How to Whip Up Chocolate Mousse and Other Delights

Chocolate Cream Mousse

Source: Ciro Boro

Fast and Easy

When you are in a hurry and need a dessert that looks as spectacular as it tastes, try chocolate mousse or some of the variations on theme.

Some people make it with just chocolate and whipped cream and while that may taste nice, it just doesn't have that special feel in the mouth. Good chocolate mousse should be a sensuous experience and eggs seem to be the magic ingredient that takes it to the next level.

If you make the full recipe of chocolate filling for Grandma's Chocolate Cream Cake, then you will have enough left over for a quick and delicious chocolate mousse dessert. This is notreal chocolate mousse but it tastes very nice and is a good way to use up leftovers.

Just whip it up well after it has chilled thoroughly and then fold in unsweetened or very lightly sweetened whipped cream, the amount will vary depending on how much you have left over.

I wouldn't sweeten it at all since the chocolate cream is already very sweet. Use at least half the amount of cream as you have filling, whip, and combine until no streaks remain but be gentle! Spoon into pretty sherbet dishes, cover, and chill 30 minutes.

For a very pretty touch, look for old champagne glasses (not the flutes) in second hand shops. Mix and match.

This is all you need

• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/4 cups of whipping cream
• 4 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped (shave a bit and reserve for garnish)

Chocolate Mousse: The Real Deal

You can't go wrong. This is a simple but fantastic recipe for chocolate mousse. Beat an egg white and slowly add 1/4 cup of fine sugar, not icing or powdered sugar, until stiff peaks form and set aside. Next, we need to heat half the cream until it just boils and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is all melted, then set it in a bowl of cold water, add the second half of the cream and beat it until it's nice and fluffy. Fold in the egg white mixture and combine until no streaks remain. Chill. Top with some chocolate shavings and serve.

Hint: Make sure your bowl and beaters contain absolutely no residue of fats like butter or oil from any previous baking or your egg whites will not whip properly. If in any doubt at all, clean all your utensils and bowl thoroughly before you begin. Chefs swear by copper bowls for whipping egg whites to maximum volume.

A note about egg whites:

Many people are concerned about salmonella when using uncooked eggs in cooking and baking. If you are concerned, you can use pasteurized egg whites which are available in most supermarkets.

According to IncredibleEgg.org, the chances of you eating an egg that contains salmonella are extremely rare and you may come across one every 84 years or so. Don't use cracked eggs. An old test for egg freshness worked very well for me the other day. I was baking a cake and needed the eggs at room temperature so dropped them into a glass of water. One floated to the top and I remembered that this was an old way of checking freshness. Apparently, if an egg floats, don't use it. Fresh eggs will always sink quickly. Perhaps this is where they got the idea to test witches in the old days. If they floated, they were guilty like a bad egg. Unfortunately, it didn't pay to be innocent either if you sank like a stone!

Anyway, on close inspection of the floating egg, I found a tiny hairline crack so tossed it out. I would never have seen it had I not popped it into the water first! If you are going to use fresh egg whites, test the eggs and toss anything that floats. Buy local and free range.

Grandma's Original Prune Whip Recipe

• 1-1/2 cups of stewed prunes
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 egg whites
• whipping cream for garnish

Stew prunes first, then cut fine 1-1/2 cups (better put through colander). Mix in 1/4 cup white sugar. Whites of 2 eggs. Beat stiff then beat all together. Serve with whipped cream n sherbet glasses. This serves 5 people.

Prune Whip

In Victorian and Edwardian times, prune whip was a very popular dessert and considered highly nutritious. Grandma made a very good one that even I liked and I didn't care for prunes at all.

Stew the prunes first put them in a food processor to purée. Measure 1-1/2 cups and beat until light. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and gradually add 1/4 cup white sugar. Beat until glossy and stiff peaks form. Carefully fold into prune purée, put in pretty glasses and refrigerate.

Serve with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream on top.

Note: You can add a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice to the prunes as you purée them if you prefer.

Try it! You just might like it.

Beautiful Sherbet Glass Replicas from the Past

	Vaseline Glass Dixie Bottling Company Sherbet Fruit Cup Advertising Premium
	LRS 6" SHERBET 2007-1 (CUT 2007)
	LRS SHERBET, 5 1/2" LUXURY

Shop flea markets and second hand shops for old sherbet glasses or wide champagne glasses. It's completely acceptable to mix and match patterns so buy what you love. Your desserts will look as good as they taste.

How to Make Steamed Carrot Pudding and Maple Cream

Back at the turn of the 20th century, most homes had a stove that was on all day during the winter. It warmed the room, kept water hot for coffee or tea, dried mittens that were hung over it, and kept a pot of water on a perfect simmer for steamed pudding.

Steamed pudding is one of the simplest dishes to make and has been popular in the British Isles for many years. All you need are some simple ingredients. At Christmas, plum pudding or figgy pudding is popular but it is very dense with fruit and nuts and tastes best aged for several weeks. My grandmother made puddings all the time. This recipe is in the front of her notebook. Full instructions for making any kind of steamed pudding are below under How to put it all together.

Source: jem on flickr

The Pudding

Bathed in syrup or served with hard sauce, carrot pudding is just as festive as plum pudding at a fraction of the cost. This recipe is from Aunt Julia.

Mix:

• 1/2 pound of flour
• 1/2 pound of suet (there is no substitute)
• 3/4 pounds grated carrot
• 1/4 pound raisins
• 1/4 pound currants
• 1/4 pound sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 pint milk
• nutmeg

Put in a mould and steam.

Note: The recipe ends right there and assumes you know how to make a steamed pudding and how long to cook it. Unless you learned this at your mother's knee, you may want to find out how to put it all together. It is explained below.

Brown Sugar Syrup

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla
• a good sprinkle of nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients and cook until thickened to syrupy consistency.

Maple Cream

2 cups of yellow sugar dissolved in milk. Boil until it hardens in cold water. Then stir in butter the size of an egg, flavour, and whip until it begins to set. Serve as a hard sauce with warm pudding or pour on buttered plates.

Remember, this is whipped with a wooden spoon and a strong arm!

Explanation:

How much milk? About half a pint or so. You can use half and half for nice results.

How long to boil it? Actually, bring to a boil and cook slowly on low heat for about 20 or 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reaches what is called the 'soft-ball' stage. Sugar burns easily so do not use high heat. Test by letting a drop fall into a saucer of very cold water. It should form a ball that yields to the touch. Be careful! It's hot!

It's also simple, inexpensive and way too good!

How to put it all together

Most old recipes are measured by weight, so have a kitchen scale handy.

Suet is raw beef fat. There is no proper substitute for it but if you are vegetarian, you can try looking up a way to make a veggie version. It is not the same and will not work the same way. You've been warned.

The mould can be anything from a sturdy heat-proof bowl to a coffee can. A bundt pan or angel cake pan works well because the pudding cooks better with that centre piece. Butter it very well and don't skimp or your pudding will stick! Pour pudding mixture into the container and cover securely with a lid or with a double ply of buttered aluminum foil tightly secured by wrapping string around it and tying well. You do NOT want moisture getting inside your puddiing! Don't overfill the mould. Make a pleat in the foil to give it room to expand a bit.

Get a big stock pot and place a tea towel in the bottom. Put a steamer basket on top of the towel. You want about 2 inches clear on all sides of your pudding container. Fill with water to come up no more than 2/3 of the way up the pudding mould. Bring to a gentle simmer, carefully lower the mould into the water and cover the stock pot. Steam for about 3 hours.

