Treat mom to something sweet on Sunday

Sunday is Mother’s Day, a time to celebrate mom with all her favorite things.

Pick her a bouquet of her favorite flowers, serve her breakfast in bed or make a meal with the foods she loves best. But don’t forget a delicious dessert.

After all, mom deserves a sweet treat for all she does.

If you can’t be there to celebrate in person, drop off a dessert on Mother’s Day and let her know how much you appreciate her.

There are a plethora of treats for mom, everything from a tray of fresh fruit with dip or melted chocolate to simple baked treats to an elaborate decorated cake — no matter your skill set, there’s a dessert to fit your talent.

Chocolate is a perennial favorite, and desserts featuring chocolate range from simple to complex.

Chocolate can be used in cookies that are delicious as they are or dipped in a fondue to create a decadent treat. You could also dip biscotti, fresh and dried fruits and small pieces of cake or marshmallows in a chocolate fondue.

If all else fails, try making chocolate coated strawberries. Just melt chocolate in the microwave, dip in cleaned strawberries and set them on a piece of parchment or waxed paper to set.

You could also garnish a dessert with chocolate shavings or curls. Use a vegetable peeler with a long narrow blade and a chunk or bar of chocolate to make curls.

When selecting a chocolate, remember this simple rule — the better tasting the chocolate you elect to use the better the chocolate dessert.

Buy chocolate you’ve had a chance to try first. Place a piece on your tongue and allow it to slowly melt. If it coats your mouth with a smooth, velvety feel, that’s a good sign you’re eating an excellent piece of chocolate.

Chocolate is best stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. If kept in a refrigerator, it should be tightly wrapped and allowed to come to room temperature before being used.

If all else fails, pick up a cake from the store and decorate it to match your mom. Use flowers or a tiny toy to personalize the dessert. Try piping a design or message with frosting. Garnish with sprinkles, sanding sugar, candies or other treats.

Or serve it as is, perhaps with a scoop of mom’s favorite ice cream.

After all, it is a day to enjoy, not to count calories.

Following are some dessert recipes from www.food52.com.

 

 

Hot Fudge

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

6 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup water and salt in a small saucepan and set over low heat. Add chocolate and stir to incorporate. Cook, stirring slowly but constantly, just until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is shiny and smooth. If desired, add more water, one tablespoon at a time, to loosen things up. Adjust the salt to taste.

Serve warm with ice cream (especially vanilla or coffee), frozen yogurt, Greek yogurt, pudding or over cake. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

 

 

 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate “Pudding”

1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt

2 tablespoon heavy cream

2 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa

1 tablespoon maple syrup, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large pinch of kosher salt

Whip all ingredients in a stand mixer for five minutes, until fluffy and glossy. Eat immediately, or chill for a few minutes until it firms up to be the texture of mousse, if preferred. Top with anything you have on hand, such as raspberries, crumbled cookies, a drizzle of peanut butter or sliced bananas.

 

 

Chocolate–Peanut Butter Mousse

For peanut butter mousse:

3/4 cup creamy, sweetened peanut butter

1/3 cup cold water

For chocolate mousse:

8 ounce dark chocolate

1 cup cold water

1 pinch flaky salt (optional)

Place peanut butter in a small mixing bowl, add two tablespoons water and mix with a fork until cohesive. Repeat until you’ve added all the water. The peanut butter should be fluffy and smooth, almost like frosting.

To make chocolate mousse, set up an ice bath by adding ice to a large bowl and setting a slightly smaller bowl on top of the ice.

Combine chocolate and water in a smallish saucepan and set over the lowest heat possible. Stir constantly until most of the chocolate is melted. Turn off heat and  stir until the chocolate is melted.

Pour chocolate-water mixture into the bowl on top of the ice. Whisk furiously for four to six minutes, until it has the consistency of very loose chocolate pudding — not whipped cream, which means you’ve gone too far.

If the peanut butter mousse has started to separate, stir it until it’s smooth again.

Place one-third of the chocolate mousse in a large bowl. Add one-third of the peanut butter mousse on top in big random spoonfuls. Add half the remaining chocolate mousse on top, also in big random spoonfuls, then add half of the remaining peanut butter mousse. Repeat with the rest of the chocolate mousse, then the rest of the peanut butter mousse.

Use spoons or an ice cream scoop to portion the chocolate–peanut butter mousse into six dishes. Sprinkle with flaky salt and serve.

 

 

Chocolate Mousse Pie With Oreo Crust

For crust:

40 chocolate cookies, such as Oreos with filling removed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

For filling and topping:

3 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoon espresso powder

4 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

7 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Chocolate shavings, for garnish

Place chocolate cookies and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add butter and pulse until the cookie crumbs just stay together. Press crust mixture tightly into a nine-inch pie dish in an even layer. Bake in a 350-degree oven 15 minutes, until set and springs back lightly to the touch. Let cool completely.

