Kirsch brandy snaps with cherry mascarpone and chocolate by Josh Eggleton - Print Recipe

1

To begin, make the chocolate gel. Place the water, sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking regularly to avoid the liquid catching on the bottom of the pan. Once boiling, remove from the heat and set aside to cool

500g of water
140g of caster sugar
150g of cocoa powder

2

When the mixture is cool, whisk in the agar agar and return to the heat. Bring back to the boil, whisking continuously

5g of agar agar

3

Pour the liquid into a container and chill until set. Once set, transfer to a high-powered blender and blitz to a smooth gel. Place in a piping bag or squeezy bottle and keep in the fridge

4

Next, make the cherry mascarpone cream. Begin by making a crème pâtissière, which will later be added to the cherry and mascarpone mixes. Place the milk, cream, vanilla and half the sugar in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to the boil

175ml of whole milk
75ml of whipping cream
1/2 vanilla pod
25g of caster sugar

5

Mix in the remaining sugar, egg yolks and flours thoroughly before taking off the heat. Pour into a tray, cover with cling film to stop a skin forming and allow to cool. Once cool, blend until smooth and set aside

50g of egg yolks
17g of cornflour
7g of plain flour

6

For the cherry mix, pour the cherry purée into a heavy-bottomed pan. Place on a low heat and bring up to a gentle boil, stirring regularly. The plan is to reduce the purée by half (to 125g). This will take time, and it is important to continue stirring so the purée doesn't stick to the pan

250g of cherry purée

7

Meanwhile, soak the gelatine sheet in cold water and set aside. When the purée has reduced to 125g, season with 10g caster sugar and the malic acid (or lemon juice). Once the gelatine in soft, wring it out and mix thoroughly into the hot purée before taking it off the heat and setting aside to chill

10g of caster sugar
1/2 tsp malic acid, or 1/2 lemon, juiced
1 sheet of gelatine, (optional – it helps to stabilise the mixture)

8

Place the mascarpone in a mixing bowl. Stir in the caster sugar, sweet wine and kirsch until well-combined

175g of mascarpone, (firm)
10g of caster sugar
25ml of sweet wine
10ml of kirsch

9

Now, fold 250g of the crème pâtissière into the cherry mix and finally fold in the mascarpone mix. Transfer to a piping bag and place in the fridge. (Please note, you will have crème pâtissière and the final mix left over, both of which can be used for a number of other dishes – for example, simply add to a fresh fruit salad)

10

To make the cocoa soil, heat the white chocolate in a heavy-bottomed pan until the oil separates out and the chocolate has melted. Stir in the flour and cocoa until the mixture has formed into one hard lump. Set aside to cool

200g of white chocolate
50g of cocoa powder
55g of gluten-free plain flour, (Josh recommends "Doves" brand)

11

Place the lump in a blender and pulse until a soil/crumble mixture has been created. You may have crumble left over – it keeps well in an airtight container and can be used as a garnish in many dessert dishes

12

To make the kirsch snaps, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6

13

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, gently heat the golden syrup, Demerara sugar and butter until the sugar has melted

55g of golden syrup
55g of Demerara sugar
55g of unsalted butter

14

Mix in the flour and kirsch and cook out for about 3 minutes. Place the mixture in a container and set aside briefly

50g of plain flour
1 tbsp of kirsch

15

Meanwhile, take a baking sheet and cover it with baking parchment. Roll the mixture into rough balls the size of a 20p coin and place evenly across the baking parchment, making sure there is enough space between each ball so they can melt without touching each other

16

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until each ball has melted and is bubbling and golden in colour. Remove from the oven and set aside – the mixture needs to be cool enough to roll but not so cool that it becomes brittle. Using a metal cylindrical object, roll the snaps around it into cylinders. Store the kirsch snaps at room temperature in an airtight container with pieces of baking parchment separating them

17

To assemble the dish, fill each kirsch snap with the cherry mascarpone cream. Dab two small dots of the cream on the plate and position the snaps on top so they don't roll about

18

Squeeze dots of the chocolate gel around the plate and crumble over the cocoa soil. Finally, garnish with some whole and half cherries and serve

cherries, some halved, some left whole

Kirsch brandy snaps with cherry mascarpone and chocolate

Ingredients

Chocolate gel

Crème pâtissière

Cherry mix

Mascarpone mix

Cocoa soil

Kirsch snaps

To serve

Method