Dark Chocolate Cups With Raspberries

House shifting is a mammoth task. I speak from experience here. There is so much to be done before, during and after a move. If you are an organizing junkie like me, you will have more things on your plate. Its been a couple of weeks, and there are still boxes and stuff lying around the house. We both were exhausted thoroughly. Adding to our misery is the triple digit temperature and excessive heat warnings. I am so looking forward to fall.

As you can see, I have umpteen number of things to take care of. But before I get engrossed into that, I want to share with you a quick and easy dessert that I made last week. I am not saying that this is first of its kind, but I woke up with this image one morning. The image of chocolate cups, some berries and whipped cream. It was stuck to my head, and there was no other way but to try it. As I sat thinking on how to go about it, G couldn’t help but notice. He asked and I explained, hesitantly. ‘So, what do you think?’. ‘Dark chocolate and raspberries – That sounds delicious’, he said. And delicious it was. I loved the ease with which it came together, and he loved how delectable it was. So there we were, sitting on the floor amidst boxes, enjoying this lovely homemade dessert. A memorable moment and a much needed slowdown amidst this frenzy!

Dark Chocolate Cups With Raspberries
(makes 4)

Ingredients

Dark chocolate – 4 oz
Whipping cream – ¼ cup
White chocolate – 1 oz
Raspberries – 1 cup

Dark chocolate curls for garnish
Muffin liners – 4

Method

Line a muffin tin with muffin liners. Take the glass bowl that you are going to use for whipping the cream, and put in the freezer for 15 minutes. The cream whips and holds better.

Melt the dark chocolate in microwave for a minute, stirring once in between. The chocolate should be uniformly melted with a sheen. With a pastry brush, brush the insides of the muffin liners, coating thoroughly. It may be tricky at first, but you will get the hang of it. Freeze for 30 minutes. Take cups out, and give a second coat with the remaining chocolate. Return back to the freezer and freeze for 2 hours.

In a separate bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 30-40 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds. Take the frozen glass bowl from the freezer, and whip the cream until it forms hard peaks. To the melted white chocolate, add 1/3rd of the whipped cream. Gently fold the cream into the chocolate. The cream will deflate now, but will hold its shape during subsequent additions. Add the rest of the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture. Gently fold and do not mix vigorously. When it is combined, scoop the chocolate-cream mixture onto a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice, or onto a zip-top bag with a corner cut. Refrigerate this mixture for at least an hour.

The chocolate cups and the whipped cream-chocolate mixture can be made up to this point and stored in freezer and refrigerator respectively, for up to 5 days. When you are ready to serve, set the chocolate cups on the countertop for 5 minutes. This makes the peeling of the muffin liner easy. Once the liner is peeled, set on the serving plate. Fill the bottom with whipped cream-chocolate, top with raspberries, and finish off with another swirl of whipped cream-chocolate. Garnish with dark chocolate curls, if desired.

Variations

• Swap the white and dark chocolates. Make white chocolate cups with dark chocolate-cream, with a hint of orange zest.
• Use plain ole’ whipped cream from a can.
• Use mixed berries instead of just raspberries.

Its summer and berries are abundant. Do you folks have any suggestions for enjoying this dessert over fall and winter? Otherwise I just have to make this with just chocolate whipped cream. Not that I am complaining ;).