Place 3/4 cup heavy cream and espresso powder in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking until the espresso powder has dissolved, then heat one minute, until hot but not simmering.

In a metal or heatproof bowl, place egg yolks, sugar and salt, and whisk to combine. Slowly pour in hot cream and whisk to combine. Transfer mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat three to four minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture coats the back of a spoon and reaches 160 degrees.

Remove saucepan from heat, add chocolate and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes.

Place 1-1/4 cups heavy cream in a medium bowl and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed four minutes, until stiff peaks form. Pour chocolate mixture over whipped cream and use a spatula to fold until just combined. Pour chocolate mousse into the cooled pie crust and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for six hours or overnight.

Place one cup heavy cream in a medium bowl and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed three minutes, until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and beat one minute until stiff peaks form.

Remove the pie from the fridge. Dollop whipped cream in the middle of the pie and use a spatula to spread out to the edges, leaving 1/2-inch bare between the crust and whipped cream so that a ring of the pie is still visible. Top with chocolate shavings and serve immediately.

 

 

Intense Chocolate Tart

For pastry:

1-1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 to 4 tablespoon ice water

For filling:

8 ounce semisweet or bittersweet chocolate)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup heavy cream

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse flour and salt a few times to combine. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add three tablespoons water and pulse just until the mixture is moistened and holds together.  Add as much as one tablespoon water if necessary, being careful not to make the dough too wet.

Place dough on a piece of plastic wrap. Use the edges of the plastic wrap to lift and press the dough into a cohesive piece. Wrap with plastic and shape into a flat rectangle. Chill at least one hour and as long as three days.

Let dough stand on a lightly floured surface for a minute or two to warm slightly. Roll dough into an 11-inch circle. Fit into a nine-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and cut off the excess dough. Freeze 10 minutes.

Set the chilled crust on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill with parchment and pie weights and bake in a 375-degree oven 20 minutes, until crust has set. Remove parchment and weights and continue to bake crust 10 minutes, until browned nicely. Transfer to a rack to cool.

To make filling, put chocolate, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil over medium heat. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let stand one minute. Whisk until smooth and let cool slightly. Stir in egg and vanilla.

Pour filling into the crust. Set tart on a baking sheet and bake 18 to 20 minutes, until edges of the filling are set but the center still has a slight jiggle. Let the tart cool completely before serving.

 

 

Flourless Chocolate Mug Cake

1 large egg

1/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Confectioners’ sugar, optional

Flaky sea salt, optional

Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe mug. Microwave on high in 15-second intervals, stirring between each, until just about totally melted, then stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg five minutes, until super frothy and doubled in volume. Gently fold half the beaten egg into the chocolate mixture until combined. Fold in the remaining egg until combined.

Place in the microwave and cook on medium for 30 seconds, then on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until just set. Immediately sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and flaky salt, if desired.

 

 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup natural smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup black cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup flour

8 ounce semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place butter and peanut butter in a small skillet and set over low heat. Use a rubber spatula to stir occasionally as butter melts and peanut butter softens to form a cohesive mixture. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and salt. Pour in melted butter mixture and whisk one minute, until a smooth, cohesive paste forms. Add egg and vanilla extract and whisk two minutes, until well incorporated and slightly aerated.

Add black cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Use a rubber spatula to fold until fully combined. Add flour and chocolate chips. Fold again, until just combined.

Use a 1-1/2–ounce cookie scoop or three tablespoons to portion dough onto two rimmed parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving two inches between each scoop. Bake in the center and lower third of a 350-degree oven about 12 minutes, rotating and turning the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are puffed and slightly spread.

Remove from the oven. Lift one of the sheets a few inches above the counter, then drop. Repeat three more times to flatten and spread the cookies. Repeat with the other sheet. Let the cookies cool completely on the sheets.

 

 

Chocolate Nemesis

10 eggs

2-3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

24 ounces high-quality 70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces

1 pound unsalted butter, softened

Crème fraîche, for serving

Whisk eggs with a third of the sugar in an electric mixer about 10 minutes, until the volume quadruples.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water — the water should not touch the base of the bowl. Remove from the heat.

Heat remaining sugar with nine ounces water in a small pan until the sugar has completely dissolved to a syrup, stirring occasionally. Gently pour syrup into the melted chocolate, stirring.

Reduce speed of the mixer and slowly add warm chocolate and syrup mixture to the eggs. Increase mixer speed and beat until completely combined. The mixture will lose volume.

Pour into a greased 12-inch round, three-inch-deep cake pan lined on the bottom with parchment paper. Put pan into a deep baking pan on top of a dish towel to prevent the cake pan from moving. Fill baking pan with hot water that comes at least two-thirds up the sides of the cake pan. Bake in a 250-degree oven for 1-1/2 to two hours, until set.

Remove cake pan from the water. Leave cake in the pan to completely cool before turning out — don’t refrigerate. Serve with crème fraîche.