Mini Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients:
170 g unsalted butter
100 g flour, sifted
125 g ground almonds
250 g caster sugar
7 egg whites (200 g)
40 g mild honey
90 g chocolate chips
220 g milk chocolate
320 ml whipping cream
½ vanilla pod, split
Well, this isn’t the kind of recipes we will include very often in The Stu, but for those of you who have a bit of time on your hands after exams and fancy a culinary challenge, here’s a recipe direct from the kitchens of Le Cordon Bleu.
Chocolate-Chip Muffins
On the day of serving, preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Heat the unsalted butter until it turns golden brown and the milk solids colour and stick to the bottom of the saucepan (this is known as a ‘‘beurre noisette’’). Remove from the heat immediately and strain through a fine-meshed wire strainer; set aside to cool. Tip the sifted flour and almonds into a large bowl. Add the sugar, egg whites and honey and whisk until creamy. Blend in the ‘‘beurre noisette’’ little at a time until the mixture increases in volume; fold in the chocolate and refrigerate overnight. Fill the muffin imprints to the 3/4 mark, using a piping bag or spoon, and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the point of a knife inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for several minutes before turning out onto a rack.
Milk Chocolate Mousse
Chop the chocolate and melt over a slowly simmering bain-marie until the temperature registers approximately 45°C on a cooking thermometer. Using the point of a knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the cream. Beat the cream until firm peaks cling to the whisk. Whisking quickly, add about 1/3 of the whipped cream to the hot chocolate to lighten it. Pour the mixture over the remaining cream and fold in gently with the whisk or a spatula to evenly blend the ingredients. Fit a piping bag with fluted nozzle and fill with milk chocolate mousse; pipe rosettes of mousse on each muffin; refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Decoration
Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie; cool. Fill a small paper piping bag with the cooled chocolate, folding the top over until the chocolate is squeezed into the nose. Snip off the tip and streak the muffins with fine lines of chocolate.
Tip
You can also use dark or white chocolate to make the mousse and for the decoration.
