In summer, it is often too hot to bake. But I have never wanted to miss a homemade dessert at the weekend, so I always look for a lot of no-bake desserts in July and August. Trifles have always worked for me this far – especially since I discovered something really neat.
You can melt a bar of white chocolate in Rama heavy cream and beat the cream until stiff. You get a kind of mousse then which tastes like white chocolate and fits perfectly the consictency and aroma of juicy berries or other fruit.
After going to a strawberry field, we had picked a huge amount of strawberries which I did not want to transform into jam. That is why I made these gorgeous triffles. 4 ingredients and about 15 minutes prep time, do I need to say more? Go ahead and try yourself.
White Chocolate Strawberry Triffle
(makes about 3 servings)
100 g white chocolate
250 ml (1 cup) Rama heavy cream
90 g (3 oz.) strawberries
1/2 cup chocolate crispies (I used Nesquik ABC)
First, you should prepare the heavy cream.
Chop the white chocolate and dissolve it in the cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Let the mixture cool overnight in the fridge.
Cut the strawberries into small cubes. You might add a little vanilla to the pieces.
In a medium-sized bowl, beat the heavy cream until stiff.
Layer chocolate crispies, cream and strawberries in cups. Serve immediately.
I am heading off to France today, but I want to leave you a special treat on the blog.
These cute heart-shaped chocolates are filled with a refreshing berry cream. They will be melting on your tongue!
I know this is not the easiest recipe and it takes quite some time to make, but you will recieve quite few chocolates when ready (about 60). And when you have a bite, you will know that it was worth the stress.
You had better put these babies in the refridgerator to keep the chocolate chunky or, if you want to the consistency of the filling to be similar to ice cream, in the freezer. During summer, I prefer the second option.
Tiny Berry Chocolates:
60 semi-sweet chocolate hollow spheres
250 g (8 oz.) mixed berries, frozen
200 g (7 oz.) white chocolate
50 ml (1/8 cup) heavy cream
30 g (1 oz.) butter
300 g chocolate for coating
Put the frozen berries in a small saucepan and heat them until they start to boil. Let the fruit simmer for about 30 minutes.
Blend the berries until there are no big pieces of fruit in the mass. You can run them through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Break the chocolate down into pieces and put it in the still hot berry mixture, as well as the butter and heavy cream. The berries are usually still hot enough to melt all of the ingredients, so you just have to stir until everything is smooth. But if the berries have become colder, you might heat the mass up a little.
Let the filling cool for a while at room temperature, then place for at least 1 hour in the freezer, so it becomes easier to fill it in the hollow spheres. It should be quite thick when you take it out.
Fill the cream in a piping bag with a rather small tip, fitting into the hole of your hollow spheres. Fill the chocolate spheres up to the rim of the hole.
Chop the chocolate and melt it in your microwave, not heating for more than 30 seconds at a time, or using the water bath method. Dip the filled spheres in the chocolate until they are completely coated. I find it easier to use 2 small forks for that part.
Let them cool on a sheet of baking parchment. And don’t forget to enjoy!
First things first: Please excuse the loooong name of this sweet delight. I thought of leaving out one or two toppings but each of them is an important component charecterizing the experience of eating this toffee. Yeas, I just called it an ‘experience’ and I will tell you why.
The basic mass here is the caramel toffee you can see in the images, which has a not too strong caramel flavoure and breaks down in your mouth, cracking slightly before meting on your tongue. After you have made the first bite, you taste the rich white chocolate which makes everything more creamy and sweet. Then you might bite into a soft marshmallow which is a huge contrast to the chunky toffee and the toasted coconut. The coconut tastes a bit more intense because it has been toasted in a dry pan until slightly browned.
I hadn’t made toffee for a long time since trying this recipe from Bake at 350 which turned our great the first time I tried, but turned out to be a complete failure on my second try. I supposed it was because I don’t have a candy thermometer and did not want to experience the fiasco again, but this time it turned out great. I will give you some advice how to succeed without measuring the temperature.
If you are a real lover of sweets – take a piece (or two or five) and give the rest to someone else to eat it – it is addicting. I gave it to a friend as a present and hope he enjoyed it.
White Chocolate Coconut Marshmallow Toffee
source
1 TBSP water
250 (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
60 ml (1/4) cup heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50 g white chocolate (I had white crisp on hand)
30 g ground coconut. toasted in a dry pan or in the oven until slightly browned
2 hands full of mini marshmallows (should be about 1 cup)
Prepare a baking sheet by placing it in a baking dish.
Chop the chocolate and set aside.
Place butter, sugar, cream, water, salt and vanilla in a saucepan. Combine the ingredients over medium heat. Stir with a silicone spatula. Bring the mixture to a boil and go on stirring, watching its colour carefully. You know the toffee is done when it turns a light amber brown and turns into a first gooey, then solid substance when you place a drop of it on a cold plate or the baking sheet. The recipe says the syrup is done when it has reached 150°C (300°F) which is very handy, if you use a candy thermometer.
Now wpread the mass onto the baking sheet and flaten with the spatula. Immediately spread the toppings all over – first the chocolate, then marshmallows and finally the coconut flakes. Let it cool, then break down into pieces with a knife.