The last Christmas recipe of 2024 is here! These reindeer entremet desserts consist of a gingerbread chocolate mousse, plum and cherry jelly and a crunchy base that is made out of nuts, feuilletine and chocolate. And yes, I know, the length of this recipe can seem a little bit of overwhelming, but the tasks are actually spread across a few days. I try to explain everything as clearly as possible (hence the length of this post!) as I want to make sure it’s easy to follow and understand!
Please make sure to read the recipe fully before you start. Some of the components will need freezing before you can get to the next stage!
Recommended plan:
Day 1: Make the jelly and bake the Feuilletine
Day 2: Make the mousse & crunchy base
Day of serving: Mirror glaze. Just remember that you will have to defrost the dessert fully (at least 4 hours before serving). If you won’t have the time on the day, you can do this step the day before serving, as long as the mousse is completely frozen before pouring the glaze over it.
Special Equipment Needed:
Silikomart mould – Cylinder 75
This recipes makes 8 Christmas reindeers
Cherry & Plum Jelly:
135g plums
85g cherries
20g granulated sugar
15g lemon juice
4g gelatine + 15g cold water
Place the gelatine and cold water in a small cup, stir together and leave for a few minutes to let it bloom. Line a loaf tin (mine is 20x10cm) with baking paper. Wash and cut the plums into quarters. Place the plums, cherries, sugar and lemon juice into a saucepan and bring to boil over a low heat. Blend everything together. Put the cup with the gelatine in into a microwave for about 10 seconds to allow it to melt and then pour it into the saucepan, stir until combined. Pour the fruit jelly into the prepared loaf tin. Freeze for a few hours until solid. This step can be done a few days ahead and kept in the freezer until needed.
Feuilletine:
This will be used for the crunchy base layer.
- 60g egg whites
- 60g icing sugar
- 50g plain flour + 10g cocoa
- 60g melted butter
You can prepare this a few days in advance. Everything needs to be exact, so please make sure to use a scale. Melt the butter in a microwave and then let it cool for 15mins or so. Preheat the oven to 150C. Prepare the oven tray and line it with some baking paper. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together until combined and pour about 1/3 of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Spread it very thinly across the whole area using a spatula, you almost want to see through it. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. Once cool, break it into small flakes. Store in an airtight container.
You can use any of the leftovers for future desserts. Just pop the amount that you need back into the oven the day that you’ll be using it at 160C for about 3 minutes to bring back the crunchiness!
Gingerbread Mousse
- 100g + 190g whipping cream
- 120g milk chocolate
- 7g Polish gingerbread spice*/mixed spice
- 6g gelatine powder + 30g cold water
Only start preparing the mousse once the fruit jelly is completely frozen.
Place the gelatine and the cold water in a small cup, stir together and leave for a few minutes to let it bloom.
Pour 100g of the whipping cream into a saucepan along with the Polish gingerbread spice or mixed spice and bring to simmer over a low heat. Put the milk chocolate in a measuring jug (easier to use this to pour the mousse into the moulds later). Using a sieve, pour the hot cream over the milk chocolate. Place the cup with gelatine in a microwave for about 10 seconds to allow it to melt and pour into the measuring jug. Stir everything together until smooth. Allow to cool for a few minutes. It shouldn’t be too warm when mixing with whipped cream in the next stage.
Take out your fruit jelly from the freezer and cutting along the short side, cut 8 strips, about 1cm wide. You will have some jelly left-over, so you can pop the rest back in the freezer straight away and use for a different mousse dessert in the future or defrost now and have it with some whipped cream and crushed biscuits. Place the cold cream (190g) in a large mixing bowl and whip until it’s almost at soft peaks – still just a little loose, therefore I wouldn’t recommend doing the turn-the bowl over test in this case. 😉
Add your whipped cream into the mostly cool milk chocolate mixture in two parts, and combine slowly, but thoroughly using a spatula. Try to avoid over-mixing. Place your Silikomart-Cylinder 75 mould on a chopping board, and start pouring the mousse into each mould, filling them about halfway up. Place one of the fruit jellies in the centre of each mousse in the mould and then pour some more mousse in, so that it goes all the way to the brim. Transfer back to the freezer for at least 8hrs.
*I always use a Polish gingerbread spice mix which you can get in the Polish shops. The Polish spice mix does not contain ginger and no, the Polish name for gingerbreads has no ginger in the name. ???? You can simply use mixed spice instead.
Base crunch:
- 100g milk chocolate
- 100g dark chocolate
- 35g hazelnuts
- 40g feuilletine
- 15g oil
Chop the hazelnuts into small pieces. Melt both chocolates together in a microwave. Combine all the base crunch ingredients. Transfer the mixture onto a large piece of baking paper, cover with another piece of baking paper and roll it out to about 2-3mm thickness. Place in the fridge (use a chopping board to help you move it across) for a few minutes, just to let it set slightly. Take out from the fridge, carefully remove the top baking paper and using the cookie cutter that comes with the Silikomart Cylinder 75 mould ( use the thinner side), press down fully to make an outline to create 8 bases. The reason why I recommend doing this before it’s properly set is that with time, the mixture will get harder and more crunchy, so it’s a little bit more tricky to cut. Wheres with the 8 outlines already created before it sets properly, you can just carefully lift each base using a spatula/knife later. Place it back in the fridge until fully set and needed. This can be done ahead of the time as well.
Chocolate mirror glaze:
- 80g water
- 170g granulated sugar
- 85g double cream
- 30g cocoa
- 8g gelatine powder + 30g cold water
Only start preparing the glaze once the desserts are completely frozen.
Place the gelatine and cold water in a small cup, stir together and leave for a few minutes to let it bloom.
Put the rest of the ingredients in a small saucepan, making sure you add the cocoa through a sieve and stir everything together. Cook over a low heat (whilst stirring from time to time) until it starts to bubble, give it a few more minutes. Take off the heat. Place the cup with the gelatine in into a microwave for about 10 seconds to allow it to melt. Add the gelatine to the rest of the ingredients in the saucepan and stir well. Pour the mixture into a measuring jug through a sieve, if needed, repeat once again. Let it cool down to about 30-32C. If the glaze cools down too much/becomes too thick to work with, you can pop it into the microwave using 5 second intervals stirring between each round until you reach the desired temperature/consistency.
Assembly:
Prepare 8 crunchy bases by lifting them using a spatula/knife from the baking paper. Place them out on a chopping board, leaving some space in-between them.
Prepare the glaze station. Grab an oven tray, line it with some cling film – this is important – and then put an oven wire rack on top of it. Take out the mousse deserts from the freezer (I prefer to take out 2 at a time). Place them on the wire rack and pour the glaze (do a test on one of them first to make sure it reached the correct temperature) over them. Let the excess drip off, insert a bbq skewer into each dessert, move it around against the wire rack to remove any unwanted glaze from the bottom and carefully place on top of of the crunchy base. Repeat for the rest of the desserts. If you’ve used up the glaze before you’re done decorating all of the 8 desserts, squeeze the excess glaze from the cling film back into the jug and pour it again. If needed, re-heat in the microwave using 5 second intervals stirring until you reach the desired temperature/consistency again. Place the chopping board with the desserts in the fridge to let the glaze set for about an hour and then take them out and decorate – use a red milk chocolate/crispy balls and glittery decorating icing.
Transfer the desserts to the fridge and let them sit there for at least 4 hours as they need to defrost. I like to take them out of the fridge about 15-30mins before serving to let them warm up a little.
Happy baking and creating!
And to those who celebrate, MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🙂
I can’t wait to share more recipes with you in 2025! 🙂
