Category: Valentine’s Day

Chocolate Mousse Hearts

Happy Valentine’s Day friends!  Love is in the air are we are celebrating with some Chocolate Mousse Hearts largely inspired by a recipe in the Autumn 1986 issue of the Vogue Entertaining Guide.  Before we continue though, I need to be totally honest with you.  The recipe requires several instances of piping using an icing bag and this is not one of my strong suits.   Hopefully, you will find my less than perfect hearts endearingly wonky rather than downright comical.  And as we all know…love means never having to say you’re sorry so let’s get to it!

Okay, deep breath, here we go…

Chocolate Moussse Hearts1

Now, these babies might not look perfect but, I gave one to The Fussiest Eater in the World earlier.

He took his first bite. “Wow”. 

Second bite “Oh my God!”

The overall vote was “Delicious”.

So, they might not be the prettiest things in the world.  But they are definitely a sweet treat!

Just a little shout out before I continue though, that beautiful plate my heart is on comes from Yael Gronner Ceramics on Etsy.I bought some of her wares late last year and have been dying to feature them!

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 2

Chocolate Mousse Hearts – The Breakdown

We start off with a meringue base – the first lot of piping.  And it really sets the tone for the rest of the dish.  If you can do this bit perfectly, the rest of the dish will be a doddle.  When you are doing the piping try to build up the outside of the hearts as much as possible.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 3

Then those little depressions in the middle of the hearts are filled with jam.  The recipe said berry jam but I used cherry.  I LOVE the combination of cherry and chocolate plus I don’t like how the seeds in strawberry and raspberry jam can get stuck in your teeth.

Those little hearts?  I had some of the meringue mixture left over and I thought they might be cute as garnishes or as taste testers.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 4

 

So, right about now, you might be thinking where’s that chocolate mousse I was promised?  Well, it’s coming right up.  Along with our second bit of piping:

I topped my mousse with some crumbled up Flake and a little gold lustre powder.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 5

And a cherry on the top!

Chocolate Mousse Hearts – The Recipe

So, I was halfway through making this when I came to the sentence that said the chocolate mousse needed to set overnight.  I needed to get them made and take my pictures on Sunday 13th to have any hope of being able to ost this today.  Normally I am a bit more organised but life has got in the way this month!

It’s also the reason I garnished with a flake and not chocolate leaves and curls.

So, I found this mousse recipe online that did not have to chill overnight and used that instead.  I chilled it for 2 hours then piped it onto my hearts.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day or nothing at all, these decadent chocolate hearts are a good addition to your dessert repertoire.  They are very sweet though so for future making I would make them a little smaller (The widest part of my hearts was probably about 10cm across).  Or keep them big and share with someone you love!

Have a great week!

Signature2

Broken Hearts on Horseback

Broken Hearts on Horseback?  What kind of a name is that I hear you ask.  Well, you’ve heard of Angels on Horseback and Devils on Horseback? Broken Hearts on Horseback are my contribution to the genre.  They were inspired. by the book Why We Broke Up written by Daniel Handler and illustrated by Maira Kalman  I read this book recently and absolutely loved it!

Broken Hearts on Horseback

Why We Broke Up – The Plot

Why we broke up is the story of Min and Ed and why they broke up.  Min is arty, no different, no weird, no offence as Ed would say.  Ed is co-captain of the basketball team.  High school being high school, these are two people whose paths should never have crossed but for the brief time they did, it was glorious!

Their story is recounted by Min and is set around a box of objects that had significance to their relationship – bottle-tops from the first bottles of beer they drank together, cinema tickets, a bought coat, a stolen sugar pourer.   Min is returning them all to Ed as she no longer wants to be reminded of their love.  (I remember doing something very similar after my own first love breakup.  Which, if you are contemplating this…don’t do it.  Those things that are so precious to you will only either be thrown in the bin or worse still, given to the new girlfriend!).

 

Why Should You Read It?

  • If you have ever been in love.
  • If you have ever had your heart broken.
  • If you have ever fallen for someone who was not of your social set.
  • If you are madly in love
  • If you are in the deepest darkest throes of a break up
  • if you have forgotten what love feels like

Then this is the book for you.

And if the love story reasons don’t convince you, then there is this – Min is a passionate film buff and is constantly referring to her favourite films. I also consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about movies and was surprised, after the third or fourth reference that I had never heard of any of the films, actors or directors she mentioned.  The reason?  They only exist in the universe of the book.  I had to Google them to find this out though.  I thought this was so clever.  It would have been easy to use real films but inventing so many?  Genius!

