Chocolate Bag
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
- White chocolate mousse, recipe follows or flavored whipped cream
- Mixed berries
- Mint sprigs
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 5 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup egg whites (from about 4 eggs)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Melt chocolate over hot water.
- Using a thin small clear 4-sided cellophane bag cut the top off to desired height.
- Un-crease the bag so it stands up and open.
- Using a paintbrush, coat the inside of the bag well with chocolate.
- Put in the freezer to set up until very hard, about 30 minutes.
- Cut the bag a little and pull it away from the chocolate.
- Store chilled until ready to serve.
- To serve, fill it with white chocolate mousse then lay it on a plate on its side so it looks like it's spilling over.
- Garnish it with a cascade of mixed berries and a mint sprig.
- You can fill it with truffles, too.
- Two days before you plan to serve the dessert, in a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils.
- Immediately turn off the heat.
- Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.
- Strain into another bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, whip it into fluffy, soft peaks.
- Return to the refrigerator.
- In a clean dry bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff, about 30 seconds more.
- Fold into the white chocolate mixture, and then spoon the mixture (or pipe through a pastry bag) into glasses or chocolate bags.
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings
- Notes about the recipe: This was invented by a Chicago chef friend of mine, Jackie Shen for her restaurant, Jackie's, in 1984.
- She wanted to make a chocolate bag like she saw Julia Child have full of truffles but could not figure out how to do it.
- She tried brown paper bags but they just didn't work.
- Then one day she was waiting in line at Garret's caramel corn stand on Randolph Street, a tradition in Chicago, and noticed they were bagging in a clear cellophane bag and she realized that might work.
chocolate, white chocolate mousse, mixed berries, sprigs, heavy cream, white chocolate, egg whites, sugar
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chocolate-bag-recipe.html (may not work)