I can’t impress on you enough just how much I love this recipe!
This recipe came about from recently seeing various posts combining chocolate and Greek yoghurt to make a mousse (see here for one such recipe from Food52). I always have both these ingredients on hand, and am always looking for dessert options that are quick and easy. So after a bit of experimenting this is the recipe I came up with.
The mousse itself is quite rich (I could eat the whole lot, but this is feedback from my family!), so I suggest you offer small servings. The recipe makes approximately 660g, and I have used both 120g portions (which gives you just over 5 serves), and 80g portions (which gives you 8 serves) to determine just how much I should offer. So test this out yourself before making it for guests, and divide the mousse based on your preferences.
NOTE: Before portioning, I like to remove the mousse from the ™ bowl into a separate jug as I find it much easier – and cleaner – to spoon the mousse from the jug into serving glasses rather than trying to do it directly from the ™ bowl. I also like to use a digital scale to ensure I have portioned equally.
As the mousse is so smooth, I wanted to add a little texture on top of the mousse with a “honey seed brittle” … it is a take on my Maple Roasted Pecans recipe (see here), but I used honey instead of maple syrup as that is in the mousse, and I used seeds instead of nuts as they are more delicate and would look better on top of the mousse. The mousse itself though is gorgeous on it’s own, so the brittle is an optional extra if you are in the mood for making it.
I also love using chilli in sweet dishes that have honey, so I added a little to the mousse for an extra “kick”, but again that is optional if this is not your kind of thing. I use “medium” heat chilli flakes, but you could use “mild” heat chilli flakes if you prefer.
This is a super easy recipe … the mousse can be prepared up to three days in advance and kept covered in the fridge. and the brittle can be prepared ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
Whilst I haven’t tried it yet, I also think this would make a great filling for a sweet tart case … that’s definitely on the agenda to try at some stage!
RECIPE UPDATE – APRIL 2019:
Yesterday I served little pots of this mousse at a luncheon, and as I didn’t have time to make the brittle (see below), I simply roasted some pistachio nuts, then chopped them and sprinkled a layer on top of the mousse pots before serving. I loved this super easy option if you would like to try it too.
NOTE ON MAKING THE BRITTLE:
I have to admit that making the brittle firm enough to break into small pieces is a little challenge … only because we are using just honey and nothing else to make the “toffee” to hold the seeds together.
So I have gone into some depth explaining the process to do this in the recipe, but I wanted to emphasise here that before the final bake you are aiming for the seeds to be evenly and firmly pressed into a single layer on your baking tray before returning to the oven … at that stage it is important to bake for an final 5 to 6 minutes until the seeds are a deep golden … this ensures the honey is cooked sufficiently to be almost toffee like, and once it cools it will harden around the seeds to hold them together so you can break the slab into smaller pieces. PLEASE DO NOT BE TEMPTED to touch the mix when it comes out of the oven … the honey will still be hot and fluid and you will dislodge the seeds … just leave it to cool where it will harden.
If all else fails and you find you don’t achieve the “slab” result the first time, you will still end up with a lovely crispy collection of seeds randomly stuck together which can just as easily be sprinkled over the mousse before serving.
RECIPE UPDATE - APRIL 2019: Yesterday I served little pots of this mousse at a luncheon, and as I didn't have time to make the brittle I simply roasted some pistachio nuts, then chopped them and sprinkled a layer on top of the mousse pots before serving. I loved this super easy option if you would like to try it too.
- 180g dark chocolate, cut into "bud" size
- 120g full fat cream
- 100g honey
- 250g Greek yoghurt
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes, or 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp chilli flakes, to taste (optional)
- 120g mixed pepitas and sunflower seeds
- 30g honey
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- Place chocolate into TM bowl and chop 5 seconds / speed 9
- Scrape around bowl, add cream and heat 3 minutes / 50 / speed 2, scrape around bowl then repeat 2 minutes / 50 / speed 2 until mix is completely smooth
- Add yoghurt, honey, vanilla, salt and chilli and blend 10 seconds / speed 4, scrape around bowl and repeat 5 seconds / speed 4 until combined
- Remove mousse to a jug or bowl to make it easier to portion (I prefer to do this instead of trying to get all the mousse out of the TM bowl into my serving cups without making a mess)
- Spoon the mousse into serving cups, cover and chill for a couple of hours until firm
- Mousse will keep covered in the fridge for up to 3 days
- Press a couple of pieces of brittle into each mousse before serving if desired
- Line a baking tray with baking paper
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced, and position rack into middle of oven
- Place seeds and honey into a bowl and combine … be aware that it is going to be very sticky which is what you would expect with honey
- Place mixture onto a baking tray, spreading it out as best as you can, then sprinkle over salt (although mix is sticky, try to get all the seeds out of the bowl and onto the tray … too good to waste)
- Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
- Remove tray from oven ... stir seeds around a little, which can be easily done now as the honey is hot, and position seeds so that they are more or less joined together in a square or rectangle … this will help with the final baking step
- Return tray to the oven and bake for 5 minutes until golden
- Remove tray from oven, set a timer for 5 minutes and allow mix to cool … this is important because if you try to do the next step whilst the seeds are still hot, the mix will stick to the back of the spoon making it difficult to spread out into a single even layer
- Whilst the mix is cooling for 5 minutes, rub olive oil over the back of a largish metal spoon
- Now use the back of the spoon to run over the warm seeds to level them out into a single thin even layer (because the seeds have cooled a little, and you have oil on the back of the spoon, they will not stick to the spoon)
- Make sure you press down on the seeds as you run the spoon over the top … the more even they are the more even they will bake so that you don’t have one area thicker than the other … also try to maintain your square or rectangle shape as you should be able to use the back of the spoon to push stray seeds back into the pack whilst they are still warm
- Return the tray to the oven for a further 5 to 6 minutes until a deep golden colour
- Remove tray from oven and allow seeds to cool for about 30 minutes
- As soon as they are cool, break the seeds into the size/shapes that you like and place into a sealed container in the fridge where they will keep for up to a month
- You can use them as shards on top of the mousse, but you can also break them up and use them as a crunchy sprinkle on top of the mousse if you prefer
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