Broken Hearts on Horseback2

There are also two books (also which don’t exist in real life) that are referenced throughout the book.  Both of these made me think of the lovely Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers. I so wished both  Real Recipes from Tinseltown and When The Lights Go Down were real just so I could send them to  Jenny and brighten her days in lockdown!

Broken Hearts on Horseback – The Inspo

” I think I read, ” Al is saying now , “About an appetizer thing with chestnuts though.  You wrap them up in prosciutto I think, brush them with grappa, and roast them and put a little parsley on top.”

“Or maybe blue cheese”, I said.

“That’d be good.”

“Could we use chestnuts from a jar?”

“Sure.  Wrapping something in proscuitto cancels out from a jar.  Wrapping in proscuitto cancels out anything.”

Why We Broke Up – Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

Broken Hearts on Horseback3

Broken Hearts on Horseback – The Recipe

Print

Broken Hearts on Horseback

A delicious appetiser inspired by the book “Why We Broke Up” by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

  • Author: Taryn Nicole
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Category: Appetisers

Ingredients

Scale

I pack pre-cooked chestnuts (The pack I used had about 25 chestnuts inside).

4 slices of proscuitto

1/2 tbsp Calvados*

1 wedge of blue cheese

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Smoked Paprika (optional)

Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar (optional)

As many toothpicks / cocktail sticks as you have chestnuts

Instructions

Preheat your grill to 150C.

Cut or tear each slice of prosciutto into 6 pieces.

Wrap a prosciutto strip around each chestnut.

Place the wrapped chestnuts onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Brush with the calvados and place under the grill for around 10 minutes or until the proscuitto is crispy.

Meanwhile, cut as many small chunks of blue cheese as you have chestnuts and roll them in the chopped parsley.  Place a cocktail skewer through each chunk of cheese.

Once the chestnuts are cooked, add a chestnut to each of the blue cheese skewers.  The cheese may melt a little.  Sprinkle with a little smoked paprika if you wish.

Serve with a little dipping sauce of olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wish.

 

Notes

*The original recipe used Grappa.  I did not have Grappa so subbed in some Calvados I found in the liquor cupboard.  Brandy would also be a good substitute.  if you do not want to use alcohol, you could try an unsweetened apple or grape juice.

Broken Hearts on Horseback4

Happy Valentine’s Day friends, may your hearts never be broken and your plates full of cheesy meaty goodness on a stick!

Signature2

 

REPOST – Speedy Soufflé for Valentines Day

Hello friends, I am in the middle of cooking something new for you for Valentine’s Day, however, it is 4:00 pm and I just read the part of the recipe that says part of the recipe needs to set overnight.  As tomorrow is a working day, I am not sure if I will be able to finish cooking and write up a post in time, so like all good tv cooks, here is one I prepared earlier.  This post for Passionfruit Soufflé was originally published in 2014!  However, it somehow made its way back into my drafts folder.

Ready to take a trip back to 2014?

Lets do it!

I made my very first soufflé.  For you, for Valentine’s Day.

And it’s filled with passion – fruit.

Passionfruit Souffle 3Passionfruit Souffle 9

I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to make a soufflé.  I have some vague childhood memories of eating cheese soufflés and them not being very nice.  Then again, I ate nothing for two years except vegemite sandwiches so my judgement was possibly awry.  But those memories and the soufflé’s reputation for being notoriously temperamental might be the reasons I have stayed away.  After all, the soufflé come with more rules and regulations than the driving handbook:

  • Don’t beat the eggs too little
  • Don’t beat the eggs too much
  • Don’t fold the egg whites too roughly
  • Don’t open the door of the oven
  • Don’t make loud noises or sudden movements
  • Don’t look it directly in the eyes

Etc, etc.

What they don’t tell you is this.  You can have a decent soufflé cooked from scratch and on the table in less than 20 minutes. So let’s get started.

Butter and sugar coat your soufflé dish.  When you butter your dish, brush the butter from the middle of the dish to the rim and then up the sides of the dish.  This creates tiny channels that helps the soufflé to rise.   Seriously this works.

Passionfruit Souffle

When you are ready to start mix your egg yolk, half the sugar and the passionfruit juice in a bowl until light and creamy.

Then mix your egg white and sugar to soft peaks.

Passionfruit Souffle 5Then fold the yolk into the white.  Gently does it here.  A little streaky is fine.  Then pour into your prepared soufflé dish.

