Long time, no see! I know, I know....it's been forever since I have last
blogged. I've been so busy with school and work these days! Growing up
is for the birds! However, I did start my paid co-op with Kroger's
pastry department. Just so you know, there is a bakery AND a pastry
department and the pastry department makes everything from scratch,
aside from a couple things from Servatii's (boo, overrated). We make
everything from chocolate ganache cakes, to lemon tarts, to death by
chocolates, to New York cheesecakes. We have it all. I'm getting a lot
of experience working there. However, I'm also getting a lot of
experience with working with the public, as well. .....I kid you not,
yesterday some man came up to me as I was sampling out some desserts and
started yelling and complaining to me about how Kroger and Target both
have Starbucks in the front of their store, and "I work in the medical
field (.......congrats?) and nothing turns my stomach more than the
smell of coffee. I've gone to corporate before to tell them to move the
Starbucks to the back of the store." Ok.....WHAT do I even say to
that? Yeah, sir, you are so entitled to everything in life. And the
cherry on top of this story was once I was finished listening to his
rant about Starbucks making his stomach sick, he asked me what I was
sampling out, and it was Tiramisu......awkward. But again, it's funny
how some strangers can make your day miserable and then 10 minutes later
this sweet, little old man, had to be at least 85, came up to me and
was telling me about how he got diagnosed with bone marrow cancer a year
ago and that they were able to catch it in time and he said to me,
"That Big Guy upstairs is really watching out for me and you and loves
us. ....And I love him back!" So, even though I have a bunch of whacks
jobs from the insane asylum come into work sometimes, there's always
those few that remind you of the important things in life.
Ingredients:
Trifle Ingredients:
-Twix bars (I used 3 packages) - chopped
-1 1/2 cups of chocolate fudge sauce - storebought
-4 cups Whipped cream (homemade or storebought)
-Salted caramel mousse (recipe below)
Salted Caramel Mousse Ingredients:
-1/3 cup sugar
-3 tablespoons water
-1/3 cup heavy cream
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or more, to taste)
-4 oz. Cream Cheese
-1 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
To Make Salted Caramel Mousse:
-Briefly
stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan.
-bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
-Continue cooking, without
stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 minutes.
(Keep an eye on it, though, because it goes from clear to amber very
quickly!)
-Remove
from heat and slowly add in cream (just start with a tablespoon or
two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. (Be careful,
as the mixture will definitely bubble up and possibly splatter as
you add in the cream.)
-Stir in vanilla and salt.
-Set aside until it
reaches room temperature, or refrigerate to speed up the process.
-In
the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese on
medium-high speed for 1 minute until very smooth.
-Add in the
room-temperature caramel and powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low
speed until combined.
-If the mousse is too thick, add in a tablespoon or
two of heavy cream.
-Then increase speed to medium-high and beat for
another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
-Fold in 3 cups of whipped cream into the caramel mixture. (1 cup of plain whipped cream remains for garnish). ---This is the caramel mousse.
To Make Trifle:
-In
a trifle bowl, add a layer of the chopped Twix bars.
Then use a pastry bag (or a Ziplock bag with the corner tip cut out) to
pipe in a layer of caramel mousse. Even out with the back of a spoon.
-Then do the same with a layer of
chocolate fudge sauce. (I heated my sauce just a tad to make it easy to pour, but make sure it is back to room temperature before pouring on top of the mousse)
-Then repeat!
-Finish off with a layer of plain whipped
cream, and top with the remaining Twix bars.
