semisweet – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods July 13, 2024July 13, 2024almond paste, almonds, cake pan, cakes, chilled, china caps, chocolate, Christmas, Cointreau, cold desserts, dessert, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, frozen, fruit sauce, gluten-free, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, grated, grind, liqueur, mousse, orange liqueur, orange peel, powdered sugar, raspberries, raspberry liqueur, raspberry sauce, semisweet, stiff peaks, vegetarian, wax paper, whipped, whipping cream, XMAS 23, zested

I had high hopes of catching up on this thing in a timely fashion, but let’s face it–we’re all surprised I’m even still updating it all at this point. The 10-year anniversary came and went a few months ago without much (or any) fanfare, but I AM still here–just not as attentive as I used to be. Let’s face it–a LOT has changed over the last 10 years. No plans to completely let it die yet, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it.

Anyway, here’s 16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was one of two desserts I served for Christmas 2023 (XMAS 23).

Seemed Christmas-appropriate, plus it’s gluten-free! That doesn’t matter to anyone that’s in this house, but someone out there might care about something like that.

16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 24, 2020December 28, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, cakes, chilled, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Eve, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, fruit, garnish, glazed, granulated sugar, layers, melted, parchment paper, party food, powdered sugar, raspberries, revisited, semisweet, stiff peaks, tart, TGV 2019, Thanksgiving, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream, XMAS 08

I had a goal to finish all the ones I cooked in 2019 by the end of 2020…not sure if I’ll meet that goal (EDIT: I did!), but here’s one more from last year: 16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart. Not only is this from last Thanksgiving (along with 6-42: Turkey Pot Roast and 17-15: Cream Puffs), but I also made a version of it as part of a fancy Christmas dinner 12 years ago (XMAS 08) as well. Since today is Christmas Eve, I think it’s a good day to tell you about it.

When I made this back in ’08, I made 6 individual tarts instead of one big one–I was afraid it would look weird once I cut it, so I thought individual servings would look better. I had been watching a LOT of Top Chef at that point (and still do, but that’s the ONLY cooking show I’ll watch).

Since I had a few of the same guests attending as that Christmas dinner back in ’08 (and the same number), I decided to make the same modification this time. Usually I will reverse modifications when I recook recipes I’ve already done to try to honor the “original” recipe, but this time I decided to stick with it.

15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 14, 2020November 14, 2020boiled, bread crumbs, brown sugar, chilled, chocolate, cold desserts, dark chocolate, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fruit, ginger, grated, layers, pears, poached, rye bread, semisweet, simmered, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I often wonder when I “evaluate” these recipes if I’m biased in my ratings/attitude towards them because of my own personal feelings about their contents. If I don’t personally like pears, does that unfairly impact my review of 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping? Probably. Just a thought.

I’m not a huge pear fan, so if you haven’t figured it out by now, pear halves with weird chocolate bread topping wasn’t my jam. But if months of quarantine have you curious about weird desserts from the 80s, read on.

15-37: Elegant Strawberries

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 22, 2018July 30, 2020chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, coated, coconut, cold desserts, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, easy, egg-free, fail, fairly inexpensive, frozen, fruit, gift ideas, glazed, gluten-free, grated, MD2018, melted, Mother's Day, orange juice, oranges, powdered sugar, semisweet, sprinkles, strawberries, untested, Valentine's Day, vegetarian, wax paper

Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s the final dish from Mother’s Day this year–only 6 months after the fact. Better later than never, I suppose.

You can find the other dishes I made for this year’s Mother’s Day under the tag MD2018 (there’s also last year’s MD2017). If you’re interested in a Simply Delicious Thanksgiving feast I did a few years ago, check out TGV 2016.

My mom always loves dipped strawberries, so I thought these would be a nice alternative to the mail-order/delivery ones you see all over the place around the holidays. Since I was also making 16-10: Strawberry Shortcake, it ended up being a very strawberry-heavy Mother’s Day. 🍓🍓

16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 7, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, at work, baked goods, butter, chilled, chocolate, custard, dark chocolate, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grated, lemon peel, lemons, macadamia nuts, meringue, milk, nuts, party food, pi day, pie crust, pies, semisweet, sliced, toasted, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

A few months ago, we celebrated Pi Day in my office. Most of the pies were store-bought, but I decided to flip through Simply Delicious and see if there was anything worth contributing. I decided on 16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie–everyone likes chocolate, and we had had a mishap with the lemon meringue pie on the way back from the store while preparing the day before.

