Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Mousses and Hazelnut Biscuits

. April, 2016
Photography by Sarah Tuck.
Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Mousses and Hazelnut Biscuits

These decadent mousses are sneakily easy to make but so pretty they make the perfect dinner party dessert. Creamy, smooth milk chocolate is topped with a crumbling of roasted hazelnuts and luscious, tart plums – magic.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

250ml cream
180 grams milk chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup Nutella
1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur
¾ cup toasted, skinned hazelnuts (¼ cup roughly chopped, and ½ cup whizzed to fine crumbs)
¼ cup plain flour
cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon dark cocoa powder
2 small egg whites, lightly whisked
50 grams melted butter
poached plums to serve, either homemade or bought (I used Watties tinned black doris plums)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200˚C and line two oven trays with baking paper. Heat ⅓ cup of the cream in the microwave or a small pot until just simmering. Remove from the heat and add chocolate. Add Nutella and leave for a minute for the chocolate to melt then add Frangelico and whisk until smooth. 

Beat remaining cream to soft peaks then fold through chocolate mixture. Spoon into 6 serving glasses and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours up to overnight. Whisk ¼ cup of the ground hazelnuts with flour, caster sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Whisk in egg whites and melted butter and drop heaped teaspoonfuls onto the baking trays, leaving plenty of room for spreading.

Bake for 8–10 minutes until golden. As soon as you remove them from the oven, carefully use a spatula to lift off the trays and rest over tinfoil/plastic wrap tubes or rolling pins to create a curved shape, otherwise leave on a wire rack to cool for flat biscuits. Once cool, store in an airtight container. 

To serve: Cut three plums in half. Sprinkle remaining hazelnut crumbs on to mousses, top each with half a plum and sprinkle with roughly chopped hazelnuts. Makes 12 biscuits and 6 mousses