I'm back on the blog with these mini pistachio, chocolate and raspberry entremets! For those who may be wondering, an entremet is a dessert assembled in layers that have contrasting textures - the main one being a mousse - and different flavours. Apparently people start using it in English as well in the pastry area. I made these for Valentine's day with my boyfriend's favourite ingredients: pistachio and chocolate. And I added raspberry for a fruity and fresh hint.
They are made of a fluffy almond dacquoise (a meringue based cake) topped by a crunchy chocolate and pistachio flavoured layer; a pistachio bavaroise mousse; a creamy milk chocolate insert, fresh raspberries, and a cocoa mirror glaze.
It was the first time I was making an entremet here in the UK. And I could notice some differences in the ingredients. First, I couldn't find the ingredient I normally use for the crunchy layer. It's called 'crêpes dentelles' and it's basically very thin crêpes that have been dried, which makes them crunchy. Next time I'm going to France, I'll bring some! Therefore, I used puffed rice as a substitute, but it makes the layer thicker and it tends to get moist and therefore not as crunchy as it should be.
The second difference is the cream. Normally in France, I use cream with 30% fat because if it's lower, it won't rise when you whisk it. Here in the UK, there's either single cream (19,1% fat) or double cream (50,5% fat). I used the double cream as I was afraid the single cream wouldn't rise. But I noticed that there's a very thin step between the stage that it's not whisked enough (and then it's too liquid), and the stage that it's too whisked (and then it starts having a texture of butter, and starts tasting like it too). That step between the two stages is not that narrow when I use 30% fat cream, and I think it's because of the elevated fat content. I know it for next time, and I will be very careful when whisking it.
It was also the first time I was baking entremets in individual portions. I have some metal squared moulds that I decided to use, for a change compared to the more classical circle shape. But it was not easy to take them out of the mould once frozen and set because they stuck to the walls. Also, I didn't have any mould for shaping the insert. Therefore I had to pipe the preparation directly into the mousse, and it didn't look as nice when the entremet was cut. These are only aesthetic details, but I do care about them as I'm a perfectionist!
Here are the ingredients and the steps of the recipe in pictures to make these entremets:
Pistachio paste:
(to make 2 days in advance)
1. Roast the pistachios in a pan for a few minutes, making sure to mix them regularly so that they don't burn.
2. Pour the sugar and the water in a saucepan and heat until 121°C.
3. Add the roasted pistachios and mix with a wooden spoon until they are all covered with a thin layer of solid sugar.
4. Put the pistachios in a mixer. Add the ground almonds and the bitter almond extract, and mix until you obtain a paste. It requires a powerful mixer, and patience, because it takes time before you finally obtain a paste. From time to time, take off the powder that stuck to the walls and the bottom of the mixer before blending and mixing again everything.
5. Once you get a texture similar to a paste, add the oil to make it more liquid and mix again.
6. Pour the pistachio paste in a glass container that has a lid. You can keep it in the fridge for several weeks and use it to flavour other creams, or mousses.
Creamy milk chocolate insert:
(to make 2 days in advance)
1. Put the milk and the cream to the boil.
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until the mixture becomes lighter.
3. Pour slowly the boiling cream and milk on the eggs mixture while mixing. Pour this mixture back in the saucepan.
4. Cook on low heat while stirring continuously. Keep cooking the cream until the white mousse on the surface of the cream disappears. To make sure that the cream is cooked, here's a little tip: slide your finger quickly on the wooden spoon covered with cream (be careful it's hot, hence the 'quickly'!). Hold your spoon horizontally. If the cream doesn't run and doesn't cover the mark made by your finger, then it means it's cooked and you can remove it from the heat.
5. Pour the hot cream on the milk chocolate cut in pieces. Cover the bowl with a plate to keep the heat inside so that the chocolate melts more easily. After a few minutes, remove the plate and stir the cream and the chocolate together until you get an homogeneous mixture.
6. If you have insert moulds, pour the cream inside, and put them in the freezer so that it sets and becomes hard. Otherwise, add the gelatin (after you have left it in some cold water for a few minutes so that it softens) in the hot cream. Stir well and keep the cream in the fridge.
Almond dacquoise:
(to make 1 day in advance)
1. Whisk the egg whites. When they start to become foamy, add the caster sugar in 3 steps, while still whisking. You'll obtain a smooth and shiny meringue.
2. Put the icing sugar, the ground almonds and the flour in a mixer and mix for few seconds. That will prevent lumps.
3. Add the mixture of the 3 powders in the meringue and mix very softly with a spatula to incorporate everything.
4. Spread or pipe the dough on a baking tray topped with baking paper. You can draw the shape of your moulds on the other side of the baking paper to know how big your biscuits have to be.
5. Bake for 20 minutes in a oven preheated at 170°C.
6. When baked, take the biscuits out of the oven and cut the edges. They need to be a little bit smaller than your mould.
