Today Aria’s preschool teachers planned a small Diwali celebration in school. Diwali is a Hindu festival and it’s India’s biggest holiday of the year. It’s also known as the "festival of lights." The day began with a non-religious story of Diwali, then there was a beautiful Rangoli demonstration (an art and craft session), followed by a potluck lunch for the boys and girls. I volunteered to bring a nut-free dessert for the children and since I knew other mothers would bring typical, popular Indian desserts, Aria and I prepared a colorful, playful dessert instead for the children.
For the occasion, I transformed our little Aria into an Indian princess and tried to match the dessert with her colorful, festive attire. The dessert consisted of individual servings of a cookie baked in a mini cupcake liner and filled with cardamom-flavored triple chocolate cream (lemon, strawberry and milk chocolate). Needless to say, the children adored the sweet treats and Aria was so proud to tell her classmates she had helped preparing them.
1. Info for Colorful Dessert for Diwali Celebration
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 40
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Colorful Dessert for Diwali Celebration
- 2½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg, at room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4 cardamom pods (or 3 drops cardamom extract)
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons muscovado sugar or granulated sugar
- 3 ounces milk chocolate chips
- 3 ounces strawberry chocolate apeel chips (see tips)
- 3 ounces lemon chocolate apeel chips (see tips)
- 7½ tablespoons whole milk
- 13 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons green-colored decorative sugar, for dusting
3. Directions:
- For the cardamom pods: In a mortar and pestle, pound the pods to release the seeds and grind them. Gather the cardamom powder. Reserve ¼ teaspoon for garnish later.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Line 2 20-cavity mini-muffin pans with mini cupcake liners.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Sift the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the egg. Add the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined; add half the amount of cardamom powder, 5 tablespoons butter and light brown sugar and mix until even distributed. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches and mix until evenly distributed. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Create 40 1-inch dough balls, then flatten them out and place one in each cupcake liner.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes, rotating the pans half-way through so they bake evenly. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before adding the toppings.
- Place the 3 chocolates in 3 separate stainless-steel mixing bowls. Make a "double boiler" (a pot filled with hot water, covered with a piece of cloth) and place each bowl filled with chocolate on top to melt the chocolates. Make sure the bowl circumference is larger than the pot, so there isn’t any splatter of water in the chocolate. Slowly melt, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and add 2½ tablespoons each milk and butter to each of the bowls. Stir well until the mixtures are uniform.
- Add a pinch of cardamom powder in each bowl. Mix well.
- Whip the heavy cream with the remaining salt (at low speed) for 2-3 minutes until creamy and smooth. Add the muscovado sugar. Increase to maximum speed and keep beating for another 2-3 minutes, until it forms soft peaks.
- Pour one-third of the whipped cream into the first melted chocolate. Mix well. Pour one-third into the second chocolate bowl and the rest of the whipped cream into the third chocolate; using a silicone spatula, gently fold the cream into the chocolates.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a star-shaped tip.
- Pipe the 3 types of chocolate mousse to fill the cupcake liners, starting with the lemon chocolate. Repeat with the strawberry chocolate and finally the milk chocolate. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- To serve, combine the decorative sugar with the reserved cardamom powder and sprinkle over the mini desserts.
- Bon appétit!