Coviglia al caffe
Total time: 30 minutes, plus freezing time
Servings: 10
Note: Adapted from Cucina del Sole by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. "Coviglia should not be frozen hard," she writes. If you must keep them in the freezer longer than 2 to 3 hours, transfer them out of the freezer and into the refrigerator so they loosen up before serving.
1. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the milk until it is just hot to the touch, but do not let the milk come to a boil. Keep warm.
2. In a small bowl, combine the ground espresso and flour, tossing with a fork to mix well. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat until the mixture is light-colored and thickened. Continue beating as you slowly pour in the warm milk. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, the coffee and the mixture of ground espresso and flour, beating constantly.
4. When everything is well-combined, transfer the mixture to a heavy saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to a creamy consistency. Note that it's important to watch the mixture and stir constantly because if it comes to a boil, it will curdle as the eggs start to cook. (If that starts to happen, immediately pull the pan off the heat and cool it by setting the base of the pan in cold water. Strain the mixture to get rid of any curdled/cooked bits and continue with the remainder.) In the end, the mixture will thicken to a custard and coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Beat 1 cup of the whipping cream in a chilled bowl to soft peaks, then fold the whipped cream into the coffee mixture. Rinse the beaters and beat the egg whites to stiff peaks; fold into the coffee cream.
6. Pour into a glass bowl and freeze about 1 hour, then stir the mixture, which should be half-frozen. Divide into espresso cups and return to the freezer until almost frozen, an additional 2 to 3 hours.
7. Whip the remaining cream together with the powdered sugar and remaining vanilla to soft peaks. Spoon a small dollop of whipped cream onto each serving and sprinkle lightly with bittersweet chocolate. Serve immediately.
Caramel Espresso Float (4 servings)1. Cook granulated sugar in a dry 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar melts into a deep golden caramel. Remove from heat and carefully add 1 cup water (caramel will harden and steam vigorously). Cook over high heat, stirring, until caramel is dissolved, then remove pan from heat. Add espresso powder and stir until dissolved. Add remaining cup water and ice cubes and stir until espresso is cold. Discard any unmelted ice cubes.
2. Beat cream with confectioners sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks. Divide ice cream among 4 (8-ounce) glasses, then pour 1/2 cup espresso over each serving and top with whipped cream, nuts, and chocolate.
Chocolate Espresso Cups:
"Tiramisu Cupcakes
white cupcakes (recipe follows)
espresso chocolate mousse (recipe follows)
1/4 cup coffee or espresso
mascarpone frosting (recipe follows)
cocoa powder for dusting
crushed ladyfingers for garnish
White Cupcakes
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour (you can use all-purpose if you need)
1 TBSP. baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
5 egg whites
Sift together flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
In a mixing bowl (if using a stand mixer use the paddle attachment), cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
In a liquid measuring cup, combing vegetable oil and milk.
Add flour mixture and milk/oil mixture alternatively to the mixing bowl. Beating on low speed after each addition.
Pour mixture into a large bowl. Scrape down to make sure you get all of the batter.
Clean out bowl and switch to whisk attachment.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, to “lighten” the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
Grease and lightly flour muffin pans. Fill each cup half full.
Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until done.
Cool on a wire rack.
Espresso Chocolate Mousse
2 cups chilled heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
4 TBSP sugar
2 tsp espresso powder
8 oz fine-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Heat ¾ cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot.
Whisk together yolks, sugar, espresso powder, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined.
Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler, stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool.
Beat remaining 1 ¼ cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.
Mousse recipe adapted from Gourmet December 2002
Mascarpone Frosting
2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 ounces Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Using and electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
In a mixing bowl, fold 2/3¢â¬â„¢s of the whipped cream into the Mascarpone cheese, along with the powdered sugar.
Add remaining cream. Blend until cream is fully incorporated.
Place in refrigerator until ready to frost.
Assemble:
Using the cone method, fill cupcakes with Espresso Chocolate Mousse filling. Place top back on top of cupcakes. Brush top of cupcake with coffee or espresso. Go light on this as they are fresh cupcakes, and not hard like most ladyfingers. You don’t want to soak them.
Frost top with Mascarpone Frosting.
Sprinkle cocoa powder on top of cupcakes and garnish with crushed ladyfingers."
115g/4oz icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
250g/9oz shop-bought puff pastry
200g/7oz (or 1 punnet) blueberries
165ml/5½fl oz whipping cream
25g/1oz icing sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds only (or alternatively 2 drops of vanilla extract)
1 lemon, finely grated zest and a squeeze of the juice
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Dust the work surface with lots of icing sugar and roll out the pastry to a rectangle just larger than 27 x 30cm/10½ x 12in, trimming the edges straight. It should be super thin, as thin as you can get it, without stretching the pastry.
Cut out 18 rectangles about 9cm/3½in long and 5cm/2in wide and place them on the prepared baking tray. Sprinkle with lots of icing sugar and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and bake in the oven for five minutes, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the pastry with more icing sugar. Return to the oven and bake for a further five minutes, or until the pastry turns golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
For the sweetened cream, put the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and whip until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Fold in the lemon zest and juice, to taste, then scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/½in straight nozzle.
Place one of the pastry thins on a serving plate. Pipe blobs of cream over the pastry and put the blueberries between the cream, then put another pastry thin on top and repeat with one more layer. Sprinkle the top layer with more icing sugar and repeat until all the pastry and cream is used up.
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