I have made mine with blackberries – they are in season and I love how they are bursting with goodness – and deliciousness… however, you can use just about any fruit you desire. I would stay away from citrus in case it causes them to curdle or split – but how about Mango, or Raspberry, or Cherry, or Dragon fruit!!! Yes – I am going to try making a batch with Dragon Fruit next!
Enjoy making these little treats. You will be so delighted with the result… and so will your family or guests – or whoever you are serving them to.
Serving size: 6 x pastry rings (5cm x 5cm)
Prep time: 45 minutes (including chocolate decoration)
Refrigeration time: 1 – 2 hours
Specific Equipment:
6 x pastry rings (5cm x 5cm) or alternate molds
6 x pieces of acetate plastic (cut to fit your pastry rings)
Handheld mixer
INGREDIENTS:
CRUST:
½ cup crushed Roasted Walnuts
1 tbsp Maple syrup
1-2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
WHITE CHOCOLATE BLACKBERRY MOUSSE:
80g white sugar-free chocolate (or normal chocolate if you are not going refined-sugar free)
80g blackberry puree (or any other fruit you prefer)
120ml cream
2 gelatin sheets
DECORATION:
½ cup tempered white sugar-free chocolate
1-2 whole blackberries per dessert
1 whole roasted walnut per dessert
DIRECTIONS
CRUST:
Prepare your pastry rings by lining them with pieces of acetate plastic that have been cut to fit your rings perfectly. This allows for easy detachment of your dessert at the end – a step I would not skip. Place your rings on a flat board that has been covered in parchment paper. This will be your work surface and the rings will remain there in and out of the fridge until they are ready to be detached and plated.
In a small bowl combine the crusted walnuts, maple syrup and coconut oil. Using a teaspoon place approximately 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture into the bottom of each ring and using your finger, gently press it down to create a flat crust. Once all the rings have been filled, place them in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.
WHITE CHOCOLATE BLACKBERRY MOUSSE:
Place your gelatin sheets in a bowl of water making sure they are well covered in water and set aside.
Using a small saucepan, gently heat your fruit (blackberry) puree on a low to medium heat. Once warm, switch off the heat source and add your chocolate. Stir the chocolate into the warmed fruit puree until it has completely melted.
Remove your gelatin sheets from the bowl of water and squeeze out the excess water. Place them in a small bowl and using a microwave, melt the gelatin sheets (about 4 to 5 seconds only!) to turn them into a liquid state. Once liquid immediately pour it into the fruity chocolate mixture and stir together very well. Then set this mixture aside to cool – but not set.
In a separate clean bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks. Add this whipped cream to your cooled chocolate fruit mixture and fold in gently until completely incorporated.
Remove your pastry rings filled with the walnut crust from the fridge and then carefully using a teaspoon, fill each ring to nearly the top with your mousse mixture. Give your tray a little shake to smooth out the tops and then place the desserts back in the fridge for approximately and hour.
CHOCOLATE DECORATION:
Please watch our YouTube video to see the tutorial on how to make these little ‘leaf-like’ shapes out of your tempered chocolate.
PLATING:
Remove your filled rings from the fridge and then carefully peel them off the parchment paper – one by one. Gently push them in a upward motion to remove the ring. Then carefully peel the acetate plastic off each one and place on the plate you dish to serve it / them on. Then place one or two whole blackberries and a whole roasted walnut on top of the little dessert and finish off with adding your delicate chocolate decoration. Please watch our video to see how I did this.
Enjoy!!!!
Dancing, laughing and celebrating are the sounds behind the videos’ footage. The video itself is put together in a creative engaging manner and one is left with a smile… and a feeling of joyfulness… and then sadness. And this is what my blog post is about. The loss of this sort of festive, creative togetherness this year due to the Covid19 pandemic. We are now at the end of the year 2020. It had been a year of… well one can use the whole dictionary of descriptive words to describe it – horror, shock, disappointment, fear, loss, fortitude, hope, determination, reflection, realization… the list does not end. But today – like many other days, just the simple act of watching such a video as described above, returns the sentiment of sadness to me, with the fact that we have lost that form of community togetherness. Yes, yes… many are doing amazingly good things as a community to help those in need during these times – and I am in absolute admiration of everyone participating in such endeavors – but I am talking about the pure light celebration of creative gathering – the dancing with abandon, the painting of joy in whichever expression. This video I speak of brought that loss home to me – once again – and it makes me sad.
