Chantilly Aux Framboises

Julia Child would have turned 100 years old on August 15th of this year! 

By now you may have already heard about the wonderful “JC100” community of bloggers that are raising their voices to honor this beloved culinary icon.  I was eager to join the cause but concerned about being a strictly-sweets blogger.  Would dessert be on the menu?  

Luckily, the answer was yes! Among the recipes provided by Knopf, assuredly, there would be at least one dessert in the mix!  And to my surprise and delight they offered more than one.  The first was for her rich chocolate mousse; a recipe I so love,  an adaptation was included in the SprinkleBakes book.   

 

I settled on “Chantilly Aux Framboises”, a fresh-tasting raspberry dessert that is almost cloud-like despite its whopping count of 8 egg yolks.  Julia used it as a Charlotte filling but in the recipe text she says: “If you do not wish to serve it unmolded, turn the cream into a serving bowl or into dessert cups”.  And so I did.

If you’re looking to achieve the diagonal-dessert-cup-effect, you can find my how-to with pictures here, along with Julia’s chocolate mousse recipe.

Chantilly Aux Framboises

Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia
Child. Copyright © 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the
publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

Serves 8-10 people                                                                                        [click for printable version]

Ingredients

1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries

2/3 cup instant sugar (very finely granulated, also known as
castor sugar)

8 egg yolks

2 1/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

1. Wash and drain the berries. Force them through a sieve and
   into a bowl. Measure out 1 1/4 cups of purée. Chill.
2. Beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until
   mixture is pale yellow and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving
   ribbon. Then place the mixing bowl over the not-quite-simmering water and beat
   until mixture has thickened into a cream and becomes uncomfortably hot for your
   finger. Set bowl in ice water and beat until mixture is cold and falls back
   upon itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon on the surface; fold with a
   spatula until chilled.
3. When the egg yolk mixture has chilled, beat the cream until
   it has doubled in volume and forms stiff (rather than soft) peaks.
4. Fold the chilled raspberry purée into the chilled egg yolk
   mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Turn the cream into a serving bowl or
   into dessert cups. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
5. Decorate the top of the dessert with fresh berries.