Unmould and let cool a bit. Serve warm with sauce. Or you can wrap well in foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

   

How to Steam a Christmas Pudding

Photo by Matt Riggott on Wikipedia

Let's be brutally honest here. Christmas pudding is not something we would ever willingly order in a restaurant. It sounds nice, looks rather spectacular when flambéed but often tastes like soggy, fatty fruitcake. I'm not a fan of fruitcake or Christmas pudding even when beautifully done but I actually like the simple pudding called My Own Christmas Pudding. It is from my grandmother's notebook and dates back to the early years of the 20th century. If you are not fond of citron and peel, you will be happy to know that there isn't any in it.Nellie's Plum Pudding has no plums in it. It does, however, have a bit of peel and is a larger pudding with a slightly richer taste.

Puddings should be made 4 to 5 weeks before Christmas so they can age. Be sure that everyone in the family has a turn stirring the mixture and makes a wish as they stir. When I was a child, a silver coin was sometimes added to the pudding but I don't know that I'd do that today. Choking on coins would not be very festive and I'm not sure what they are made of anymore, certainly not silver.

Once the puddings are cool, you can wrap them in cheesecloth soaked in brandy (optional) and then in plastic or foil. Keep them in a cool place and if using brandy, refresh the cheesecloth with it every few days.

Herb and Nell Watson Christmas 1898: Grandma's brother and sister-in-law

Original Pudding in the Notebook

• 1 cup chopped raisins
• 1 cup currants
• 1 cup chopped suet

Fill cup with yellow sugar. Pour on enough boiling water to make into thick syrup. Then fill cup with molasses. Pour into bowl and add 3/4 cup buttermilk and a small teaspoon baking soda. Flavour with nutmeg. Stir in sufficient flour. Do not make too stiff. Steam 1-1/2 hours. Serve with sweet sauce or golden syrup.

Nellie's Plum Pudding

Nell Watson joined the family when she married Grandma's brother, Herb. She brought family traditions from her mother's kitchen and shared them with her new sisters-in-law. This is her Christmas plum pudding.

• 3 cups raisins
• 3 cups currants
• 3 cups flour
• 3 cups suet
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 5 teaspoons peel
• 1 cup sweet milk
• small teaspoon baking soda
• spice to taste

Steam for 3 hours.

Explanation:

Peel was usually a mix of orange and lemon. Sweet milk is just regular milk, not buttermilk or sour milk. It is not sweetened!

There is no substitute for suet. Really. There isn't. It needs to be suet no matter what the claim otherwise.

Click here for full instructions on how to steam a pudding. CMD click (Mac), ALT click (Win).

My Own Christmas Pudding

This recipe is one that has been passed down through the women in my family for several generations and the name of it hasn't changed in all that time. It was made in Scotland in Roxburghshire and in Fife, and then made its way to Canada in the early 1800s. It was a regular pudding and wasn't a Christmas dish particularly, although it was always part of Christmas dinner. It isn't very big so you may want to make more than one. Doubling the recipe results in a very different pudding so it's best to make it in multiples if you need more.

So this is from Mary Hardie Gray 1728, Mary Gray Rutherford 1773, Margaret Rutherford Douglas 1810, Caroline Barrie Douglas 1842, Zillah Watson Douglas 1879, my mother Grace Douglas Lucas 1916, and then to me (50s kid) and to my daughter Elizabeth 1989.

I enjoyed researching the dates because it means this little pudding has been part of our family for nearly 300 years and who knows - perhaps you and I are cousins and this is your family pudding, too!

Explanation:

The cup mentioned was not a measuring cup as we know it today, but one from the cupboard that was used to measure things using ratios. Flour was often added with no measurement given. It was just mixed in until it 'felt right' and for this recipe it will be about a cup or so. A small teaspoon means a level teaspoon. In these old recipes, a teaspoon meant rounded in a curve matching the bottom of the spoon.

All the ingredients are what would be found locally in 1700s Scotland and so there is no peel or other exotic additions. Nutmeg was considered an elegant spice. This is a smaller pudding than Nellie's and will use a lot less flour so add it slowly.

Sweet sauce at our house was just a plain vanilla custard sauce and it was delicious! Golden syrup is just yellow sugar melted with a little water and cooked slowly over low heat to a syrup stage.

It's easy, economical and fun!