Happy Valentine's Day!
Chocolate and Raspberry Heart
Napoleons
From Martha Stewart
Ingredients
Serves 2
Directions
- Line a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Place raspberries (if using fresh raspberries, reserve 1/2 cup for garnish) in a medium skillet over medium heat. Simmer until raspberries begin to break down and liquid is released, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer raspberries to a food processor, and puree, about 20 seconds. Pass through a fine sieve. Set aside to cool.
- Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Bring a stockpot 1/4 full of water to a boil. Let simmer. In a medium stainless-steel bowl, whisk together egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar, corn syrup, and kirsch or champagne; place over simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until mixture thickens (when whisk is lifted over the mixture, the ribbonlike trail it leaves on the surface should hold its shape for 1 or 2 seconds), about 4 minutes. Transfer bowl to the ice-water bath; whisk mixture while it cools. Add 3/4 cup raspberry puree to mixture; whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. While mixer is running, gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar; beat until very stiff, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Beat cream with whisk attachment until stiff; fold into egg whites.
- Fold raspberry mixture into egg whites and cream. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan; cover with plastic wrap. Transfer to the freezer; freeze until hardened, at least 4 hours. This can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
- To make the raspberry sauce, stir superfine sugar into the remaining raspberry puree (about 2 tablespoons). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- To serve, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter (2 1/2 inches across at the widest point) to cut out four hearts from the semifreddo. Divide the raspberry sauce between two dessert plates. Place a chocolate heart, off center, on top of the raspberry sauce. Place a semifreddo heart on each chocolate heart, and repeat layering until there are three layers of chocolate and two layers of semifreddo, ending with a chocolate heart. Garnish with reserved fresh raspberries (if using), and sift confectioners’ sugar over the raspberries, if desired.
Bittersweet Chocolate Hearts
Ingredients
Makes 6
- 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
- Cut parchment paper to fit a 9-by-13-by-2-inch pan. Brush vegetable oil in corners and center of the pan, pressing parchment to adhere it. Set aside.
- Bring a medium pot of water to a simmer. Place chocolate in a medium stainless-steel bowl; place the bowl over, but not in, the simmering water to melt the chocolate, about 4 to 6 minutes.
- Remove chocolate from simmering water. Thoroughly dry bottom of bowl; a drop of water will ruin the chocolate. Pour chocolate into prepared pan. Using a large metal offset (bent-neck) spatula, spread the chocolate evenly over the surface 1/6 inch thick. Freeze until chocolate sets, about 6 minutes.
- Working quickly, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter (3 1/4 inches across at widest point), to cut out six chocolate hearts. If chocolate begins to soften, return to freezer for several minutes. Run an offset spatula under the hearts, and place in a container. Cover and freeze until ready to use, up to 2 weeks.
