Musings of an Omnivore: Valrhona Chocolate Mousse in Chocolate Bags, Diced Mango, Hazlenut-Filled Pirouette Cookies, and Mint

New Years Eve was pretty quiet. In years past, I usually had to work, but even if I didn't, I don't usually celebrate NYE. In my mind, it's kind of a non-event. It's always such a let down after the countdown and everything in the world is exactly the same as it was a few seconds before.

Nicole had a few people over (including some new guy named Glen I had no idea she was dating) for a west coast pinot noir tasting and dinner. It was meant to be a potluck, so I volunteered to bring dessert. It being NYE and all, I wanted to do something fancy. But I was having trouble coming up with ideas and inspiration didn't hit until the morning of NYE.

I decided that the show piece would be chocolate "paper" bags... filled with something, I didn't know yet. I first saw this presentation many, many years ago. I guess "penny candy" (that's how old the idea is) used to be bought in miniature waxed paper bags, and pastry chefs would paint the insides of the bags with chocolate. Once the chocolate had set, they would tear away the bags and you'd have a chocolate form that looked like a little paper bag.

A few years ago, when I was working at The Restaurant at Domaine Chandon, I was reintroduced to the idea. The pastry chef would make these bags and then fill them with a raspberry milkshake and it would be served with a straw. Most people thought it was cool, but I didn't really think filling something that was supposed to look like a paper bag with a liquid made much sense.

Traditionally, the "bags" are laid on their sides and filled with berries, truffles, cookies, etc. so it looks like they're spilling out of the bag. But berries weren't in season, and I wanted something more luxurious than cookies or berries anyway. I decided to make and pipe in chocolate mousse using Valrhona chocolate, and then garnish with diced mango and a chiffonade of mint.

I guess they don't make the little waxed paper bags anymore, and instead, little cellophane bags are used. I found some at the local culinary/kitchen store here in Napa (Shackfords). They don't come folded with flat bottoms like the paper bags you use for kids' lunch bags. Instead, they are kind of like the bags that you'd buy baguettes in, where the bottom of the bag ends in a crease. To get them flat, I'd have to push a little box into the cellophane bags to form the flat bottom. I looked around my apartment for something that would be the right size. Funny enough, I found that the little box the Dom Perignon Champagne stoppers came in were the perfect size!

Once I formed all the bags, then it was a matter of melting the chocolate in a double boiler, using a pastry brush to paint the insides of each bag (making several passes), and then letting them set in the freezer. Sounds simple enough, but the whole process took almost three hours to complete 16 bags. By comparison, the chocolate mousse only took about 20 minutes to make.

Transporting the fragile chocolate bags from Napa to San Francisco was nerve wracking. I placed them in a milk crate and wedged loosely crumpled paper towels around the sides. The one thing I had going for me was the weather: it was winter, so I didn't have to worry about them melting (so long as I didn't turn on the heater in the car).

Assembling/plating the desert was pretty straightforward. Unmolding the chocolate from the cellophane is delicate business, so that took a few minutes. Aside from that, it was a snap.