Chocolate and pistachio crunchy layer:
(to make 1 day in advance)
1. Melt the chocolate and the pistachio paste in a water bath.
2. Take the bowl out of the water bath and pour the puffed rice in. Stir until all the puffed rice grains are covered with chocolate.
3. Spread a layer of this mixture on the dacquoise and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
4. Place in the fridge so that it sets.
Pistachio bavaroise mousse:
(to make 1 day in advance)
1. Leave the gelatin leaves in a bowl filled with water for a few minutes so that they soften.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture becomes whiter.
3. Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan and pour it slowly on the egg mixture while stirring.
4. Pour this mixture back in the saucepan and put it on low heat. Keep stirring the cream all the time. Cook until the white bubbly layer on the surface has disappeared. To make sure that the cream is cooked, use the tip of the finger!
5. Remove excess water from the gelatin leaves, and add them inside the cream. Stir well to dissolve them.
6. Add the pistachio paste and stir vigorously with a whisk until you get an homogeneous mixture. Pour the cream in a bowl so that it cools down more quickly to room temperature. Before moving on to the next step, make sure that the cream is not hot anymore, but not too cold otherwise the gelatin would have set.
7. Whip the cream until it rises and becomes foamy and fluffy. To facilitate this step, the cream has to be cold. Leave it in the fridge until the last minute. I also put the bowl and the whisk in the fridge beforehand. Don't whisk it too much or its texture and taste will become buttery. Try to make it foamy and a bit runny because it will be easier to incorporate the pistachio cream inside. Also, the mousse will fill more easily all the corners of your mould and you'll get a nice and smooth surface on your entremets. Mine was too whisked to my taste as you can see on the picture.
8. Pour the pistachio cream on the whipped cream and mix gently to obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture. I also added a bit of green food colouring to make the colour a bit more vibrant.
Assembling the entremet:
(to make 1 day in advance)
1. Place your bavaroise mousse in a piping bag. Take the chocolate insert mixture out of the fridge and whisk it a little bit so that it's not that set and you can pipe it. Place it in another piping bag. Take your biscuits out of the fridge and cut some raspberries in halves.
2. Pipe a layer of pistachio bavaroise mousse at the bottom of the mould, taking care to fill all the corners. Smooth the surface.
3. Pipe some bavaroise mousse along the walls of the mould. This is not necessary if you put your chocolate mixture in insert moulds to set.
4. Pipe the chocolate mixture inside the square of bavaroise mousse you've just made. If you have used insert moulds, take them out of the freezer and place the inserts on the bavaroise mousse. Press a little bit so that the mousse goes up on the sides.
5. Place some raspberries on top of the chocolate insert and press slightly.
6. Cover with a layer of bavaroise mousse. I would have liked to put more mousse to cover the raspberries but unfortunately, I didn't prepare enough. But don't worry, I've adjusted the quantities so that you have enough if you follow the recipe.
7. Place the biscuits on top of the mousse, with the dacquoise facing the top. Press slightly so that the mousse goes up on the sides. Smooth the surface of the mousse with the back of a spoon so that it's at the same level as the biscuit.
8. Leave the entremets in the freezer for at least one night so that they set and become hard before you glaze them.
Cocoa mirror glaze:
(to make on the day)
1. Leave the gelatin leaves in a bowl filled with cold water for a few minutes to soften them.
2. Put the sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
3. Pour this mixture on the cocoa powder and mix until you get an homogeneous mixture.
4. Bring the cream to the boil and remove it from the heat. Remove the excess water from the gelatine, add it in the hot cream and stir well.
5. Pour the cream on the cocoa mixture and mix until all the cream has been incorporated.
6. Filter the glaze in a sieve with small holes to remove any lumps or air bubbles and obtain a smooth glaze.
7. Wait until the glaze cools down to 35°C before using it.
Decoration:
(to make on the day):
1. Place some glasses upside down in a tray. Remove your entremets from the freezer, and take them out of the moulds. Once the glaze has cooled down to 35°C, place the entremets on the glasses. The tray is used to recover the excess glaze that will fall from the entremets.
2. Pour immediately the glaze on the entremets, making sure they are totally covered. Remove the excess glaze from the entremets by smoothing the top surface with a spatula.
I have to admit I was not very happy with my glaze. I found it too thick even though I used it at 35°C. Therefore, it didn't run well on the surface of the entremets and the layer of glaze was too thick. As a result the cocoa flavour was too intense and tended to cover the pistachio flavour. I'm wondering if it is because I prepared the glaze the day before, kept it in the fridge and then warmed it up to 35°C on the day. I've made this glaze recipe in the past and that didn't happen so I will need to find the reason why!
3. Then you can decorate your entremet however you like. Personnaly, I decided to pipe some pistachio cream in a nice way, add some crushed pistachios, a few raspberries and gold powder because I love sparkles!
And this is the final result !
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