Yield: 8 – 10 servings

Recipe from Julia Child

1984: This is not the easiest dish to make but it is good enough to be worth the effort. I made this quite often for Christmas when we lived in NH.  It’s been a long time, but in 2017 I used it for New Year’s Eve.

• 3½oz semisweet chocolate
• 1oz unsweetened chocolate
• ¼cup plus 3 TBS dark rum
• 1¼cups sugar
• 2TBS instant coffee
• 2sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 6oz toasted hazelnuts, ground, (about 1½ cups loosely packed)
• ½tsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2cups heavy cream, chilled
• 32lady fingers or 8 x 4½ sponge cake cut into lady fingers.
• shaved chocolate for garnish

Melt chocolate:

In a medium saucepan, combine the semisweet and unsweetened chocolate. Cover and place in a larger pan partially filled with boiling hot water; set aside to melt.  You can also use a microwave to melt the chocolate.  Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.

Add and mix the rum to the melted chocolate. Set the pan of chocolate over the ice and stir until cool but not chilled. Delicately fold the chocolate into the whipped cream.

Make simple syrup:

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of the sugar, the coffee and ⅓ cup of water. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear. Bring to a boil and let boil for several seconds. Remove from the heat and set in a pan of cold water; stir until tepid.

Blend the syrup:

Add the syrup by dribbles into the perfectly melted chocolate. Beat in the butter, 1 TBS at a time using a portable mixer. Stir in the ground hazelnuts, vanilla and salt.

Make the whipped cream:

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl set over a larger bowl of ice. With a portable mixer, beat until the cream is almost doubled in volume and the beaters leave light traces on the surface, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the cream from the ice.

To assemble:

Encircle a 6-cup soufflé dish with a double thickness of wax paper, to make a collar standing 3 inches above the rim of the dish. Dissolve the remaining ¼ cup sugar in ½ cup of warm water and add the remaining 3 TBS rum. Lay the ladyfingers or cake in a dish and dribble the syrup over them. Cover the bottom of the soufflé dish with an even layer of the ladyfingers.  In my 1.6L corning-ware dish, I used 8 for each layer; Add ¼ of the mousse and spread. Repeat with the remaining ladyfingers and mousse. Chill.

Remove wax paper and garnish with the shaved chocolate.

Enjoy!