Pear-chocolate gateau

Ingredients:

50 g of flour 

125 g of butter 

150 g of sugar 

4 Eggs 

100 g of chocolate chips

100 g of almond or hazelnut powder

½ to 1 sachet of baking powder

1 big can of syrup pears

Cinnamon powder 

Preparation: 

Remove the syrup from the pears. Cut the pears in average dices on a plate and sprinkle with cinnamon. 

Mix: flour yeast + sugar melted butter + eggs + powder almond (or hazelnuts). 

Add the diced pears and chocolate chips. Mix gently to not crush pears. Pour into a mold - diameter approximately 25 cm. Preheat the oven. Cook: 10 minutes at 160 ° C, then 30 minutes at 180 ° C. 

Serve warm with melted chocolate chips or cool. 

Note: You can serve with an English cream or a pear coulis.

Madeleine de Commercy

The story of the “Madeleine”… 

Stanislas, king of Poland used to have, as a second home, the

 castle of Commercy, in a small town of the Lorraine region (east part of France).
One day, in the year of grace 1755, he received, as guests, the great Voltaire and Madame du Châtelet, both known to him to have a sweet tooth. For this event, he ordered to his cook, a woman called Madeleine, to create a brand new sweet.
She then proposed to the king's guests small cakes with a fat belly who were declared to be excellent beccause, among other reasons, of their delicate bergamot orange flavour.
King Stanislas aprreciated them so much that he sent a parcel full of them to the king of France, Louis XV, in Versailles.
The cake became so successful that it was decided to call it "Cake of the Queen" but the queen prefered to call it "Madeleine", from the name of the one who invented this today famous cake.

And this is why the name of a modest cook of a noble house became famous for ever. 

Ingredients for 1 dozen of Madeleine :

 

3 eggs
- 50 g of milk
- 200 g of caster sugar
- 1 sachet or dose of vanilla sugar
- 250 g of flour - 1 sachet or dose of baking powder
-125 g of butter 

Direction :
 

Mix the eggs, milk, sugar, flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Once the batter is well blended you may add the melted butter. Continue mixing for 1 minute. 

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) for 10 min.
Butter the molds and fill them up halfway, cook in the oven for 10 / 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Peel off when cold. 

You may obtain another variant of these madeleine cakes by incorporating chocolate powder to the original batter. 

Et voilà! Enjoy!

Mousse au chocolat - Chocolate mouss

- 250 gr of black chocolate 70%

- 10 cl of light cream but you can replace this ingredient by 20gr of butter if you do not want your chocolate to get too hard

- 4 eggs

Break your chocolate in pieces in a bowl

Let melt the chocolate in a bain-marie with hot water

When the chocolate is fully melted add the light cream and stir. Let it in the bain-marie.

Separate the egg whites of the yolk and beat the whites until very very compact.

Take the chocolate out of the bain-marie. Add and stir the yolk. Your chocolate needs to be very smooth and light.

Pour the mousse in small recipients and store them at least 6hours in the fridge.

Et voila! 

Tips :

Add some water (not too much) in the whites when still liquid and bubbly : you ll get more!

You can change the recipe by... changing of chocolate or why not make a mouss with 3 different chocolate layers! You just need to pour the first layer and wait some time for the mousse to  become a bit hard before to pour the second one and repeat for the 3 layer.

If you use black chocolate 90 % add a bit of sugar

For milk or white chocolate add a little bit of milk

You could even realise this mousse with some particular flavored chocolates...

Add a bit of extract of almond in your mousse, it is just delicious!

Decorate your mousse with grated chocolate white or black... and add a small fruit on the side - strawberry, orange...

You can also add a little stick of biscuit.

For a children dessert think about small and colorful sweets for the top - Trust me they will just love it!