no bake Archives - Page 10 of 10

Isn’t it ironical that I am posting about coffee when my morning coffee has just been replaced by a cup of masala chai (spiced tea)! Life has been wonderful. Despite travelling 5000 miles over, I am anything but jet lagged and loving every bit of my break. So have I been missing coffee? Well, not really. I did make sure I had loads of it in my dessert, before I left.

This is the first time I am contributing to the Chocolate Party hosted by Roxana’s Home Baking and I couldn’t be more excited. Chocolate is one word that is probably scribbled all over my blog and has the most number of recipes dedicated to it. When I learnt the secret ingredient for August was coffee, I didn’t want to miss it though I knew it would be a little early on a vacation to open my laptop and think ‘blog’. So I prepared my dessert and photographed it well ahead in time.

I love this pairing! Needless to say it’s a decadent, rich mousse, heady with the triple dose of coffee. If you love coffee, this is the dessert for you. To make it totally coffee-ish I glazed the hazelnuts (along with a few cashew nuts) with a bitter-sweet coating of coffee and baked them to crispness. One spoonful of this and it takes all your willpower to stop. The tuile makes the dessert look stunning though you can leave it out if you think it’s a hassle. I added it because I wanted to give equal weightage to both the ingredients.

Mocha Mousse with Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts and Cocoa Tuile
Serves 4

Mocha Mousse

½ Cup heavy cream for the custard (Crème Anglaise)
1 tsp instant coffee powder
4 Egg Yolks
¼ Cup Sugar(or to taste)
3/4 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream for whipping

1 Tablespoon Coffee Liquor, optional (I used Kahlua)

Heat the ½ cup cream over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the instant coffee powder and stir to dissolve. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. When the cream reaches boiling point take it off the heat, add 2 tsp of the coffee cream mixture into the egg mixture and whisk. Gradually pour the remaining cream over the egg mixture whisking constantly till combined. (This is done gradually so as to ensure that the eggs don’t scramble) Return the egg-cream mixture to the pan.

Heat the mixture under a medium-low flame, whisking constantly till the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This is called a Creme anglaise/custard.

Place the dark chocolate in a bowl. Remove the custard from heat and pass it through a sieve into the bowl of chocolate. Let the mixture remain undisturbed for a while. Stir to smoothen out the chocolate. Cool to room temperature. While the custard is cooling, whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream to stiff peaks. Add the coffee liquor if using and stir slowly to combine. Store in the refrigerator till needed.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled down completely add it to the whipped cream little at a time & fold in till no white streaks appear. Pour into serving glasses. Refrigerate till set, about 4 hours or preferably overnight.

Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts

1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup
1 cup hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
Add all the ingredients except the hazelnuts to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly till the mixture has blended completely and looks dark brown. Remove from heat and add in the nuts and mix till evenly coated. Spread on the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once in between. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Break into pieces and store till needed.

Cocoa Tuile

20 g all-purpose flour
20 g butter, room temperature
20 ml water
20 g cocoa powder
70 g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl till a smooth paste forms. Spread evenly in a thin layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about a minute. Break into desired shapes and let harden for about 2 mins.

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If you have been with me for a while now, you would know how much I like dressing up my desserts. Layers, swirls, drizzles, sprinkles…I can go on adding elements as long as they balance each other out. It’s like my favourite playtime fun as a little girl…dressing up my dolls in pink,with lace and frills, matching hairclips and shoes and so. I come up with ideas and love watching it all come together. Some turn out as I visualised, some don’t but there’s always a learning somewhere.

Till about a couple of years ago my desserts would never go below 4 layers. I had the time and the patience. It’s a different situation now with two little heads constantly peeping into the refrigerator and wanting to know when they can eat. The refrigerator door is opened and re-opened at frequent intervals. The reason.. ‘ I’m checking if it has set’. I am loving the latest additions to the vocabulary. However, the more important reason is that I have ‘borrowed’ Oreo cookies for my dessert. So you understand, everybody has an equal claim to it.

This is a big dessert but not really heavy. The cheesecake is on the richer side on account of the cream cheese so I decided to go with a lighter mousse. I have not used my usual egg-cream mousse recipe here, though personally I prefer that one. You can easily leave out the top layer and serve it with some fresh strawberries instead. Oreos are great even when they are crushed and they add a lovely texture to the cheesecake. The different layers can be made simultaneously and refrigerated to be assembled later or they can be made as and when the layer below is setting.

No Bake Oreo Cheesecake Strawberry Mousse Duo
Yields 4

For the Oreo crust
150 g Oreo biscuits, divided (half to be used for the crust and half for the cheesecake)
40 g butter, melted

For the cheesecake
200 g cream cheese, room temperature
2 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 tsp powdered gelatine
1 tbsp warm water

For the strawberry mousse
1 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped
3 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp powdered gelatine
1 tbsp warm water
1 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
2 drops pink food colouring

Process biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Remove half the mixture and keep aside. To the remaining half, add the melted butter and process to combine. Place 3 ring moulds on a baking tray. Divide the mixture between the ring moulds and press against the base and edge to form the crust. Refrigerate for 30 mins or until firm

Meanwhile, make the Oreo cheesecake. Soak the gelatine in warm water and microwave for 10 seconds for it to dissolve completely. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in the cream and the biscuit crumbs. Add the gelatine and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into the ring moulds on top of the crust till half filled. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set. Reserve (refrigerate) the rest for top layer to pipe onto the strawberry mousse.

For the strawberry mousse, process strawberries and sugar to a smooth pulp. Strain and keep aside. Dissolve gelatine in warm water and microwave fo 10 seconds to dissolve completely. Cool and add to strawberry pulp. Fold the strawberry pulp slowly into the whipped cream. Add 2 drops of food coloring and mix well till colour is uniform. Pour over the chilled Oreo cheesecake. Refrigerate till set, about 3-4 hours.

To serve: Release the dessert by gently lifting the ring moulds and applying gentle pressure from below. Fill up a piping bag with the reserved Oreo cheesecake. Pipe onto the strawberry mousse and decorate with sprinkles. Refrigerate till set.

Note: If you do not have ring moulds or mousse rings at home, you can layer the dessert in serving glasses.