- Hey, guys, one of my favorite ways
to enjoy coffee and dessert
when we're in France is with a cafe gourmand.
This is a relatively new invention in France,
and it's become quite trendy.
Basically, what it is,
is you get a cup of coffee served on a plate,
then with three to five different desserts,
little mini desserts,
so they're usually only a bite or two.
So I've often wondered how to take this idea
back to the States to be able to use it
when entertaining at home.
And I've always been daunted
by the thought of making three to five different desserts,
until I realized it all came down to the planning.
So I'm gonna show you how to put together a cafe gourmand
to entertain at home with
that isn't gonna take you hours in the kitchen.
Let me show you how to put it together.
So the first thing you can prep,
really the weekend ahead of time or two weeks out,
is the cookie dough for our little cookie at the end.
So this is a delicious buttery cookie
that's filled with pistachios and dried apricots,
and it's the perfect little finish
to nibble with the coffee.
So in an electric mixer, you're going to combine
a cup of butter and a cup of sugar.
Now, if you live here in the States,
I say to use salted butter,
but if you're outside of the States, I would use unsalted.
It's just that the butter here in the States
has a lot more flavor than salt to it,
but outside of the States,
I know that salted butter can be pretty salty.
Then once it's nice and fluffy, you can add one egg
and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract,
and you can beat that together.
Then in a smaller bowl,
you're going to combine three cups of flour,
3/4 teaspoon of salt,
and if using unsalted butter, I would do a teaspoon of salt,
and 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder,
and you can whisk that all together.
Then you can add the dry ingredients, just in thirds,
to the butter mixture, beating all the while,
and then your dough is basically done.
So at this stage, we're going to add 1/3 of a cup
of unsalted roasted pistachios
that you've given just a rough chop to
and 1/2 cup of diced apricots.
Then you can remove the dough from your mixer,
divide it into two,
and then roll it out into the shape of a log.
And then you're gonna place it on some parchment paper ,
roll it up in the parchment paper,
and give it a good twist.
And then with this dough,
I usually keep one in the refrigerator
that I'm gonna bake off and use for my cafe gourmand,
and then with the other one,
I just write the date on it with a Sharpie
and pop it in my freezer.
Then the morning of your party,
you can bake off your cookies.
So you just wanna cut your cookies
about 1/4 of an inch thick
and place them on a cookie sheet
that's been lined with parchment paper.
And then I always bake off more that I need
so that I can offer some cookies
as well as the little cakes on a cake stand
because people always want more of those.
And then you're gonna bake the cookies
at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes
just until they're set and golden brown.
Okay, one dessert done.
Now for our second dessert.
So I'm gonna show you
how to make a delicious cheesecake lemon mousse.
Now, this is something
that can be done the day before your party.
I like to serve these in these little glass jars
because not only are they cute
when you go to present the dessert,
but I also find that they're super easy to store
because they have little lids to them.
So you can make it ahead of time and just close the lid,
and you don't even have to cover it.
They're just all ready to go.
So in the bowl of an electric mixer,
you're going to add 8 ounces of cream cheese,
1/4 cup of powdered sugar,
two teaspoons of fresh lemon zest,
and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
And you can go ahead and beat that all up
until everything is nice and combined.
Then you wanna take it out of the mixer
and put it in a large mixing bowl.
And then at this point you don't even need
to clean out your mixer.
You're going to add a cup of heavy cream,
a tablespoon of powdered sugar,
and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
And you wanna whip that on high just until stiff peaks form.
Then you can add this whipped cream
to the cream cheese mixture just in thirds,
lightening the cream cheese mixture as you go.
So you kinda just want to fold it in.
You don't wanna beat it too hard
that you're kind of flattening the whipped cream.
You wanna create that really nice,
light, mousse-like texture.
Then at this stage, you can transfer this mixture
into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
And then if you're using the little jars,
you could go ahead and fill them right away.
So I'll leave you a link in the description
where I got these little jars.
I just found them on Amazon.
They're in my Amazon shop if you wanna check them out.
And then I like to add a little bit more of the lemon zest
on top as a garnish.
And then right before serving,
we're gonna pop a little raspberry on top,
but I don't like to do that now
because it'll get all smushed. (laughs)
So just go ahead and add the garnish.
Fasten the jar and pop it in your fridge.
Now, if you weren't using the little jars,
you certainly could use a dish or a saucer or a ramekin.
I would just keep the cream-cheese mixture
in the pastry bag overnight
just to make it a little bit easier to serve.
