Even though the holidays have already ended (just yesterday for us in Spain) I didn’t have a chance to write about how we celebrated New Year’s, since they took out my wisdom teeth (or tooth, it was only one) on Monday and it’s hurt pretty badly all week. Plus they’re taking out another one next month. Should be fun…

Anyway, I celebrated New Year’s Eve with my parents and my brother, like we do every year. My mom makes dinner for the four of us and I normally prepare the dessert. This year we had: for appetizers, cold cauliflower soup with orange infused oil and  bacon wrapped oxtail bites with demi glace. For the main course, roasted pheasant with grilled vegetables and chesnut pureé, and for dessert vanilla, caramel and chocolate mousse verrines and a bit of turrón de soconusco (a traditional Christmas sweet from Bilbao made of chocolate and almond praliné).

Preparing the verrines, New Year’s Lunch is behind it

Cauliflower soup

Oxtail bites

Pheasant

Turrón de Soconusco from our favorite bakery, Zurikaldai

Everything was delicious! I especially liked the oxtail bites and the dessert. I’ll be sharing this recipe today, and even though it may look a bit complicated, it’s just a matter of patience and time. Besides all those dishes, we also welcomed the New Year with the traditional 12 grapes. You see, here in Spain it is typical to have 12 grapes just as the New Year begins. After enjoying dinner with the family and eating the grapes, a lot of people go out and celebrate with friends until the next morning – and the celebration keeps going with a New Year’s Day lunch with the family again. So, there’s lots and lots of celebration and eating going on!

I’ll be posting the rest of the holiday celebrations this weekend, the 5th and 6th of January when the Three Wise Men (or “Reyes Magos”, magic kings, as we call them). Plus, the wonderful gifts I got from my wishlist (hint: I got one of the “bigger” items!) Now, onto the recipe:

Vanilla, Caramel and Chocolate Mousse Verrines

Recipe from Tartelette

For the caramel:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon  sea salt
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons (10gr) unsalted butter

1. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan at high heat, until it boils.
2. Continue to cook until it’s caramel colored. Remove saucepan from the heat and add the rest of the ingredients, stir with until smooth.
3. Let it cool to room temperature (do not skip this step, trust me…)

For the chocolate:

• 4 oz (120gr) dark chocolate; I used Valrhona

1. Melt the chocolate until smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and also let this cool to room temperature.

For the vanilla mousse (which will be the “base”):

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup  whole milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1 tablespoon  powdered gelatin, mixed in 3 tablespoons water
• 1 cup whipping cream

1. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until very pale.
2. In a saucepan set over medium heat, boil the milk and the vanilla bean (split open and scraped ).
3. Slowly pour the milk over the yolks, whisking constantly.
4. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook until the cream coats the back of a spoon. Add the gelatin and stir until homogenized. Let it cool to room temperature.
5. Whip the cream into soft peaks and fold it into the cooled cream base. Divide the base into three equal portions (one will stay as is, the vanilla mousse is ready).
6. To assemble, add a couple of tablespoons of the base to the caramel and chocolate respectively; stir with a spoon. Fold one third of the mousse base into the caramel and chocolate respectively. Layer all three mousses evenly into glasses and refrigerate.

What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments.