Chocolate semifreddo (or what to do for a holiday dessert when your oven is on the fritz)

Chocolate semifreddo

Wouldn’t you know that a mere 10 days before Christmas my oven decided to take a vacation. Fortunately I had a good deal of holiday baking already completed, plus we have a couple of neighbors who were more than game to let me use their ovens for the few tarts and pastries that still needed attention.

While this type of occurrence can certainly frustrate, I saw it as the chance to think about how I might function without said oven for a short time. It’s not unlike many things we’ve had to adjust to in the past couple of years as we’ve done our best to navigate through the current state of the world.

My mind starting listing off the goodies that can easily be created without an oven - semifreddo, ice cream, fruit fools, chocolate/nut/dried fruit barks, brittles, chocolate truffles, lemon curd/cream with berries, whipped ganache with caramel and chocolate crunchies, crepes with sautéed fruit, crepe cake . . . . You get the idea.

Perhaps I should be thinking of this as the “ghost of Christmas past” since we’ve already slid into January, but I think it’s still fun to tell you about this deelish semifreddo. Remember - Valentine’s day isn’t far away.

For our small family gathering for Christmas Eve (also a celebration of what would have been my father’s 100th birthday), I chose a chocolate semifreddo, a classic Italian “half-frozen” dessert. While many semifreddo recipes are based on the incorporation of whipped cream or meringue into a sabayon type of mixture (egg yolk, sugar, liqueur or wine or citrus juice), this one is a combination of a Swiss meringue and whipped dark chocolate ganache placed in a mold of choice, frozen and essentially ready to serve whenever the time is right. A perfect make ahead dish.

I chose the simple loaf pan approach in which you lightly grease the pan then line it with plastic wrap that overhangs the sides and gives you enough to cover the semifreddo once it’s in the pan. For individual portions, it’s fun to use small ramekins ready to serve right out of the freezer. Just garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and some crunchies or fresh berries. Easy peasy. You can also scoop it like ice cream to top a crisp or crumble (if your oven is working - ha!).

For the ganache portion, place 170 g / 6 ounces dark chocolate (chopped or discs if that’s what you have) in a medium heat-proof bowl. Bring 360 ml / 1.5 cups heavy cream to a boil in a saucepan on the stovetop or in a glass Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave (my preference). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, let sit a minute then gently stir to blend. Add in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge a good hour or two.

NOTE: You’ll be whipping the ganache then blending the cooled Swiss meringue into it so think about your timing. I used my trusty Kitchenaid hand mixer for the chilled ganache while the Swiss meringue was in progress.

For the Swiss meringue, fill a medium saucepan half full with water and bring to a simmer. In a separate bowl that will nest nicely in the saucepan, whisk together 3 large egg whites (this process goes faster if they’re already at room temp) and 133 g / 2/3 cup granulated sugar then place it over the simmering water. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160ºF. Transfer the meringue into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until cooled and thickened with shiny, stiff peaks (I usually give it a good 10 minutes).

Blend the meringue into the ganache in three additions, folding to incorporate. It’s OK if there are a few meringue streaks left.

Part way through the folding

Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, cover and freeze. Give it a minimum of 6 hours but overnight or up to several days is even better.

When ready to serve, I find it easiest to overturn it gently onto a plate and peel off the plastic. For garnish I have cocoa nib brittle, pistachio nougatine, chocolate cookie crumbs, and, for the pièce de resistance, freezer stash strawberry macarons filled with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream, a center of chocolate ganache and a dusting of strawberry powder on top. Whoa!

Stripes of brittle and nougatine across the surface, a bottom collar of chocolate cookie crumbs and a crowning flourish of strawberry macs.

I finished off the decor earlier in the afternoon on Christmas Eve so that I could have my garnishing completed and the whole thing ready to slice. Then I held it in the freezer until dessert time. Yes!

For serving I spooned out a small pool of this past summer’s roasted Michigan strawberry purée from my freezer stash, a slice of semifreddo, dollop of whipped cream, chocolate cookie crumbs and a strawberry macaron.

You can’t go wrong with marrying tastes and textures like these. Chocolate-y, creamy, crunchy, chewy and fruity. Yum yum yes.

The good news is, as of January 4th, the oven has been repaired and is functioning in good form. Of course I had to bake some croissants don’t ya know.

Keep on keeping on everyone. Make 2022 your best year yet.

Our first “BIG” winter storm of the season

Favorite garnishes part 3: easy brittles (and Happy New Year!)

Moelleux chocolat/mascarpone cream/sesame brittle

I freely and proudly admit that I’m a dough loving gal in the pastry kitchen. Give me tart dough, puff pastry, croissant and Danish dough, yeast breads (lean and enriched) and shortbread and I’m a happy camper.

Other than the occasional chocolate nut bark or cluster, soft caramel or chocolate truffle, candy making isn’t something I do often. But, particularly when it comes to a tasty garnish, there’s nothing like a snappy brittle to brighten up one’s day. Not only great for a small snack when you’re craving a hint of sweet crunch, they’re a wonderful way to dress up small cakes, custards, ice cream, tarts . . . . . . . . I think you know where I’m going with this.

