A dessert a day keeps depression away

I love raspberries. Tiny, beautiful, red and jewel like.

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I love topping desserts with them, I love adding them in layer cakes with fresh cream filling. And I love making a compote or a raspberry curd. They add such tang and panache to chocolate desserts.

I recently made this raspberry white chocolate parfait. Parfait- even the word sounds perfect! And the dish is perfect. A combination of perfectly whipped cream with a white chocolate ganache swiftly folded into it; and lastly raspberry purée gently marbled through to form decadent swirls of red fading into a gentle pink.

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Quick, simple and classic!

The recipe:

200 g white chocolate (whatever is at hand)

2 cartons (2x 200ml) fresh whipping cream

vanilla bean paste (I use Nielsen Massey)

1 box of raspberries

2-4 tbsps sugar

* Chop the white chocolate into tiny pieces.

* Wash the raspberries, reserving a few for the topping. Add 2-4 tbsps of sugar to the rest and whiz in a blender/mixie. Pass the purée through a sieve to remove the seeds. Then set aside.

* Bring half a carton of cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Once simmering, take off the heat and add the chopped chocolate to the cream. Whisk until the chocolate has completely melted. If there are lumps, put your saucepan back on a low flame and stir until completely melted. Leave aside to cool.

* Whip the rest of the cream (300 ml) over ice until soft peaks begin to form. This can take anywhere from 3-4 minutes with a hand blender, up to 10 minutes by hand. Stop short of turning the cream into butter and having to dash to the stores for more cream.

* Stir in the vanilla bean paste and inhale the heavenliness. (Why do people think vanilla is plain?)

* Gently fold in the cooled chocolate ganache. The parfait will start to firm up immediately. Quickly pour in the raspberry purée and stir through creating lovely swirly patterns.

* Spoon into glass bowls or wine glasses.

* Chill for an hour or longer.

* Hide from your kids and the guests and enjoy them yourself.

* There are many variations you could try: layer berries and crunchy granola with the parfait. Make chocolate cups to serve the parfait in. Make it with milk or dark chocolate combining it with praline, with raisins soaked in rum….the variations are endless.

Enjoy!

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4 Comments

  1. thank you for sharing your recipe here. I think this is such a sweet lovely dessert to be taken after a meal. Looks pretty!

  2. This looks delicious! And the recipe seems simple! Thanks for sharing!