Turtle Mousse Cups

Hi everyone!

Hope you are doing well

This week I wanted to do a dessert inspired by the Turtle chocolates (mostly because I have so many pecans at home!). About every step of this recipe went wrong but fortunately they turned out very yummy at the end!

For one, I completely messed up the first caramel mousse I tried (recipe from Leite’s Culinaria)! It tasted good but looked disgusting! Must go with my inability to do caramel! The second recipe, the one you see on the photo was delicious even if it didn’t taste a lot like caramel and didn’t have a mousse texture! I must have done something wrong like, for example, not respecting the amount of sugar

Then I had trouble with my crust (getting them out of the tin), and then with my caramel drizzle and finally, OH! Chocolate drizzle went perfectly well (and chopping pecans too!) !

It was very good anyway! Maybe you’ll be luckier than me! Enjoy!

Turtle Mousse Cups
Inspired by A Subtle Revelry 
Yield 12 cups

Chocolate Crust
From Love and Olive Oil

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 ounce dark or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I just had unsweetened chocolate so I added 2 tablespoons of sugar)

Microwave butter together with chocolate until chocolate is melted and smooth, stir occasionally. Add to cookie crumbs and mix with a fork or a food processor.

Firmly press crumb mixture into the cups of a muffin tin (12 muffins). Press the crust firmly into the bottom and sides of the pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the crust to set. I had trouble taking them out of the tin, just run a little hot water under the tin, pat a little and they will come out. They are delicate so be gentle

Caramel Syrup (you need 1/4 cup of this syrup for the mousse recipe)
From Sugarlaws

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup water

In a small saucepan, mix 1/2 cup water and sugar together, then turn on heat to high. Cook until mixture is amber.

When color is achieved, cover the saucepan with tin foil and make a small hole in the cover. Pour 1 cup of water through the hole. After the caramel stops exploding, whisk over medium heat until the consistency is even and syrup has reduced slightly. Set aside and allow to cool.

Caramel mousse
From Sugarlaws

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar (I put 4 tablespoons, but don’t do it even if it will be very sweet!)
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (I used about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1/4 cup caramel syrup at room temperature

Whip the seeds of the vanilla bean and heavy cream until the cream holds soft peaks.  Fold the caramel syrup into the whipped cream gently, until evenly combined.  Refrigerate to chill for at least 2 hours.

Assembly

• Pecans, chopped
• Caramels or caramel sauce
• Milk Chocolate Chips

(Go according to your taste for the amount of garnish!)

Pipe the mousse in the 12 cups. Add pecans on top. Drizzle with melted chocolate and melted caramels or caramel sauce.

If you melt caramels, microwave them with a little cream. Stir until smooth and runny enough to drizzle.