Here I’ll focus on what has become my go-to-perfect-for-garnsh brittle recipe, compliments of Yotam Ottolenghi”s book “Sweet”. So straight forward with nary any muss nor fuss with candy thermometers or sugar cooking stages. Let’s keep it easy!.

Ottolenghi’s sesame brittle

Here’s a previous post with the recipe and one of the ways I’ve used it. And here’s the recipe again.

1. Toast 125 g sesame seeds (mix of 1/3 black and 2/3 white or all white like I did) either in the oven at 325ºF for about 10 minutes until nicely brown, stirring occasionally, or in a skillet on medium-low on the stove top. Do what you're most comfortable with. Set aside. Increase the oven temp to 350ºF.

2. Have two half sheet pans and four pieces of parchment (or two parchment and two silicone mats) at the ready.

3. In a medium saucepan put 100 g granulated sugar, 100 g light corn syrup, 50 g unsalted butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stirring constantly on high heat, blend the mixture and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the toasted sesame seeds.

4. Put two pieces of parchment (or Silpat!) on a heat proof surface (I used two overturned half sheet pans) and pour half of the sesame mixture on each. Cover with the other parchment pieces and roll with a rolling pin until about 1/8 inch thick.

5. Slide the paper with the sesame caramel onto half sheet pans and remove the top layer of parchment. Peel it back gently, using an oiled silicone spatula to push down any caramel that might stick. Bake for about 20 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from oven, cool and break into shards.

Oiled spatula to hold the brittle down while removing the parchment

Bubbling away in the oven

Out of the oven

Pumpkin custard tart with sesame brittle from a Thanksgiving past

I also made a HALF recipe of a cocoa/cacao nib version by subbing cacao nibs (60 g in this case) for the sesame seeds and adding 10 g sifted Dutch process cocoa powder into the sugar/butter mixture along with the nibs. It’s another great addition to teacakes and ice cream as well as a garnish or crunchy layer for desserts, particularly when you need a bit of chocolate-ness.

Note: the cacao nibs I use are pretty chunky so I put them in a zip-top bag and pound them with the smooth side of a meat mallet to crush them up. It works!

Cacao nib version

These brittles come out thin and crispy without fear of any tooth-sticking pull. They store nicely in single layers between pieces of parchment or waxed paper in a well sealed container (ideally in a cool/non-humid environment) and can also be frozen for several weeks.

Get creative with your own version. I’ve done one with puffed rice. Finely chopped nuts of choice are always an option and crushed pumpkin seeds aren’t bad either.

Before I go, here’s a quick tart project I did to use up some leftover components in my fridge and freezer. I had enough dough for a few small tarts; some dark chocolate ganache (3 parts cream to 2 parts chocolate); a handful of petite, frozen ricotta custard rounds from an earlier project; some thawed roasted Michigan strawberry purée that I had used for our Christmas Eve dessert (more on that later); a little bit of white chocolate to make a loose ganache for whipping; plenty of cacao nib brittle.

I blind baked some chocolate tart shells with my favorite chocolate tart dough - one 140 mm “sharing” size and four 65 mm individual sizes. TIP: this is a good plan ahead step since you can freeze blind baked tart shells for days.

Two of the smaller tarts served as a quick dessert after the Christmas holiday, filled with ganache, topped with whipped cream and crushed nibs. So tasty.

For the remaining tarts I brushed some dark chocolate ganache on the bottoms . . . . . .

then sprinkled crushed cacao nib brittle over the chocolate and popped in the frozen ricotta rounds (they thaw pretty fast but hold their shape).

I spooned the ganache around as best I could. It’s a tad messy but will be covered up so no one’s the wiser. You could pipe it in too but I wasn’t in the mood.

I added a generous soup spoon full of strawberry purée to the chilled white chocolate ganache (used 120g heavy cream to 40 g white chocolate) and whipped it up to soft peaks. For the sharing size tart I piped the cream around and over the ricotta discs then topped with fresh raspberries and more crushed nib brittle.

Et voilà - our New Year’s Eve dessert!

Triple chocolate tart with berry cream

Psst . . . . the smaller tarts were used as taste tests. I was able to spread the softened ricotta flush into the tartelettes then top with a bit of berry cream and nib brittle for a midday snack that Steve and I so enjoyed. Yum - the chocolate crust and ganache with the smooth ricotta custard, hint of berry cream and crunchy nibs is just divine.

Happy New Year everyone and may 2022 bring us new adventures and peaceful, happy days!

I’ll leave you with just a hint of the lovely holiday displays at nearby Meijer Gardens

Semifreddo and a one dish composed dessert

On the prowl once again for a weekend supper dessert idea I decided to make a semifreddo to pair with something warm and fruity.

cherry berry pistacho crumble with vanilla almond semifreddo

Semifreddo is Italian for "half-cold" and is a molded, creamy dessert that's in the "still frozen" category, meaning it isn't churned like ice creams and sorbets before freezing.  There are numerous flavor possibilities with coffee, chocolate, citrus or a fruit purée of one's choosing among the many.