If you’re not familiar with Pi Day, it takes place on March 14th, which when written as a numeric date is 3-14 (at least in the U.S. it is–some countries reverse the order). Pi (the mathematical constant represented by the Greek letter π) is usually rounded up to 3.14, so March 14th is celebrated with actual pies (and a bit of math) as a play-on-words. 😂

No one really needs an excuse to eat pie, but “It’s a math joke” is certainly an acceptable one.

16-24: French Chocolate Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 18, 2017November 5, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, cake pan, cakes, candied, chilled, chocolate, cocoa powder, cornstarch, creamed, creamy, decorative, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, French, frosted, garnish, glazed, granulated sugar, grapes, icing, layers, marmalade, oranges, party food, powdered sugar, semisweet, sifted, springform pan, unsweetened, untested, vegetarian, wax paper

I recently attended a baby shower for a former co-worker and took it as an opportunity to knock out two more Simply Delicious desserts: 16-39: Apricot Tart and this one, 16-24: French Chocolate Cake. I wanted to bring something fruit/nut and something just plain chocolate, since some people there had nut allergies and others might just want something simple and chocolate.

This was a combination birthday party/baby shower (same person being honored for both), which will hopefully explain the odd decorations on my version of the cake. I’ve spared you pictures of the worst of my decoration choices, but let’s just say I made liberal use of all 4 colors of a grocery store icing kit. I kept meaning to hit a craft store for better cake decorations (or even Amazon), but time got away from me. ⏳

17-20: Macadamia Chip Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 27, 2016August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate, chocolate chips, chopped, cookies, dessert, easy, eggs, fairly expensive, gift ideas, holiday baking, macadamia nuts, nuts, party food, semisweet, snacks, untested, vanilla chips, vegetarian, white chocolate, XMAS 16

I went pretty cookie-heavy last year when I baked for the holidays, so this year (XMAS 16) I only included one cookie recipe: 17-20: Macadamia Chip Cookies. These ones got pretty rave reviews as well (17-42: Luscious Lemon Bars received the most accolades this year), and I definitely found myself sneaking a few before I packed up and shipped off everyone’s treat packages. 🎁

Simply Delicious is right about one thing: these cookies do make a great gift, and they ship well. Macadamia nuts are a smooth, mild nut that most people won’t be offended by, and the combination of white and semisweet chocolate are the best of both worlds.

15-18: Chocolate Favorites

Adam Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 18, 2016October 29, 2020all-purpose flour, baking cups, brownies, butter, chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate curls, cold desserts, creamy, dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, frozen, melted, meringue, party food, pastry, powdered sugar, semisweet, snacks, sour cream, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped

Cold desserts are not my area of expertise, but I gave it a shot for this recipe. ❄ 15-18: Chocolate Favorites were a hit! I really just got a kick out of saying “Chocolate Favorite” when describing these little treats. 🍫

Bite sized pastries are the best! These two layers did come out as intended, a one-two punch of chocolate flavors. This recipe did indeed make me want to rejoice. 😆

14-16: Chocolate Nut Pudding

Adam Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 2, 2016October 29, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chocolate, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, coffee, dark chocolate, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, granulated sugar, hot desserts, melted, milk, nuts, pecans, pudding, salt, semisweet, unsweetened, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian

We really enjoyed this dessert. 14-16: Chocolate Nut Pudding is a fancy version of “cake in a coffee mug” with additional toppings. ☕

This dessert was awesome while still warm, still great while cold.

Editor’s note: “If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding, how can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat!” 🎸🇬🇧

15-2: Chocolate Mousse

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 20, 2016July 30, 2020chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, coffee, cold desserts, creamy, dessert, double boiler, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, folded, melted, mousse, party food, powdered sugar, ramekins, restaurant-style, semisweet, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

Since it’s currently summer, I’ve been experimenting more with the Cold Desserts section of Simply Delicious. Come fall & winter, we’ll get back to more of the Hot Desserts. 15-2: Chocolate Mousse is not the first mousse I’ve attempted (check out 15-1: Lemon Mousse for a citrusy variation), but it is a pretty solid chocolate mousse recipe–these are great for entertaining, or even making in individual servings and freezing for later. 🍨

As noted above on the card, chocolate mousse is a classic and popular dessert. There are a variety of ways to approach it, as explained in this Serious Eats feature on the dish, but Simply Delicious’ version is super easy–5 ingredients are all you need. 🍫

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