Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Raspberry Chocolate Mink



I found this amazing recipe on Baking Bites. I love dark chocolate and raspberries (together or separately), and the fact that this dessert was formulated to serve two sealed the deal. Not that I shared it with the Engineer, mind you; he’s not really into dark chocolate (he prefers white) and he actually doesn’t like raspberries. So I made these for myself and had them for dessert after lunch on two consecutive days. They were wonderful! The chocolate taste was perfect, the raspberries were a great addition, and they unmolded so easily, it was like a dream. I liked them both warm and cold (though I found the cold one a bit richer).



For chocolate, I used Callebaut finest dark chocolate natural vanilla. You see, I finally went to the store I had mentioned before, the one that was supposed to be amazing. It turns out that I didn’t find all I was looking for, but I did find much more than I could at my regular grocery store. Most of Aubut is like a warehouse that caters to restaurants (so everything is sold in bulk). That’s where our friends R. and J. split a 5-kg block of chocolate with us. There is also a smaller grocery store for us common mortals, and I found mostly spices and tea from my shopping list. I haven’t had the time to explore the refrigerated and frozen food sections yet. Let me just say that there is a lot of variety and that prices are excellent (especially in bulk).

Without further ado, the mink recipe:

¼ cup fresh raspberries, divided
3 ½ oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp butter or lactose-free margarine
pinch of salt
1 egg, separated
1 Tbsp sugar



Preheat oven to 350 °F and grease two 6 oz ramekins or oven safe dishes. Place a single layer of raspberries on the bottom of each ramekin. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the berries and mash gently with a fork. Set aside.

In a small bowl, over a small saucepan of simmering water, melt together chocolate and butter. Stir in a pinch of salt and set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in egg yolk.



In a small bowl, beat egg white to soft peaks with the sugar. Fold half of the egg white and the mashed raspberries into the melted chocolate.



Fold in remaining white until no streaks remain. Divide evenly into prepared ramekins.



Place ramekins into a deep baking dish. Fill the dish with hot or boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes.



Remove ramekins from water bath and allow them to cool for at least 20 minutes before unmolding the cakes and serving.

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