Quick, quick! Before you start your new year’s resolutions, squeeze in one last treat and let 2018 go out with my New Year nibbler pots. Chocolate mousse, dry-roasted nuts, caramelised bananas, and zesty orange biscuits … There’s everything to like.
Happy new year!
Prep 10 min
Chill About 3 hr
Cook 30 min
Serves 4
For the biscuits
145g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
90g unsalted butter
75g golden caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
For the chocolate mousse
150g chocolate (70%)
Flaky salt
4 eggs
50g caster sugar
150ml double cream
3 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
100g dry-roasted nuts, roughly chopped, plus more to garnish
For the bananas
100g caster sugar
2 large bananas, chopped into chunks
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another large bowl, beat the butter for two minutes, then add the sugar, egg, vanilla and zest, and beat again. Add the dry ingredients, and beat on a low speed until combined. Flatten the dough into a rectangle, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
For the mousse, melt the chocolate with the salt over a bain marie. Separate the eggs, and beat the sugar with the yolks until silky. Using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a third bowl, whisk the cream until just whipped.
Add the cocoa to the egg yolks, then fold in the cream, melted chocolate, egg whites and nuts. Divide between four ramekins and put in the fridge to set.
Heat the oven to 170C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 2mm thick. Using a 5cm square cookie cutter, cut as many squares as you can. Put the biscuits on baking trays lined with parchment. Bake for 11 minutes, until they are a light golden brown.
For the bananas, spread the sugar evenly across the base of your largest frying pan. Cook the sugar on a low heat until it begins to melt in the middle. Toss the banana chunks on top, let the sugar melt around them, then increase the temperature to a medium heat, so the sugar turns into caramel. Once this has become a red colour, flip the bananas and cook until caramelised. Remove from the heat and keep warm in the oven on a low heat, on a baking tray lined with parchment.
To assemble, put a couple of biscuits on top and around the edge of the set mousse. Spoon caramelised banana chunks into the middle, then finish with a scattering of nuts.
