in search of the perfect date
2007
California Date Chef Competition
Dessert
Jerome Diop, Senior Pastry Chef
Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa
"Date Chocolate Timbale with Orange Confit"
Date Chocolate Mousse
1 cup
Granulated sugar
6 each Egg
Yolks
5 each
Gelatin sheets
1 ½ qt + 1 cup Whipped Cream
1 cup Dark
Chocolate
½ cup Date
Powder
Boil 1 cup sugar with 1 cup whipped cream.
Add yolks and cook until thick. Add gelatin
sheet and add chocolate. Cool off over ice
water than fold 1½ quart of whipped cream
and set aside.
Date Crystal Powder (for garnish)
½ cup Date Crystal
½ cup Cocoa Nibs (Crystal Cocoa
flakes)
½ cup Brown Sugar
Mix and set aside.
Orange Confit
4 each Oranges
1 qt Granulated Sugar
1 qt Water
2 Each Cinnamon Sticks
1 cup Deglet Noor dates
Poke oranges up to 15 minutes each. Blanch
orange 3 times, changing water. Then add
sugar and water to make syrup. Poach
oranges for up to 3 hours on low heat. Add
Deglet Noor dates and cinnamon sticks and
cook an extra five minutes.
Hazelnut Date Base
1 cup Dark Chocolate
½ cup Hazelnut paste
½ cup Fuelletine
¼ cup Dried Halawy Dates
Melt chocolate with hazelnut paste. Fold in
Fuelletine and the finely chopped dates.
Set aside.
Chocolate Sauce
¼ cup Water
2 Tbs Whipped Cream
4 Tbs Dark Chocolate
2 Tbs Granulated Sugar
1 Tbs Date Powder
Boil water, whipped cream and sugar and add
chocolate and date powder.
Vanilla Date Praline Ice Cream
1 pt Vanilla Ice Cream
½ cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tbs Date Crystals
Cook sugar until light caramel. Add the
date crystals and pour in a non-stick pan to
cool. When cooled, crush coarsely and add
to softened ice cream. Keep frozen until
needed.
Presentation
Make 4 dark chocolate tubes and 4 lids. On
bottom of tubes, add hazelnut date base.
Fill with chocolate mousse. Put chocolate
sauce on tops of mousse and cover with
chocolate lids.
Set up on plates. Add ice cream for garnish
and pull sugar rings. Add a couple of
pieces of Orange confit on plates with two
or three dates. Sprinkle with date sugar.
