always a great success - I decided to break my rule, just this once. And it was amazing! Even I, that am usually a harsh critic about the stuff I make, absolutely loved it! The filling was amazingly tasty and very VERY stable (it didn’t moisten the crust at all after 12 hours in the fridge), and all in all it was a really wonderful tart! As always, many thanks, Magi!

Strawberries and cheese mousse tart / Magi
For a 10 inch (26 cm) tart

Ingredients:
For the crust:
300 gr all-purpose flour
200 gr butter, cold and diced
100 gr powdered sugar
1 egg
a pinch of salt

For the filling:
500 gr low-fat white spreadable cheese (5% fat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 bag (10 gr) vanilla sugar OR 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
125 ml heavy cream

For the topping:
400 gr fresh strawberries

Directions:
For the crust:
1. Process flour, sugar, salt and butter in food processor.
Process using short pulses, just until a crumbly mixture is formed.
2. Add in the egg. Continue processing in pulses just until the dough is formed.
3. Wrap the dough with plastic, and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator,  place it onto a lightly floured work surface, and scatter a little flour over the top (I always place the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap - I found out that it’s the easiest way for me to roll out crispy dough), roll it out and line the pie pan with it. Heat the oven to 356°F (180° celsius).  Freeze the pan with the dough in it for 10 mins.
5. Fully blind bake the crust, until its color becomes golden.
6. Let cool in the pan on a rack before filling.

For the filling:
1. Whip the cream.
2. Mix together cheese, sugar and vanilla sugar and stir until well combined.
3. Fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture until fully incorporated.
4. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Before serving, arrange the sliced strawberries nicely upon the mousse, starting from the outer circle.
5. To give the strawberries a shiny look you can brush them with strawberries jello like I did, or with 2 Tbsp of apricot jam diluted with the same amount of hot water.

טארט תותים ומוס גבינה / מגי מפורום מתכונים של תפוז
עבור טארט בקוטר 26 ס”מ

רכיבים:
לקלתית:
300 גרם קמח
200 גרם חמאה קרה, חתוכה לקוביות
100 גרם אבקת סוכר
1 ביצה
קורט מלח

למילוי:
500 גרם גבינה לבנה 5%
3/4 כוס סוכר
1 שקית סוכר וניל או 1 כפית תמצית וניל
1/2 מיכל שמנת מתוקה

לעיטור:
400 גרם תותים טריים

הכנה:
לקלתית:
1. במעבד מזון עם להב מתכת מעבדים קמח, סוכר, מלח וחמאה בפולסים קצרים, עד לקבלת תערובת פירורית.
2. מוסיפים את הביצה. ממשיכים לעבד בפולסים קצרים רק עד לקבלת בצק.
3. עוטפים בניילון נמצד ומעבירים למקרר לשעה.
4. מוציאים את הבצק מהמקרר ומרדדים על משטח מקומח (או בין 2 יריעות של ניילון נצמד) ומשטחים אותו על גבי התבנית. מחממים את התנור ל - 180 מעלות ומקפיאים את הבצק בתוך התבנית ל-10 דקות.
5. אופים את הבצק אפיה עיוורת מלאה, עד שהוא מקבל גוון זהוב.
6. מצננים בתבנית לפני שממלאים במלית.

למלית:
1. מקציפים את השמנת המתוקה.
2. מערבבים יחד גבינה, סוכר וסוכר וניל עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
3. מקפלים את השמנת המוקצפת לתוך תערובת הגבינה, עד להטמעתה באופן מלא וקבלת תערובת אחידה.
4. ממלאים את הקלתית. לפני ההגשה מסדרים את פרוסות התותים מעל מוס הגבינה, מתחילים מהעיגול החיצוני ומתקדמים פנימה.
5. לקבלת מראה מבריק של התותים, ניתן למשוח אותם בג’לי תות (מכינים רבע שקית ג’לי ע”פ הוראות יצרן) או בשתי כפות ריבת משמש מדוללת בשתי כפות מים רותחים.

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.

So we’re 2 months into the strawberries season and I haven’t prepared even one single dessert using them! I did discover several great places to buy beautiful and relatively cheap strawberries, and actually that’s one of the few benefits of my college moving from the lively center of Tel Aviv into the also-lively center of Jaffa… So until now I only bought them for us to eat straight up, or sometimes with a little sugar scattered upon them. But last week I decided to use them for preparing a sweet goodie. I also decided to combine this with making my first ever mousse cake.
Mousse cakes are something I wasn’t technically able to prepare for a long time, since I didn’t have a proper mixer. Since I bought the KitchenAid last September, I’ve been planning to prepare one, but the chance hasn’t come up, and truthfully, I was also a little scared of trying it.

