Disclaimer
This post is not sponsored or comissioned. It contains the mention of three brand names. I am the sole author of this recipe. Please mention me prominently and embed a link to this page in case you want to feature it yourself – which I'd love to see! 🙂
Super duper last-minute, here’s a Christmassy recipe I came up with myself this month. It tastes super luxurious but isn’t difficult to make. This will probably impress even the sceptic non-vegans … 😉
Important notes
As vegan cream, I used one packet of Schlagfix (unsweetened) for four servings. This brand might not be available internationally, so use whatever alternative you have that creates a whipped and stable result – just like the dairy cream if possible. In case you have the brand Soyatoo, they make a soy whip that might also work nicely, but doesn’t increase much in volume when being whipped. That means, depending on how much is contained, you might need more than one packet.
The chocolate I chose is my favourite dark chocolate (70% cocoa) of all time. It’s from the German organic and fairtrade brand GEPA. Many dark chocolates taste too bitter and not full-bodied and warm enough for my liking, so the right chocolate can make a big difference.
Wintery dessert: Spiced cookie mousse with oranges and dark chocolate
This dessert is creamy, tangy, sweet and spicy with layers of crunchy bittersweet chocolate that will melt in your mouth. The different flavours and textures really compliment each other. It can be very easily prepared and stored in the fridge.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- food processor (alternatively: freezer bag and rolling pin)
- small pot or pan
- deep narrow mixing bowl
- hand mixer with whisks
- fine grater (alternatively: skip the grating part)
- equipment for a water bath = a bain-marie or smaller bowl
- 1 closable jar per portion (alternatively: dessert bowl)
Ingredients
- 2 untreated oranges preferably organic
- 100 gram raw cane sugar less when using standard white sugar
- 150 gram vegan spiced cookies (Spekulatius, Speculoos) or crunchy "butter" cookies and more spices
- 1 vegan whippable cream, unsweetened my 200 ml packet creates 750 ml of whip
- 40 icing sugar skip in case your cream is already sweetened
- 6 cloves or small tsp of clove powder
- 0.5 tsp ground allspice (pimento)
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 0.25 tsp ground cardamom
- 60 gram high-quality chocolate, 70% cocoa preferably organic and fairtrade!
Instructions
Preparing the oranges
- Wash the oranges, pat them dry and grate the zest. Cut off the white parts around the pulp, cut the pulp into slices and then bite-sized chunks. Remove the white stalk and seeds. In case you enjoy a really tangy taste or are lucky and have great oranges with a rather thin skin, don't grate the zest and instead chop up the whole fruits into bite-sized chunks, only removing stalk and seeds, and adding more sugar to taste.
- Put the chunks (and zest) into a small pot or pan. Add the raw cane sugar or white sugar to the oranges and bring to boil. Simmer for around 15 mins until the excess water is mostly evaporated and all parts are softened. Set aside to cool down.
Preparing the dark chocolate
- Make a water bath by using a bain-marie or a smaller bowl over a pot with warm water. Ideally, the water temperate is around 40 degrees Celsius / 104 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Chop up the chocolate into small pieces and melt them in the water bath. Be patient as this takes some time. Also, make sure not a single droplet of water touches the chocolate, else you would unfortunately ruin this batch! Lastly, set the bain-marie or bowl with the melted chocolate aside to cool down. This will ensure a good texture later on.
Preparing the spiced cookie mousse
- Set aside 5 grams of cookies per serving for decorating purposes. Grind up the rest as finely as possible.
- Whip the vegan cream (we need around 190 ml of whip per serving) until it is stiff. Grind the spices that aren't already powdered and add them, together with the other spices, to the whipped cream. Add the icing sugar (skip if your cream is already sweetened).
- Now add the ground cookies to the whipped cream and carefully mix everything until well integrated and smooth. Store in the fridge.
Assembling the dessert
- Put the bain-marie or bowl with the hardened chocolate back into the water-bath and let it melt very gently.
- Place an even layer of the boiled oranges into each jar or bowl. Then take half of the cookie mousse batch to layer on top, followed by a very thin layer (does not have to be even) of melted chocolate. Put the jars or bowls into the fridge immediately to ensure the cream does not melt while the chocolate hardens.
- Right when the chocolate cooled down (does not take long), take the jars or bowls out of the fridge and distribute the rest of the cookie mousse batch on top. Follow up with the rest of the boiled oranges and top the dessert with a final dripping of melted chocolate. Decorate with crumbles of the leftover cookies.
- Put the dessert into the fridge for at least ten minutes so that everything has set. Then serve and enjoy!
