Chocolate Pastry

Ingredients

• 2 cups (250 g) flour
• 4 ½ oz (125 g) white chocolate
• ½ cup (125 g) butter
• ½ cup (50 g) powdered sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 pinch salt

Direction

Preparation of ingredient

• Separate the egg yolks from the whites
• Soften the butter, which should be soft but not runny
• Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie
• Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C)
• Butter a deep cake pan

Preparation

• Put the eggs yolks and sugar into a mixing bowl, and beat until the mixture becomes frothy and light in color
• Stir in the flour, and then the butter
• Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, adding a pinch of salt
• Fold them in carefully
• Pour into the cake pan and put into the oven
• Bake for 50 minutes, covering the cake halfway through cooking if the top is getting too brown.
• Turn out onto a cooling rack and let it cool down

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Chocolate Mousse Recipe

INGREDIENTS

200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate
50 g (1.8 oz) powder sugar
125 g (4.4 oz) butter
5 eggs
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of milk

DIRECTION

Simmer the chocolate to a melt with a teaspon of milk. Add the sugar. Add the butter. Add the egg yokes into the mixture. Do not forget the salt.

Beat the egg whites until very stiff.

Progressively pour them into the chocolate as you stir from the bottom to the surface of the bowl.

Leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Shortbread pastry

Ingredients :

Shortbread pastry for a tart for 6 to 8 persons :

250 grams (1/2 lb) wheat flour
125 grams (1/4 lb) caster sugar
1 small bag of vanilla flavoured caster sugar
125 grams (1/4 lb) soft butter (unguent texture)
1 egg
1 pinch of table salt

Direction :

1/Put both sugars, salt and the egg (yolk + white) into a salad bowl and blend during 30 seconds.
2/ Add the flour at once and quickly blend, then pass small parts of the pastry between your fingers to make the pastry be sandy and keep aside each part of the sandy pastry until you have used all of it. Put the whole onto the working plan in round with a hole in the middle (we call it a "fountain" in French cooking language).
3/Put the soft butter in the hole of the pastry and incorporate it into the pastry with your hand to knead it ; make a compact ball of the pastry and keep it into a bowl covered with a damp cloth in the fridge for 1 hour and a half approximately.

The pastry is now ready to be used

Rhubarb Parfait

INGREDIENTS

• 1 quart (1 kg) of frozen rhubarb

• 1/2 cup (120 g) sugar

For the topping mixture:

• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar

• 1 cup (100 g) all-purpose flour

• generous stick (140 g) butter

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla

• pinch of salt

For the cream filling:

• 1 cup (200g) 10x confectioners’ sugar

• 1 cup (240 g) mascapone, at room temperature

• 1 ⅓ cup (230 ml) plain yogurt

• 1 ⅓ cup (230 ml) whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

Cook and simmer the frozen rhubarb with the sugar until the rhubarb is soft and has reduced a little.

For the topping, mix the sugar with the flour and salt. Work in the butter and vanilla with your hands, to make a dough. Crumble the mixture into small pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425°F (220°C) until golden and crispy.

For the cream filling, mix the confectioners’ sugar into the mascapone, and then fold in the yogurt. Whip the whipping cream to a stiff peak and fold into the mascarpone mixture. In a pretty glass bowl, place a layer of rhubarb, then the cream, and then the crumble on top. Repeat one more time and finish the top with the remaining crumble. Sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

Apple or Pear Fruit Tarts

Ingredients

1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Shells
6 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ground ginger
3 apples or pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
2/3 cup caramel topping, warmed (optional)
Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Thaw pastry shells at room temperature 30 min. Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

ROLL pastry shells into 5" circles on lightly floured surface. Place on 2 baking sheets. Divide apple slices among pastry circles, overlapping slices. Sprinkle each with 1 tbsp. sugar mixture.

BAKE 25 min. or until pastry is golden and apples are tender. Drizzle caramel sauce over tarts. Serve with ice cream.

Praline-Pumpkin Mousse

Ingredients

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)
6 sugar ice cream cones
Vegetable cooking spray
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 pkg. (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup prepared caramel sauce, warmed
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Directions

Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature for 40 minutes or until it's easy to handle. Heat the oven to 400ºF.

Wrap each cone tightly in aluminum foil, covering completely and tucking any excess foil into the cone cavity. Spray the foil cones with the cooking spray.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Cut the pastry sheet along the fold marks to form 3 rectangles. Cut each rectangle lengthwise into 4 strips, making 12 strips in all.

Press the ends of 2 pastry strips together. Starting at the pointed end, wind the pastry strip around 1 cone, slightly overlapping edges of pastry (strip will not reach the bottom of the cone). Spray the pastry cone with the cooking spray and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar. Place the pastry cone seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pastry strips, cones and sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the oven. Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Carefully remove the cones from the baked pastry.

Beat the milk, pudding mix, pumpkin and cinnamon in a medium bowl with a whisk until the mixture is thickened.

Beat the cream in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture. Spoon or pipe the mixture into the pastry cones.

Stir the caramel sauce and pecans in a small bowl. Place the pastries onto serving plates and drizzle with the caramel mixture.