You can then pipe it right away before you serve it.
Okay, second dessert done.
Now, for the third dessert,
I'm gonna show you how to make these really delicious rich
and chocolatey mini cakes using a mini muffin tin.
And this dessert you can do the morning before your party,
and it's super simple.
You don't even need the electric mixer.
So in a large mixing bowl,
you're going to add two ounces of dark chocolate,
1/2 a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder,
and 1/2 a cup of hot boiling water.
And you wanna let that sit for about five minutes.
This will give that cocoa powder the opportunity to bloom,
which will help the flavor
of the chocolate really become more pronounced.
And then to that, we're also gonna add a cup of white sugar
and you can whisk that up,
1/3 of a cup of vegetable oil,
and then you're also going to add two eggs one at a time,
whisking in between each addition.
And then we're also gonna add two teaspoons
of vanilla extract.
And then you can set your chocolate mixture aside.
Then in a smaller bowl,
we're going to add 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour,
3/4 teaspoon of salt,
and 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
And you can whisk that all up.
Then you can add the dry ingredients
to your chocolate mixture.
And then once it's all combined,
it's ready for the muffin tin.
So I'm using a Silpat mini muffin mold for this recipe
because these cakes are so fudgy
that it makes it super simple to just push them out
from the bottom.
But if you're using a regular muffin tin,
I would just make sure that you grease it well
with some baking spray
because these cakes are a little bit sticky,
but that's what makes them so good. (laughs)
And then because this better is so runny,
I like to pour some of it out into a little Pyrex pitcher
and use a one-inch mini cookie dough scoop.
It's just a little bit easier to kind of get in
and fill the muffin tin than
actually trying to wrestle with a big bowl.
And then you're gonna bake these little cakes
at 425 Fahrenheit for anywhere from 12 to 13 minutes
just until they're risen and set and dry on top.
Then you can take them out and allow them to cool completely
because these cakes are very delicate and fudgy,
and if you try to remove them right away,
they will get all crumbly on you.
So they really need to cool in their tins
for at least an hour.
Okay, so now the moment we've all been waiting for.
It's time to assemble our cafe gourmand.
So I like to use a rectangular plate for this
because I think it works really well
when you have three desserts.
Now, if you don't have a rectangular plate,
I'm gonna show you how to do it with a square plate
or a round plate in just a sec.
So on one side, you're going to add your espresso.
Now, if you don't have an espresso machine,
you could also just use an espresso cup,
but fill it with just really strong coffee.
That would be perfectly fine too.
Then you can remove the chocolate cake from the tin,
and I like to dust it with a little unsweetened cocoa powder
because I think it makes it look just extra fancy.
It sorta takes it from muffin to cake (laughs) right away.
And you can place that next to the coffee cup.
Then take out your cheesecake mousse
and add a raspberry on top.
And I also like to use a little coffee spoon,
like those little espresso spoons worked perfectly
to get inside the jar if you're using the jar.
And I like to stand the spoon just upright.
I think it's sort of a fun way to serve it.
And you can put that in the center.
And then you can put your cookie on the other side of that.
Now, if you don't have a rectangular plate,
you could definitely use a round plate or a square plate.
You would put the coffee in the center
and then take the other desserts and put them around.
And then you'll see you kind of have
this leftover space to the right,
so it's really begging for kind of four desserts.
But rather than go out and make one more dessert,
I mean, you really could, but who wants to do that now
that we've already made three,
I like to serve a little store-bought ice cream.
And if you have a little porcelain spoon,
something you might use for dumplings or soup,
it looks really cute to take that one ball cookie scoop
that we use for the muffins
and take a big scoop of either espresso ice cream,
coffee ice cream, pistachio,
something that's just a little bit special and fancy,
and pop it right there on the spoon.
And the concept really is when somebody puts this down
in front of you, you're gonna go right for the chocolate
because that just looks
like the most decadent, tempting thing.
And I think we're kind of conditioned to eat left to right,
so after your guests eat the chocolate,
then it's a really nice sensation
then have the cheesecake mousse
with the lemon and the raspberry
because it's kind of refreshing.
And then at that point,
you're kind of ready to take a sip of the coffee,
and then you have a perfect little cookie
to nibble with the coffee.
So it really works out perfectly.
Now, if you did wanna go for broke
and add one more dessert to your cafe gourmand,
a canele would be a great addition to this little platter.
And you can click this annotation here,
and I'll see you over there,
and I'll show you how to make 'em.