Mont Blanc

I met up with Evan for lunch and a planned baking session - subject unknown. She was going to bring some of her baking books so we can look through and decide, in the end however, we decided to make Mont Blanc instead. Initially, as we were both entremets fans, we had hoped to make one, but due to time constraint, we decided on something else instead. I had always been wanting to attempt to make Mont Blanc, but was kinda afraid to. And Evan's done it before, so what better to do so when I have someone who's familiar with it by my side?

Sable breton; Assembling the Mont Blanc

Packaged chestnuts; Chestnut desserts tray

I had a few packets of prepacked Korean chestnuts in the house as I do enjoy munching on them as snacks. I opened a bag and used them in the mont blanc - placing it on top of the chocolate mousse bombe before piping the chestnut cream.

The chestnut cream was just a little hard to pipe out, I reckon there were larger chunks of chestnut that couldn't get through the pipe hole so it kept getting stuck and I kept getting like one or two strands of cream coming out through the hole instead of a bunch (there's several holes in the piping tip). I didn't strain the mixture, and if I attempt it again, I would strain the mixture as Aran had done. I also sifted icing sugar for decorating purposes but the icing sugar dissolved into the chestnut cream almost immediately. Oh wells. I did try.

A pity about the chocolate mousse bombe. Something went wrong while we were doing it cos we apparently didn't note that the mousse only required 1oz of the pate a bombe and we used the whole batch for the mousse. Hmmm. That would certainly explain why the texture was just...er...wrong. It wouldn't set at all even after a night in the freezer and the taste was just ahems, weird.

I realised that after making Mont Blanc, it really isn't very daunting after all. But I also realised another thing, that I don't really like Mont Blanc that much. Whoops. While I love the taste of freshly roasted chestnuts, I don't really like chestnut in puree form. Perhaps it's just a personal opinion on my end. Or perhaps just the brand of chestnut puree I used (Evan uses another brand and said that was much better). If I attempt it again, I'll probably take a note from Evan's book and use sweet potato instead. I'm inspired by her attempt using purple sweet potato. I love sweet potato puree better than chestnut puree (afterall, I've tried it before) so maybe I'll like it more?

Nevertheless, the sable breton is yums, love the scent the orange zest brings to the dough, and how the kitchen smelled so citrusy after I removed the tray from the oven. At least there was something I liked about the dessert...

Mont Blanc (adapted from Aran at Cannelle et Vanille)

Sable breton
80g sugar
80g salted butter
2 egg yolks
zest of half an orange
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
112g all purpose flour
7.5g baking powder

In an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the egg yolks, vanilla bean and the orange zest. Add the flour and baking powder combined until it comes together. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Roll out the dough to desired thickness and cut 3" circles with a round cutter. Place the circles in molds and bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Pate a Bombe
4 oz sugar
1 oz glucose
2 oz water
3 egg yolks

Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to 115°C. In the meantime, whip the yolks until they turn fluffy and pale. Add the cooked sugar to the yolks while the mixer is on low speed. Pour the sugar on the side of the bowl so you don't create spun sugar while doing this. Turn the mixer back to high and continue beating until light, thick and the bowl has cooled.

Dark Chocolate Mousse
***1 oz pate a bombe (note the portions!!!)
2 g gelatin
1.5 oz 70% chocolate, melted and cooled
4 oz heavy cream, soft peaks

Soften the gelatin in ice water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and mix with 2 tbs of the heavy cream (it's ok if it's already whipped to soft peaks). Melt them together in the microwave for about 7 seconds. Add this mixture to the soft peak whipped cream and whisk together until mixed. But be careful not to overmix. Add the cream to the pate a bombe and fold. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the base and fold. Place the mousse in a pastry bag and pipe into molds.

Chestnut Cream
200g unsweetened chestnut puree
200g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs dark rum

Beat the chestnut puree until smooth. Add the softened butter, vanilla extract and rum and mix. Press the cream through a fine sieve to remove any large chestnut puree chunks. Place the cream in a piping bag with a "spaghetti" tip and pipe the cream on top of the breton and chocolate mousse dome. Decorate with edible gold leaf if desired.