Hazelnut Espresso Parfait
I saw this on Lidia’s Italian Kitchen the other day and thought of my grandson who is a devout lover of Tiramisu (though I have never met anyone who didn’t enjoy it). I thought this sounded very good and relatively easy (when compared to Tiramisu!).
Ingredients:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup mascarpone (8 ounces), at room temperature
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
¾ cup freshly brewed espresso
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup Kahlua liqueur
16 Espresso Loacker wafer cookies, coarsely crumbled
½ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
Instructions:
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water, and keep it warm.
- Meanwhile, whisk the cream in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until it just holds soft peaks. (Don’t over whip—you will be whisking it again with the mascarpone, and you don’t want to make butter).
- Whisk the mascarpone in a separate bowl with the mixer at medium speed until smooth. Sift in the confectioners sugar, and whisk until smooth.
- Whisk the whipped cream into the mascarpone until they are just combined. Refrigerate if not using it right away.
- Combine the espresso and granulated sugar in a medium saucepan set over low heat. Cook until the sugar has dissolved, then stir in the Kahlua liqueur. Remove it from the heat, and stir in the melted chocolate.
- Assemble the parfaits (4-6 dishes depending on size).
- In each, sprinkle an equal portion of the crumbled cookies and chopped nuts into each dish. Drizzle with about a third of the chocolate espresso mixture.
- Top with an equal portion of the mascarpone mixture. Continue layering in this manner, ending with a full layer of the marscarpone mixture and a final sprinkle of cookies and nuts.
- Refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours. Serve at room temperature.