Its base is similar to an Italian zabaglione or French sabayon in which egg yolks, sugar and a liquid like Marsala (the classic in Italy), Champagne, Prosecco, red or white wine, citrus (or other fruit) juice or a liqueur are whisked over a bain marie until lightened, foamy and thickened.

In this case I whisked 80 ml (1/3 cup) vanilla simple syrup (essentially combining my sugar and liquid before hand) with 3 egg yolks until thickened and lighter.

at the start of cooking

thicker and more pale

A zabaglione or sabayon in its pristine form is often served warm just after preparation, perhaps with fresh fruit, but in this case I cooled it over an ice bath in preparation for the next step.

When you take a zabaglione/sabayon to the next level and fold either whipped cream or a meringue into the chilled base, it becomes a semifreddo (or a French parfait - confused yet?).
  

whip cream to nice soft peaks

all blended together

The mixture can be placed in one large plastic-wrap-lined mold such as a simple loaf pan or a fluted bowl, or can be portioned into small silicone molds, available in an appealing assortment of shapes and sizes.

cover with the plastic wrap and pop into the freezer

Freeze for a number of hours until firm.  Well wrapped it can sit in the freezer for several days, allowing at least that portion of the dessert to be made ahead (it's all about the planning, folks!).

A quick side note:  there are many terms in the cream/custard lexicon, and the word mousse is one that I've always found it a bit confusing.  The word literally means "froth" or "foam" and refers to a dish in which an aerator like whipped cream or meringue is folded into a base.  That base can be a fruit purée, a crème anglaise or crème pâtissiére, pudding or custard, curd, sabayon, or pâte à bombe (yet another French base made with just yolks and sugar).  However a mousse isn't necessarily frozen, so I guess that's one distinction from a semifreddo.

Just had to throw that in there!

As I was mentally concocting my composed dessert I knew I wanted some crunch.  The words crisp and crumble always speak to me of American desserts, yet, truth be told, the French are all over the crumble thing.  They're sold in many pâtisseries, and one can find books devoted solely to the subject of the crumble in librairies like Gibert Jeune et Librairie Gourmande in Paris.

I turned to my recipe binder from Pascal Pinaud's shop on rue Monge and resurrected a crumble recipe which calls for both almond and hazelnut flours (I was on a nut roll with this dessert).

A basic crumble is equal weights sugar, butter and flour.  You can add the same weight of a nut flour or even just chopped nuts.  The idea is to mix the dry ingredients, then sand in cold diced butter to create coarse crumbs.  For this batch I used 120 gm each sugar, butter and flour, plus a total of 120 gm of almond and hazelnut flours (I used 30 gm almond and 90 gm hazel - you can decide your own ratio).

les ingredients

bake it now or freeze it for later

Now you have a choice.  Your crumble can be baked ahead and used later as a crisp, buttery topping for whatever - a tart, a custard, some ice cream or fruit, or even your morning oatmeal.  Keeping the crumble separate and adding it as a topping just before serving keeps it from getting soggy.

Or you can bag up the raw mixture, freeze it and have it at the ready to simply throw on top of fruit, cake batter or anything else you can think of and bake it - it melts in a bit yet still provides a crispy baked topping to your dessert.

When I bake my crumble ahead, I do it at 350º for about 20 minutes, stirring it up every 5 minutes or so until lightly browned and set.

use a bench scraper to toss and separate the crumbs

all baked up

Mmmmm!

There is another option for a crumble which allows you to create coarser crumbs or even larger chunks to use as a garnish on a larger entremet type of dessert.  This one involves blending softened butter with sugar, then blending in the all purpose and nut flours, pretty much like a cookie dough.  Then shape the dough into a 1/2" (or so) thick square or round, cover and chill.  Then you can cut it or break it up into chunks and bake it as described above.  And they're not a bad pop-in-your-mouth snack either!

Now onto the fruit part.  So it's still winter, after all, but I was going for cherries and berries for this dessert.  That's the beauty of IQF (individually quick frozen) fruit that's available in the grocery stores all year round.

I have these great little square ramekins that I bought at Crate and Barrel some years back.  They hold just the right amount for a not too generous dessert portion.  To fill six of them I used 340 gm (12 oz) frozen pitted sweet cherries and about a cup and a half of mixed blueberries and raspberries.  I tossed them in a mixture of 85 gm (generous 1/3 cup) sugar, 10 gm (~ 1TBSP) cornstarch, the zest of half a lemon, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon coriander.  Topped with some pistachio crumble that I had in my freezer (told you I was on a nut kick), they're ready for the oven.

Bake at 325º for about 40-45 minutes until the crumble is lightly browned and the fruit is bubbly.

When it came time for dessert, I scooped some semifreddo onto the still warm fruit, sprinkled some hazelnut-almond crumble on top and drizzled a bit of caramel over it all.

Delicious!

So use your imagination and create your own composed dessert.  Having the contrast in textures (creamy, fruity, crunchy) and temperatures (warm and cool) is oh so wonderful.  And remember -  it doesn't have to be fussy, difficult or fancy - just tasty!