White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce

When I asked Randal if he had any suggestions for dessert he mentioned trying to make a white chocolate mousse with a raspberry sauce.  Little did he know that I had already decided on Nigella Lawson's white chocolate mousse with macerated strawberries, so I just changed the topping to the raspberry sauce I usually make and Randal was a happy man!

300 gm white chocolate
100 ml milk
2 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar
200 ml cream
1 vanilla bean, slit
400 gm strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

To make the mousse, melt the white chocolate with the scraped vanilla bean and milk.  Set aside to cool.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks, add the sugar and beat to stiff peaks.

Beat the cream to soft peaks and fold in the egg whites, followed by the white chocolate.  Spoon into serving glasses and refrigerate.

Raspberry sauce:
6oz fresh raspberries
1.5 tablespoons superfine sugar
Seeds from a 1/4 of a plumped vanilla bean

Combine the raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar, until the berries have given off some juices and they come to a boil. Transfer to a sieve set over a bowl. Using a spatula rub the berries and juices through the sieve.  Top the white chocolate mousse with the raspberry sauce.

Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse Cups with Strawberry Sauce

I found these cheesecake cups over at Barbara Bakes and I knew I had to include them in our Valentines desserts.  The original recipe included homemade chocolate heart cups, but with everything else I was making I just didn't have time for that so I bought some chocolate cups.

Cheesecake Mousse:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream

Strawberry Sauce:
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Fresh strawberries and blackberries

To make the cheesecake mousse, in the bowl of an electric mixer, add the cream cheese, sugar and salt and beat until smooth.  Add in the vanilla and heavy cream and beat until light and fluffy.  Pipe into chocolate cups and refrigerate.

In a medium saucepan, mix together the frozen strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool slightly. Add fresh berries and stir to coat, drizzle over the cheesecake cups.

Strawberry Cake Skewers

I knew I wanted to make these cake skewers as part of our Valentines dessert.  I have seen these all over pinterest and they are usually made with cake mixes.  I knew I wanted to make my favourite chocolate cake recipe for these as Randal loves that as well, but I did take the easy route for the yellow cake and used a box mix, but I used milk not water and butter not oil.

Yellow cake:
1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted

Chocolate cake:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. valrhona cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

To make the yellow cake, in the bowl of an electric mixer combine the cake mix, butter, milk and eggs.  Beat until combined.

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

To make the chocolate cake, in a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated. Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.  Pour into a greased square pan and bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes.

Once cakes have cooled cut into squares.  Take a skewer and alternate with cake squares and strawberries, drizzle with melted white and milk chocolate.

Thai Chicken Lettuce Cups

Finally the last of the Valentines appetizers I made this year.  I think it was a few years ago that I made Vietnamese chicken lettuce cups, and as we loved those so much I wanted to try a new lettuce cup recipe this year.  I found this recipe over at Sonis Food.  I knew we would like these as we love red curry and coconut milk and they were a fun appetizer to try.

1 lb ground Chicken
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup mixed bell peppers, diced
1/4 cup frozen green beans
1 tbsp red curry paste
1/4 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
Lettuce

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan.  Add the onion and cook for a few minutes.  Add the garlic, ginger and curry paste and cook for a minute, add in the ground chicken and cook through.

Add in the bell peppers, green beans and season with salt and pepper.  Mix in the coconut milk and spoon into lettuce cups.

Deviled Egg Dip

I have seen the idea for this all over pinterest, a deviled egg dip rather than making actual deviled eggs. It's pretty much a big bowl of egg mayonnaise but instead of eating it as a sandwich filling it is served with crackers.

6 eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp sweet relish
salt and pepper
paprika

Place the eggs in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, cover pan and turn off the heat.  Leave for 10 minutes then place eggs in a bowl of ice water.

Peel the eggs once they have cooled.  Place in a large bowl and mash with the mayonnaise, mustard and relish.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and top with paprika.

Crescent Roll Monte Cristo Bites

I had some crescent roll dough left over after making a few of the chicken cordon bleu roll ups, and when trying to decide what to make with the remainder of the dough I thought about trying to make a version of a monte cristo, a sandwich that I have only ever tried at a restaurant called cheddars, and the first time I ordered one I was horrified by the raspberry jam and powdered sugar, but that was a long time ago and my taste buds have since become Americanized !

Crescent rolls
sliced turkey
sliced ham
sliced swiss cheese (you can use any cheese you like, swiss is what I had on hand)
raspberry jam
icing sugar

Press 2 of the triangles of crescent dough together.  Spread a thin layer of jam over the dough.  Cover with the sliced cheese, then the ham and turkey.  Roll up the dough and place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 375.  Let cool for a few minutes before slicing and dusting with icing sugar.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Rolls

These chicken rolls were the reason I made the batch of homemade chicken strips .  I used the jumbo sized crescent rolls, as my chicken strips were huge.  These are really simple, but very good.

1 can of jumbo crescent rolls
chicken strips
ham slices
swiss cheese slices
honey mustard

Preheat the oven to 375

Unroll the crescents and separate into triangles.  Spread a thin layer of honey mustard on the crescent roll, add a slice of swiss cheese, a slice of ham and a chicken strip.  Roll up and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Serve with additional honey mustard.