Try This! Chestnut and Orange Cream Pudding for Christmas
Becky Gilhespie |
This delicious layered dessert has a soft and pillowy merengue centre on a pastry disc with chestnut puree, a light orange infused cream and topped with a drizzle of melted chocolate.
Preparation time: 1 hr 30 minutes | Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 Sheet of Shortcrust Pastry
4 Egg Whites
8 Tbsp Caster Sugar
Pinch salt
250g (1 Cup) Cream Cheese
4 Tbsp Greek Yoghurt
4 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of One Orange
250g Chestnut Puree
1 Orange
4 tsp Orange Marmalade
4 Tbsp Good Quality Milk Chocolate, or Nutella, Melted
Instructions
1. Heat your oven to 200C/375F. Using a sharp knife, trace the bottom of the ramekins or dishes you will be serving the dessert in on top of the pastry and cut out the circles – 2 per dish. Place the circles on a sheet of baking paper and then bake for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Reduce oven heat to 100C (90 Fan Forced)/210F. Using a mixer/beater, whip the egg whites until foamy, then gradually add in the sugar and pinch salt until stiff peaks are achieved.
3. Trace the bottom of the ramekins again, this time with a pen on some baking paper on a baking sheet. Pile the egg whites on top, within the circles, to make 4 tall pyramid shapes. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, then take out to cool.
4. Make up the Orange yogurt cream by mixing together in a bowl the cream cheese, yogurt, honey, vanilla and orange zest. Set aside
5. In another bowl, add about 1/3 of this mixture to the chestnut puree. Spoon this chestnut mixture into a piping bag (see notes).
6. Segment the orange by cutting off the skin, then cut wedges out from in between the skin. (See notes from the video below for easy instructions) Set aside.
7. When ready to assemble the desserts, to each ramekin add 1 Tbsp of chestnut puree in the bottom, followed by 1 disc of pastry, then 1 tsp of marmalade and 4 orange slices, then 1 Tbsp of orange yogurt cream. Top with the meringue. Spoon or pipe over the chestnut puree in a zig-zag way. Drizzle over a little more orange yogurt cream on the very top, followed by the melted chocolate/Nutella. Crumble the remaining pastry disc on top to finish.
8. Place desserts in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes: Chestnut Puree is available to buy in major grocery stores. Don’t worry if you don’t have a piping bag! You can use any old container with a nozzle – such as a squeezy honey bottle, or mustard bottle.