Maple Mousse in Walnut Cups

The edible containers challenge from the Daring Kitchen.
Taste: 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty: 4 (out of 5)

Source: Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz

Ingredients
For nut bowls
- 1 1/2 cups crushed walnuts , or other nuts of your choice (1200 cal)
- 1 egg, beaten, at room temperature (70 cal)
- 2 tbsp sugar (90 cal)
For maple mousse
- 1 cup / 240 ml pure maple syrup (not maple-flavored syrup) (800 cal)
- 4 large egg yolks (220 cal)
- 1 package / 7g/1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups / 360 ml whipping cream (35% fat content) (1230 cal)
For chocolate decoration
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces (300 cal)
Total: 6 cups, 3910 cal, 650 cal / cup

Instructions
For nut bowls
1. Use a food processor or a zip-lock back with a rolling pin to crush your nuts if whole, use about 1 cup of whole nuts to get 3/4 cups crushed. You want it somewhat coarse.
2. In a bowl mix the nuts with the beaten egg and the sugar.
3. Grease well 6 small 1/2 cup capacity muffin molds (I used silicon). Spread ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl, all the way up to the sides making sure you have a thin and even clean layer all around.
4. Bake at 350F/175C. until the nuts are golden and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Let cool completely before unmolding.
For maple mousse
5. 1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
6. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
7. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
8. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatin. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatin has completely dissolved.
9. Whisk the gelatin/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
10. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
11. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
12. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.
For chocolate decoration
13. Melt chocolate (either in the microwave or over a double boiler). Fill a small piping bag with a narrow tip (size 2 or 3) or even a small plastic sandwich bag. If using a plastic bag, cut the tip. Line a tray with parchment paper and pipe out maple leaf shapes. Place the sheet in the fridge for 10 minutes until chocolate hardens. Place the maple leaf on top of the maple mousse. You can also decorate the nut cups with chocolate, but this has to be done before filling them with the mousse :-).

Afterthoughts
- Lovely dessert, thanks so much, Evelyne, for hosting this month’s challenge! I really enjoyed making this recipe!
- My favorite part was the nut cup – such nice texture, a perfect container for mousse or cheesecake! And you don’t need to add butter to it :-), it’s all held together by an egg…
- The mousse itself was a lot of fun to make, but a little too much maple for my taste. But my boyfriend absolutely loved it.

Blog-checking lines: The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!