The pistachio and chocolate delights are a real treat that will be hard to resist. It is a very soft pistachio cream enclosed between two small crunchy dark chocolate wafers. It is a fresh spoon dessert; delicious, refined to serve, and it is gluten-free. The delights are perfect for both Sunday lunch and our important moments if you want to impress guests. The pistachio delights can be customized in size and combinations according to our tastes.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Cooking time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups milk (also lactose-free)
- 1 1/4 tbsp rice flour
- 1 1/4 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup unsalted pistachios (shelled)
- 3 egg yolks
- to taste orange zest
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp Strega liqueur or Rum
- 1 pinch vanilla paste or liquid
- 3 1/2 oz 50% dark chocolate
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup pistachio crumbs (for decoration)
Tools
- 4 Molds
Steps
To shape the pistachio delights, we will need 4 disposable aluminum molds.
Take the eggs out of the fridge half an hour before using them so they whip better.
Sift together the rice flour and cornstarch.
From an orange, take a couple of zests without the white inner part (we will need this to flavor the milk), while we will finely grate the remaining peel.
Place a steel bowl or pot in the freezer, which we will use to immediately transfer the boiling cream. This step will stop the cooking (which would otherwise continue thanks to the residual heat).
Let’s start by preparing the pistachio cream. Chop the pistachios very finely along with a teaspoon of sugar taken from the amount provided by this recipe (to prevent the pistachios from releasing oil) and set them aside. If using a food processor or blender, pulse to avoid overheating them.
Separate the yolks from the whites and place them in a pan (which we will use to cook the cream).
Add the remaining sugar to the yolks and beat them until they become pale and frothy (using electric whisks, it will take 3 minutes at medium speed).
Meanwhile, heat the milk with the orange zests in a large saucepan over a low flame, on the smallest burner.
When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, we will add the chopped pistachios, salt, vanilla essence, grated orange peel, rice flour, and cornstarch.
Mix very well but very gently with a steel whisk until you get a smooth and lump-free mixture.
As soon as the milk is warm enough (it should not be boiling or boil), remove the zests, pour it in a thin stream over the pistachio mixture, continuing to mix with the steel whisk, until they are perfectly combined; finally, transfer the pan to the smallest burner on low heat.
In a few minutes, the cream will begin to thicken. Turn it off immediately, remove the pan from the stove, and add the rum, Strega, or other liqueur to taste.
Immediately transfer the pistachio cream into the cold bowl, mix again, and let the cream rest for 5 minutes. Then, cover it with contact film and let it cool completely.
Let’s prepare our chocolate wafers.
When the cream has cooled, melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie, over very low heat.
As soon as it is melted, remove from the heat and pour in the two teaspoons of vegetable oil.
Stir well and pour a heaping teaspoon of glaze on the bottom of each mold.
– A heaping teaspoon is more than enough, as if the layer on the bottom (which will become the top part of the dessert once turned over on the serving plate) is too thick, it will become a problem to break it with the dessert fork and eat it along with the cream-
Distribute it well on the bottom of the mold and put it to cool for 10 minutes in the freezer; they should become solid. Keep the remaining melted chocolate in the warm bain-marie pot, without turning on the stove.
After 10 minutes, take our molds from the freezer and fill them almost to the brim with pistachio cream.
Gently tap the molds on the table to fill any gaps in the filling.
Level the cream with the back of a spoon or the blade of a knife and pour another heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate over the cream, leveling to get a smooth and even chocolate base.
Put the pistachio delights in the fridge, closed in a cake container, and wait for at least a couple of hours.
To remove them from the molds: gently widen the edges of the molds, moving them away from the dessert, so you can detach them better from the delights.
Cut the edge of the molds with scissors in several places and pull it away (I made 4 cuts, spaced on the edge of the molds, pulled down, like they were tabs, and they opened without problems).
Turn the desserts onto serving plates, decorate with pistachio crumbs and voila… the dessert is served. The pistachio and chocolate delights can be stored in the fridge well covered.
Extra idea. If when turning the desserts over onto the plates, the wafer – that was on the bottom – should detach from the cream, it’s not a problem; it will be enough to reapply it on the dessert.
If you fear that the glaze applied on the bottom might have trouble detaching from the mold or might break during the dessert extraction, apply a small circle of parchment paper the diameter of the bottom itself, before pouring the chocolate.