Passionfruit Souffle 6

Now, into a preheated oven for 12 minutes.  So we’re not tempted to open that door and ruin our “ahem” hard work, let’s talk about romance.  After all it is Valentine’s Day.

True Romance

The last few Valentine’s Days I have given you some horror stories.  Not so this year.  This year we are talking about two very special romantic moments in my life.

Let’s start with my first ever boyfriend.  We started going out when I was 15 and he was 16.  There was a local park we used to frequent to get away from prying parental eyes and ears.  So, one Sunday afternoon we rode our bikes down to said park and headed towards our favourite bench to have a kiss and a cuddle.  We had not been there long when, from down the hill we heard some children screaming “Help, help, Angus has fallen in the lake”.

Passionfruit Souffle 7Well, he took off down that hill, and jumped in, fully clothed to save what we assumed was a drowning child.  Turned out Angus was a labrador puppy who had been quite happy paddling around the shallows and had not even noticed the distress of his young owners. Semi disaster averted and there was a little swoony dripping wet with tight tshirt moment.  Made only more adorable by the squirming puppy in his arms!

Young love.  My hero.  And a puppy.  Life did not get much better!

Passionfruit Souffle 8So move forward…..a few decades years to the fussiest eater in the world.  A few weeks ago we were walking the dogs by the lake and noticed that one of the ducks had become entangled in some fishing wire and was only able to move in a tiny circle.  And cue the second Mr Darcy moment of my life.

Passionfruit Souffle 11

Not only did he jump into the lake (it was only calf-deep so no wet shirt here) but he unwound the fishing line from the duck’s leg then we noticed there was also some line knotted around its beak and neck. It was really knotted and tight he ended up having to bite through it!  It was both amazing and kind of gross.  That lake water is pretty dirty and I was expecting him to get sick from swallowing even a little bit of it. (He didn’t).

These moments may not have involved hearts and roses but for me were two of the most generous-spirited and selfless acts I have seen.  And that is true romance!

(2022 note, the beagle in this picture is Lulu, not Holly.)

Passionfruit Souffle 10

Back to the Soufflé

OK, our 12 minutes is up and the soufflé is out of the oven.  Quickly dust with icing sugar, add a  dollop of passionfruit pulp over the top and serve immediately.  Your souffé will start to deflate from the time it comes out of the oven so speed is of the essence here.

Passionfruit Souffle 9

And then tell me when the love heart lollies of our childhood took a step into the digital age?  Not only are they now using Twitter….

Passionfruit Souffle 12

But also Tinder!

Passionfruit Souffle 13

Swipe left on that! But swipe right on my Passionfruit Soufflé!

The Recipe – Passionfruit Soufflé

Print

Passionfruit Soufflé

A delicious passionfruit souffle that can be on the table in about 15 minutes!

  • Author: Taryn Fryer
  • Prep Time: 4
  • Cook Time: 12
  • Total Time: 16 minutes
  • Yield: 1 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 egg, separated
  • 21/2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 can passionfruit in syrup, you will need 1 tbsp of syrup
  • icing sugar to dust
  • melted butter to grease the souffle dish
  • 1 8cm souffle dish

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
  2. Butter the souffle dish, spreading the butter from the middle of the dish up the sides. Scatter a tablespoon of sugar into the dish tipping it all around the insides until it is entirely covered.
  3. Strain the passionfruit syrup into a dish, you will need a tablesppon of liquid. Reserve the seeds for later.
  4. Place the syrup with the egg yolk and half a tablespoon of sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric beater until light and creamy.
  5. In a separate bowl beat the egg white to soft peaks, then add the remaining sugar, a little at a time until the mixture is glossy and holding it’s shape.
  6. Using a metal spoon, fold the whites into the yolks. A light touch is needed here, you want to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. It is better to have the mixture a bit streaky than to have it over mixed!
  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish to just below the rim then run your thumb around the rim to totally clear it of any sugar, souffle mix etc that will prevent rising.
  8. Pop the dish onto a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes.
  9. Do not open the oven during this time.
  10. Remove from oven. They are done when a finger touched lightly on the top comes away clean but there is still a slight wobble in the middle.
  11. Quickly dust with icing sugar and add a dollop of the reserved passionfruit seeds and some additional syrup.
  12. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 2

Have a wonderful Valentine’s day!  And don’t forget to spare a moment to moment to say thank you to the everyday heroes in your life, the people saving dogs and ducks and generally making the world a better place.  If you have a spare 15 minutes  why not make them a soufflé?

 

Signature2