90. Half-cold: Adventures in Home-Made Viennetta (and egg yolk cookies!)

Melt-on-the-tongue semifreddo with snappy chocolate: the perfect dinner party dessert? And a bonus recipe for how to use egg yolks without making custard...

I grew up eating Viennetta (a bought ice cream dessert) as a treat. Texturally, it’s near-perfect. The soft ice cream and snappy chocolate contrast is amazing. I enjoyed both the vanilla and the mint chocolate versions. As a discerning adult, though, I have to admit it doesn’t taste right. You can taste that the ingredients aren’t the best. So I set out to make my own elevated version.

I started with a semifreddo base, because semifreddo is soft and unctuous - in fact, I think it slices perfectly straight out of the freezer. I tried a few different versions: Georgina Hayden’s ricotta semifreddo, Anna Jones’s whole egg semifreddo and Nicola Lamb’s whites-only semifreddo. For me, the whites-only was the clear winner. It looked more beautiful as it was the colour of freshly fallen snow. It also tasted ‘cleaner’ and less rich, which provided the contrast needed to the rich chocolate. If you’re worrying about not having an ice cream maker, don’t! Semifreddo is made by whipping egg whites, sugar and cream and then freezing. All the air is incorporated before you freeze it so no churning is required.

I then wanted my ideal chocolate, which was a mixture of high-cocoa solids milk (35%) and dark (70%) chocolate. All we need to do here is melt, spread and freeze. The freezing and thin-ness of layers ensures the chocolate is snappy. No tempering needed.

Once I’d mastered a vanilla and chocolate viennetta, I had fun adding things like nuts and caramel. Once again, I also turned to one of my favourite things - Snickers bars - and thought ‘what if this was made with actually good chocolate and salted peanuts’? Obviously, a Snickers bar semifreddo with high quality ingredients was a knock-out…

See below for a few of my efforts :)

An early version in my process

Snickers semifreddo! Absolutely incredible!

Feel free to experiment with garnishes. This was Crunchy Nut Cornflakes but I didn't find the flavour stood up to the dark chocolate - Cinnamon crunch could be good though....

Let’s make it!

Semifreddo with Chocolate Shards / DIY Viennetta

If eating raw eggs is a concern, I’ve included how to temper them. If not, feel free to skip this step.

For the base:
300ml/g double (heavy) cream
110g egg whites (about 3)
60g caster sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

For the chocolate shards:
170g chocolate - I like to use 85g dark chocolate (70%) and 85g dark-milk chocolate (35%), or whatever I have to hand

Optional extras:
A tin or jar of dulce de leche (397g) and a tablespoon or two of milk
Flaky sea salt
150g roasted hazelnuts or roasted salted peanuts

Line a 2lb / 900g loaf tin with two layers of cling film/ cling wrap, with plenty of overhang.

Melt the chocolate using your preferred method. I prefer to break up into a microwaveable bowl and heat on medium power in short increments such as 10-30 seconds, stirring often. You may prefer the ‘bain marie’ method: Pop a bowl over a gently simmering pan of water (the bowl should not touch the water, just the steam) and stir until melted. Line large baking trays with silpat or baking paper. Spread the chocolate out into 4 or 5 thin layers, the same length as your loaf tin. Leave to cool completely. You can pop them into the freezer for a few minutes to speed this up.

Prep any additions: If using caramel, you will need to make it thinner and more spreadable by mixing with a little milk. Add a small amount at a time until you have the right consistency. Then add a good pinch of flaky salt ant stir this in, if wanted. (If your nuts are salted, you may want to skip this step or only add a small pinch.) If using nuts, roughly chop them if they aren’t pre-chopped.

Temper the eggs (feel free to skip this bit if raw egg is not a concern: Whisk the egg whites, vanilla and sugar in a bain marie (a heatproof bowl over simmering water) until it reaches 65-70C.

Whisk the eggs, whisk the cream: Whisk the egg whites and sugar on high in a stand mixer to medium peaks. Whisk the cream to soft peaks. Fold the two together.

Layer up the semifreddo and chocolate as well as any additions. Start with a semifreddo layer, then chocolate, then additions, and repeat. The semifreddo layers may look to thin but trust the process. Freeze for 6 hours or more. You may have more caramel or nuts than needed - these are also nice to garnish before serving so reserve them!

Storage: It stays good in the freezer for a couple of months. Keep well wrapped.

Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies with Halva

I have the perfect solution for what to do with the three egg yolks you may have left over: making egg yolk chocolate chip cookies. As I am obsessed with halva and will find anything to be a vehicle for it, I added halva, but they are also perfect without. This is my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

This is slightly adapted from a brilliant recipe by Claire Ptak.

Makes 16

250g butter (high-fat European style), soft
200g light brown soft sugar
100g granulated or caster sugar
2tsp - 1tbsp vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
325g plain / all purpose flour
1 tsp salt (omit or reduce if your butter is salted)
3/4 tsp baking soda / bicarbonate of soda
250g chocolate, chopped or good quality chocolate chips (I used a mix of dark and milk chocolate)
250g plain or vanilla sesame halva (optional)

Cream the butter and sugar to combine. This is best done in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment due to the large quantities, but it can be done with an electric hand whisk or even by hand with a lot of arm strength and patience.

Add egg yolks and vanilla and combine.

In a separate bow, whisk the salt, baking soda/bicarb and flour.

Add this to the wet mixture and combine.

Portion into 16 balls - mine were about 40g each. Add a chunk of halva on to each, if using. Cover and freeze for at least an hour, or up to a month.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160C fan. Line large baking trays and space the cookies out well - they spread a fair bit, but that is partly how they get so beautifully caramelised! Bake for 12-14 minutes, until they are soft but ever-so-slightly set in the middle. Leave to cool before devouring and sharing with grateful people.

Caramelisation Nation!