Dream Dessert Territory

Pistachio Mousse with Cocoa Streusel

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Hello, Happy Friday!

I’ve been thinking a lot about trends over the last few weeks. Whether it is worth jumping on a bandwagon just for clicks, for the views. Or whether it just makes for repetitive and wholly unoriginal content? The reason this came to mind was the biggest viral hit of recent times, the Dubai Chocolate Bar. It has been absolutely impossible to escape this chocolate creation; it is the viral food item that just won't quit. Every time I think I have seen the last take on the chocolate bar, another video comes along, and another brand releases their own version. It’s been months, and the popularity seems to be holding steady. Very unusual for a viral success these days, which tend to burn brightly but for a short time, before our collective consciousness demands the next big thing. Someone asked when they’d be seeing my version, and it made me think, should I jump on the bandwagon?

For the one person who hasn’t come across this chocolate bar, let me break it down. It is a very thick chocolate bar that is filled with pistachio spread, kataifi, and tahini, the latter being an ingredient that has been completely forgotten about in the viral frenzy. The original chocolate bar is sold by a company called Fix Dessert Chocolatier, and they’ve actually sold the bar since 2021. It didn’t become a viral success until December 2023, when a TikToker featured it in a video that has since received over 100 million views. That video brought so much attention to the chocolate bar that it has led to the bars being sold at massively inflated prices on the secondary market, a flood of copycats, and even attempts at illegal smuggling. You’d think that after a year of viral success, the demand would have lessened, but no. Not a day goes past where I don’t see a new version being launched or another content creator making their own version. It is really like printing gold.

fixdessertchocolatier

A post shared by @fixdessertchocolatier

So you’d imagine this would be the post where I give you my interpretation, right? Wrong. I don’t think another post on this bar offers any real value. Why would you want my recipe when there are a million other recipes for the exact same thing? Frankly, it felt kind of boring to make the same thing that everyone else has been making, even if it does seem delicious. In my mind, the one big positive of this trend is that both kataifi and pistachio spread are now easier to get than ever before and, of course, much more popular. This is a massive win for me because I have been a fan of both ingredients for the longest time, especially pistachio.

Today's recipe isn’t directly inspired by the Dubai chocolate bar, but it does take advantage of the rise in popularity and the renewed spotlight on pistachio, a top-tier flavour of any baked good as far as I am concerned. The dish is verging on dream dessert territory for me; it starts with a chocolate crumble that is crisp and crunchy with intense cocoa flavour balanced by a good dose of salt. That is then paired with a pistachio mousse that tastes like the best pistachio ice cream you’ve ever had. It is finished with some whipped cream and chopped pistachios. It’s the ultimate dessert for fans of pistachio.

For the mousse, you could, of course, use the incredibly popular pistachio spreads that are now widely available, but I wanted intensity of flavour, so instead use pistachio paste made from 100% pistachios. To avoid any confusion, let me break down the different pistachio spreads and pastes that are available to buy.

Pistachio Paste - this should be an incredibly smooth paste made from 100% pistachios. The colour should never be vibrant green but instead more on the brown side of green. Rarely eaten on its own, normally used as an ingredient. Commonly used in restaurants and bakeries, especially popular in the making of ice cream and gelato.

Pistachio Butter - this is normally made from 100% pistachios but is normally not as smooth as the paste, and the quality can vary a lot. Some brands add other oils, and some even add a touch of sweetener. Fine for some applications, but I tend to avoid it for baking.

Pistachio Praline Paste - another ingredient used in a lot of bakeries and restaurants. This is the sibling to the paste but made with the addition of caramelised sugar. The caramel and the pistachios are ground until they are incredibly smooth. Some brands of this paste cut the pistachios with almonds to reduce the cost. The ratio of sugar to nuts can vary, but generally it would be 50% sugar and 50% nuts.

Pistachio Spread or Cream - this is the Nutella of the pistachio world. Made with a blend of pistachios, sugar, and oil (plus other ingredients such as stabilisers and sometimes colourings), this is what most people are using to make their Dubai chocolate bars and most other pistachio desserts at the moment. The problem is the quality varies a LOT. The percentage of nuts used to make a jar also fluctuates massively. If this is a product you are looking to buy, I can recommend the version made by Veggy Duck, an Italian-made version that has 45% pistachio content and uses no palm oil, no colourings, or artificial flavours. If I ever call for a recipe using pistachio spread, this is what I will have used to test the recipe.

The Problem

None of these product terms are protected, so you need to know what you are looking for when buying them. I have seen pistachio cream sold as pistachio paste and pistachio butter, which would be wholly inaccurate. If the recipe writer isn’t clear about the sort of pistachio paste that is used, ask them to clarify.

In this recipe, I have used a traditional pistachio paste. It is a relatively expensive ingredient, so this is definitely a special occasion dessert. Because the spread is 100% pistachios, the flavour is incredibly intense, so thankfully you don’t normally need as much to get a strong flavour, so a jar of the stuff should last you for multiple recipes. If you have a high-powered food processor you can also make a decent version of this at home by simply blending lightly roasted pistachios until they’re as smooth as you can get them.

For the dish, you could use many different methods to make a light pistachio mousse, but I chose to use a slightly lesser-known French technique called Crème Chiboust. This is a variant of pastry cream that is lightened with Italian meringue, and it is traditionally used as the filling of a Gâteau St. Honoré. It is, however, also a brilliant way to make a classic chocolate mousse or, in this case, a pistachio mousse.

The Pastry Cream Family

Pastry Cream or Crème Pâtissière

• This is your base recipe, a custard made with yolks and cornflour. It is a very thick custard that is used throughout French baking and, of course, in baking around the world. It is very much a foundational recipe. Once you’ve learnt to make a basic crème pâtissière, you open up the doors to a variety of different recipes that use pastry cream as the base. The following are some classic French uses of a basic pastry cream.

Creme Diplomat

• This is pastry cream that is lightened by folding through whipped cream. This is a favourite of mine, and I use this often. Great as a light filling for things like doughnuts, it has an almost ice cream-like flavour. Traditionally this would have been made with gelatine, but in many uses this is left out. This also goes by the name Bavarian cream.

Crème Légère

- This is an almost identical recipe to crème diplomat, but it generally doesn’t include gelatine and also has a higher ratio of cream to pastry cream. The terms for diplomat and legere have become muddled and are very often used interchangeably.

Crème Mousseline

• This is a cream that is almost buttercream-like in texture and is pastry cream and butter combined to make a thick and luscious cream that can be piped or used as a replacement for other forms of buttercream.

Frangipane

• The French version of frangipane is a mixture of almond cream (what many English-speaking countries refer to as frangipane) and pastry cream.

Soufflé

- There are a variety of ways to make a soufflé, but a pastry cream combined with meringue is a classic method.