Yes, it’s time for the Valentine’s Day dessert!! February 14th is approaching and we need to organize. Digestive cookies covered with chocolate and nuts, in pistachio and white chocolate sauce. Believe me this dessert is divine!
And because we want to be relaxed and bright that day, this recipe does not have many requirements, nor many materials. Only too much chocolate! I do not know if the old saying that “love goes through the stomach” is true, but it definitely needs a lot of chocolate! This is not a light dessert. It is a small sin, but the day justifies it!
You can make the preparations the day before, to save time. Preparing i.e. the cookies, the mousse and the sauce which you will keep in the refrigerator, so the next day the only thing that you have to do is setup the dish. Just remember to remove it from the refrigerator in time to thaw. For the cookies I used two kinds of nuts, almonds and pistachios. It goes without saying that, if you want, you may use only pistachios (40 g.). Let’s now look at the ingredients and execution:
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
for the cookies
- 12 digestive cookies (4 of them cut them with a heart shape cookie cutter)
- 175 gr. dark chocolate
- (0.7oz) almonds
- (o.7oz) pistachios (kernels)
for the mousse
- 150 g. (5.3oz) milk chocolate (vegans may use soy-milk chocolate)
- (2.6oz) dark chocolate
- 125 ml (½ cup) cream, 18% fat (vegans may use non-dairy cream)
for the pistachio sauce:
- 200 g. (7oz) white chocolate (vegans may use soy-milk chocolate)
- 200 ml cream, 18% fat
- 100 g. (3.5oz) pistachios (kernels)
optionally
- a few pistachios in slices, to decorate
Instructions:
- Prepare the cookies: Finely chop in food processor almonds and pistachios. Sieve after a fine strainer to drain the very fine dust generated by the food processor. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie (cut to small pieces to melt quickly). Stir the chocolate until it is smooth. Dip one by one the cookies into the chocolate to cover completely, and using a forceps put them on a rack. Sprinkle them with chopped nuts and allow cooling so the chocolate thickens. *
- Prepare the mousse: Cut the chocolate into small pieces. Heat the cream in a small saucepan, over medium-low heat. Pour in warm chocolate pieces; let it melt for 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat and stir until the mixture is smooth. **
- Prepare the pistachio sauce: Put the pistachios in a food processor and make a fine powder. Heat the cream in a saucepan, over medium-low heat. Once warm, pour into the pistachio powder and stir. *** Add the white chocolate (in small pieces, do not forget!) Allow 1 minute to melt, stirring. Remove from the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.
- Assembling when it is time to serve: Carefully remove the cookies from the rack. Put the mousse into a piping bag with a fluted nozzle and garnish 8 round cookies creating with small hills. Put enough pistachio sauce, in the dish, to cover it. Place two garnished round cookies one over the other, and carefully place the on the sauce. Do the same with the rest. Garnish with heart-cookies and slices of pistachios and serve.
I hope you enjoy chocolate “islands” in pistachio sauce, as well as Valentine’s Day!
Notes:
- To avoid sticking your cookies on the rack, put a drop of vegetable oil (sunflower, etc.) in your hand and coat the rack.
Do not wait to cover all your cookies with chocolate and then sprinkle them with nuts, because the chocolate may cool until then. I sprinkled them two by two.
** If the day is hot, you may need to put the mousse in the refrigerator for a while.
*** If at the time you add the pistachio powder in the cream, lumps are creating, mix it with a whisk and they will disappear.
P.S. With this recipe I’m participating in the contest for Chocolate lovers of TORTA DELLA FIGLIA.
Update February 13, 2015: The contest results are already announced and my recipe was picked as the 2nd winner! You can see the results here.
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