I am naturally an optimistic person. I find it relatively easy to see the silver lining and run with it above the dark clouds. But even for me – there have been so many times this year where I have felt complete despair looking at the wider picture and have been hit with a feeling of utter helplessness. So how does this blog post relate to chocolate? After all this webpage is all about chocolate…
Well… I have up to this point been spared the pain of what others have endured so far during this pandemic – a pain of loss far greater than mine. In my chocolate world, all I lost was my shop. Admittedly I was gutted. I loved my little chocolate shop so much. I woke everyday with joy knowing that I was among those few very lucky souls who was happy to go to work – doing what I loved in a place I had created with love. So… I lost that one and then spent a few months licking my wounds, and then got over it… almost. Many amazing people in my community offered me retail space in their shops – but it took me quite some time to muster up the will to start all over again – and differently.
In my first shop we had a mezzanine space above our retail space where we created all our chocolate delights. I could hear what was happening all day long downstairs, and I was often called down to meet customers, or discuss special requests with them. I loved that. I loved every minute in my shop / chocolate studio.
Anyway, the time spent in lock down at home was a very positive experience for me. We got some real, beautiful family time in, which I truly feel blessed for having. We got on to setting time aside for self-improvement, both mental and physical. We also got creative – painting, baking, crafting etc. I got back into a regular routine of Yoga and began doing Pilates. And I gave myself the time to think long and hard about where to with my passion for chocolate.
I lean naturally toward healthy living and conscious eating habits. I believe that food can be prepared in a creative fashion and enjoyed in a consciously healthy manner. I think that where possible one should prepare food with as little to no sugar as possible (and it is possible). And if one is to consume chocolate that has sugar in it – it needs to be of the highest quality and that one should never eat compromised chocolate products where replacement oils have been added – like palm oil. The reasons behind this have been explained in another blog post of mine – being for the benefit of our own health – and for the health of our natural world. So, what am I saying in this post then?
Well… being in lock down and then entering a very changed world, I had to decide how to share my passion – with distance from others, in a safe manner, and yet build a bridge of relative interaction. The most logical thing to do was share as much as possible with a YouTube channel and to start writing a blog site… but I had my immediate community to think of (who thankfully still wanted my chocolate creations – or at least some did – those who could afford it because let’s face it: SO many of us had sadly lost our main source of income!), and I had two staff member that were left stranded during lock down, both of whom had families of their own to try support.
I desperately wanted to find a way to accommodate them – they are two amazingly hard-working people and became just as passionate about chocolate as I was during our time spent working together pre-covid19.
Then… later… A couple who I did not know very well but admired from afar and liked enormously when I interacted with them, offered me a retail space within their art studio. Their names are Terry and Jan Raats, and they own an art gallery on Thesen Island (where my original shop used to be) in Knysna. Jan is an acclaimed and celebrated fine artist – and his studio is called Jandreart Studio. He paints with his fingertips and his work is beautiful. I was honored by their invitation to enter their shop. Admittedly I was quite shy about the idea. They were proposing to actually ‘make space’ for me alongside his gallery showcasing his paintings and his actual studio space. Jan paints in full view of those entering or walking past his shop. It Is a permanent show – and that is what makes this gallery interesting. People walking in can have a conversation with him or simply watch him paint.
So ChoColette was invited in and on acceptance they made space for me and my products. I can not be happier with the set-up. My chocolate creations on display for purchase alongside his beautifully moving art works so well visually.
We have been working like this for a month now and I am still humbled by the welcome Terry and Jan have given us. Circumstances are tricky in this Covid-19 climate. There are fewer feet than before, with a lot fewer tourists visiting – but the space we have been invited to is a creative one, with a gentle peaceful atmosphere. I could not be happier with the way things have worked out. I do miss working near (or above) my retail space – I have to be honest – for I have to create the chocolate offsite… but to bring all the chocolate creations we make into such a beautiful space is a real treat. Perhaps one day when things are ‘back to normal’ we will be able to bring the chocolate studio near the retail outlet again. But for now, we at ChoColette have been blessed… and my valued staff members are back earning and it’s wonderful to spend time with them again. I missed them terribly when we were apart!
This blog post may feel as if it is all over the place – but what I wanted to say is that I, like everyone else, miss the sense of community of creation. I would love to have ‘creative evenings’ like an exhibition of chocolate art alongside Jan’s fine art etc. I would love to see street parties where people are not wearing masks and expressions of weariness. I would love to feel a world where we are less divided by opinion and belief – for it seems more prevalent now that it has ever been. I would like to walk out of the shop and feel a festive, free atmosphere in the air. The last I remember was the Rugby world cup – which we, South Africa, won. I am not very interested in Rugby… but I was sucked into the huddle of anticipation around the screens set up for the hordes of people in a restaurant near my old shop and then the celebration of the win! It was wonderful – and only now do I realize how special that moment, or many other alike, was.
So that’s all I am going to say about that. This loss makes me sad… but deep down the natural optimist in me clings on to hope that hopefully sooner rather than later we will be able to dance in the streets again together to the festive beat of drums and human noise made by joyous abandon.
When that day returns – I look forward to dancing and singing with you!
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