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Cardamom Coffee Mousse with Almond, Cranberry and Cocoa Nib Florentines

A light, fluffy coffee flavoured mousse is balanced with the crunch of a crisp and flavour packed florentine cookie. Both can be made in advance and stored till ready to serve. Just making life tasty and easy!

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword coffee, cookies, florentines, mousse
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Cooling Time 3 hours
Servings 6

Ingredients

Cardamom Coffee Mousse

  • 4 tsp (20 ml) gelatin
  • 2/3 cup (150 ml) coffee, cooled (I used Van Houtte Dark Roast)
  • 4 eggs separated
  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) sugar
  • 1 cup (250 ml) 35% whipping cream
  • 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom

Almond, Cranberry and Cocoa Nib Florentines

  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds (55 grams)
  • 1/4 cup packed, dried cranberries (30 grams)
  • 1/4 cup chopped almonds or pistachios (35 grams)
  • 1 Tbsp cocoa nibs (10 grams)
  • zest from one orange
  • 5 Tbsp butter (50 grams)
  • 1/4 cup sugar (50 grams)
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp whipping cream
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 200 grams (4 oz) dark or bittersweet chocolate broken in pieces
  • 3 tsp Instant coffee granules crushed in a mortar and pestle

Instructions

Coffee Mousse

  1. Place the coffee in a small pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Allow to bloom for 2 minutes. Place it on medium low heat just to dissolve the gelatin. Alternatively you can use a bowl for this process and place in the microwave for a few seconds to dissolve the gelatin.
  2. In one bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Store in the fridge till needed.
  3. In a second bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar for 4 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the gelatin coffee mixture and blend well. Set aside.
  4. In a third bowl, whip the cream till firm peaks are achieved.
  5. Fold the whipped cream into the coffee mixture. Bring the egg whites out from the fridge and fold them into the whipped cream coffee mixture. Fold gently but thoroughly. You can spoon this into 4-8 cups or small bowls (depending
  6. on how large you want your treat to be!) Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

Florentines

  1. Heat the oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

  2. Melt the butter, sugar, honey, cream and salt together in a medium sauce pan over a medium heat until it has come to a boil.

  3. Add the sliced and chopped almonds into the caramel. Continue to stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.

  4. Add the dried cranberries, cocoa nibs and orange zest, stir to combine well. Leave to let the mixture cool down enough to work with. The caramel will firm up making it easier to work with.

  5. Place rounded teaspoons of the mixture on to the baking sheets and flatten out as much as possible without leaving holes, making sure they are well spaced out on the trays. About 4-5 to a baking sheet. Makes about 18 cookies.

  6. Bake for about 5-8 minutes until golden brown all over. They won't be hard, but should have turned golden brown around the edges. Leave them to cool and harden on the baking sheet. After a minute you can use the edge of a knife or small offset spatula to clean up the edges of each cookie if so desired. Using an overturned cup or biscuit cutter can also help trim the edges, if you want a clean look. Rustic edges are good though.

  7. Once hardened and cool, you can move them to a cooling rack

  8. While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until liquid. Stir in the crush coffee granules till melted through.

  9. Once the cookies are completely cooled, use a silicone brush to paint the underside of each florentine in the chocolate. Turn these upside down with the chocolate on top to cool and set. To be really authentic, use a fork to make a wavy pattern in the setting chocolate after it has cooled for about 5 minutes. Leave to harden completely (I actually place them in the fridge to ensure that the chocolate is set) before serving or storing in an air-tight box.

Recipe Notes

This mousse was inspired by a recipe over on Ricardo's site!