Blackberry Violet Shortcakes
The delicate flavour of violets is mostly in their lovely fragrance. Gorgeous candied violets, available at fine grocers, introduce this fragrance to these shortcake biscuits topped with a simple white chocolate mousse and blackberries flavoured with Crème Yvette, a knock-out violet liqueur arguably better than the real thing.
BLACKBERRIES
3 cups blackberries
⅓ cup Crème Yvette liqueur
3 tbsp sugar
SHORTCAKE
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups cake and pastry flour
4 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter,
cut into chunks
1 tbsp finely chopped
candied violets
1 cup plus 1 tbsp cold whipping cream, divided
⅓ cup cold water
Sanding or coarse sugar
WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
¼ cup plus 1 cup cold whipping cream, divided
3 oz. white chocolate, chopped
*
Directions:Place blackberries in a heatproof bowl. Combine Crème Yvette and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar, bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour hot syrup over blackberries and stir to coat. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or up to a day.
Preheat oven to 425°F
In a food processor, combine all-purpose flour, cake and pastry flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter and pulse to cut into pea-size pieces; turn out into a large bowl and stir in candied violets.
In a large measuring cup, combine 1 cup cream and the water; pour over flour mixture. Stir until dough just comes together and turn out onto work surface. Knead 2 to 3 times, and flatten into a disc 1 inch high. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut into 8 biscuits, regathering dough if necessary. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush tops with remaining 1 tbsp cream and sprinkle each with a small amount of sanding sugar.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden and puffed. Remove to a rack to cool.
To make white chocolate mousse, bring ¼ cup cream to a boil; stir in white chocolate until melted. Cool to room temperature.
In a separate bowl, whip remaining 1 cup cream to medium peaks. Continue beating and slowly add chocolate mixture; whip to stiff peaks.
To serve, split biscuits in half and arrange bottoms individually on plates. Dress with an equal amount of mousse, berries and syrup; top with biscuit halves.
Serves 8
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