Sunday, December 19, 2010

Best Custard Dessert Ever

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CUSTARDS

Sometimes the recipe you need/want comes to you by chance. Randomly checking out the Vue de Monde website, Shannon Bennet kindly posted his recipe for his Chocolate Orange Custards.

I was looking for a good dessert recipe that could be individually portioned for stand up eating and this is perfect. Portioned in to 10 shot glasses it is visually stunning and has a rich mousse like texture. It is very rich so a mere 30-40ml is more than enough.

The recipe is not difficult, but would recommend that to do it you do have a good kitchen thermometer, 78 degrees is the magic number for the custard, a few degrees higher and you will have scrambled eggs.

Recipe has been reproduced from:

http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/the-menu_recipes-detail.aspx?view=23

Ingredients:
160 ml milk
160 ml cream
40 ml orange juice
20 ml Grand Marnier
2 oranges, juiced and zested
40 g sugar
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
240g 70% coverture chocolate pieces

Method

- Put the milk, cream, orange juice, Grand Marnier, orange zest and half the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, set aside and leave to infuse for 10–15 minutes
- Meanwhile whisk the eggs and egg yolks with the remaining sugar.
- Bring the infused liquid to a simmer again and then pour through a fine sieve into the whisked egg yolks. The sieve will catch the zest, which can be discarded.
- Whisk until the egg mixture has dissolved into the infused liquid.
- Clean the saucepan and return the mixture to the pan, and heat over a low to medium heat until liquid reaches 78ÂșC (172°F), using a cooking thermometer, stirring constantly (at this point the custard will lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon). Put the chocolate pieces into a mixing bowl.
- Once the custard has reached the required temperature, pour it over the chocolate buttons and mix with a spatula until you get a really rich and homogenised liquid.
- Pour into ramekins and set in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. If there are air bubbles tap ramekins lightly on the bench top. They should have a decadent look about them and be very dark in appearance.

Note: It is best to zest the oranges with a microplane as this extracts all the natural oils that are in the zest and gives a great aroma to the custard.

1 comment:

  1. Tasted gorgeous - the orange (mandarine?) segment and Grand Marnier really shone through.
    Nicely made!

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