Looking for interesting recipes of strawberry mousses, I’ve found Martha Stewart’s recipe for strawberry mousse cake that looked promising, so I decided to take the recipe of only the mousse from it. I combined it with an improvised base made of biscuit crumbs, butter, lemon zest and strawberry puree. For the topping I planned to use Martha’s white chocolate ganache, but Avi doesn’t like eating big amounts of white chocolate, and since there was also white chocolate in the mousse, I decided to use milk chocolate. So far so good. But when we got to the store to buy that milk chocolate - I thought to myself - why not make it even more special and use one regular milk chocolate bar and one Nougat filled milk chocolate bar? This was the crucial mistake that made the topping of the cake lumpy (pieces of the nougat that didn’t dissolve well, I presume), instead of it being silky-smooth, the way ganache should be…

To sum up the whole story: the mousse was really tasty and had a great creamy texture, and there was just the right amount of each ingredient in it - the strawberries were very noticeable but didn’t overwhelm it, the amount of sugar was just accurate, and the white chocolate was barely noticeable taste-wise, but contributed to the great general texture. The biscuit base was also wonderful - the lemon zest and the strawberry puree really gave it a good twist. The only thing to improve is the ganache - next time I’ll definitely make it using white or dark chocolate.

Strawberry and white chocolate mousse cake / Mousse adapted from Martha Stewart & Self recipe for the base
For a(half-sphere) mold with at least 1.6 liter capacity

Ingredients:
For the base:
130 gr petit-beurre biscuits
70 gr butter, melted
2 Tbsp strawberry puree (from the mousse)
the zest of half of a medium-sized lemon

For the mousse:
450 gr (1 pound) strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
230 gr (8 ounces) white chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar

For the ganache:
2/3 cup (160 ml) heavy cream
340 gr (12 ounces) white chocolate, finely chopped
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
whole and halved strawberries, for garnish

Prepare the mousse:
1. Puree halved strawberries in a food processor. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice; set aside.
2. Melt chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth; set aside.
3. Put 1/4 cup cool water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over top; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir 1/4 cup cream and the confectioners’ sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add gelatin mixture, and stir until gelatin has dissolved. Pour into bowl with the melted chocolate, and stir until smooth. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the strawberry puree for the base, and whisk the rest of it into the bowl with the chocolate.
4. Put remaining 1 3/4 cups cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Whisk one-third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining whipped cream using a large rubber spatula. Move into the half-sphere mold and refrigerate 1 hour.

Meanwhile prepare the base:
1. Measure the diameter of the mold that contains the mousse. Measure it at the mousse’s level (and not at the top of the mold), in order to know which diameter should the base have. With the mold I used, the diameter was 20.5 cm. I used an adjustable cake ring, adjusted to 20.5 cm, for forming the base’s shape, it’s also possible to use a regular round pan of the matching size.
2. Smash the biscuits to crumbs using a food processor.
3. Transfer the crumbs to a separate bowl or continue working in the food processor’s bowl (to save the wash of one more dish ), and add the melted butter, lemon zest and the 2 Tbsps of strawberry puree. Mix all the ingredients well together.
4. Lay the base mixture out on the bottom of the chosen pan (if you chose to use a ring, its bottom should be sealed with aluminium foil), tighten it using a spatula or the bottom of a clean glass, and put in the freezer until the mousse comes out of the fridge.
5. After the 1 hour has passed, take the mousse out of the fridge and the base out of the freezer, and place the base on top of the mousse. Press the base gently, to attach it to the mousse. Put the mousse in the freezer.

One hour and a half before serving it, prepare the ganache:
1. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour hot cream over the chocolate in a medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Stir in salt and lemon juice. Let stand until ganache is pourable and has cooled slightly.
2. Take the half-sphere mold out of the freezer, put the bottom of it in a bowl with boiling water (the water must not touch the mousse at all) for 2-3 seconds only, then turn the mold upside down and support the base of the mousse with your hand. Give the base a little push, and the whole cake will easily pop out of the mold into your hand. Place a rack on top of a big baking pan, and place the cake on the rack.
3. Pour ganache over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Refrigerate assembled cake 1 hour before serving. Using 2 large spatulas, transfer cake to a serving platter. Garnish with strawberries.