Basil Cardamom White Chocolate Chantilly

Basil Cardamom White Chocolate Chantilly! This lethally rich, sweet and airy petite sized dessert which leaves you wanting more. A light dessert that takes care of your sugar craving 😜

Let me dissect each of these ingredients.

Basil – Sweet aromatic herb.

Cardamom – Sweet, aromatic spice with a camphorous lemony undertone.

White chocolate – It’s actually not chocolate, yet it’s called chocolate. It has more milk solids, sugar and flavoring than cocoa butter, plus no chocolate liquor (that explains the ivory color).

This was never my favorite and never will be. Well, don’t ask me why I bought it. Actually I was experimenting chocolates. The first time I tasted white chocolate was decades ago. It was a milky bar from Nestle. That was the first and the last time I sank my tooth into one. It was plain…Blonde

The other day hubby and I went grocery shopping to Whole Foods Market. I chanced upon a small pack of Callebaut white chocolate. I thought after all it’s Barry Callebaut, one of world’s best chocolates. Hence, the took the plunge to try it. We returned home, I sampled a small piece and grimaced in displeasure. It was the same taste I had in my taste buds years ago when I bit that milky bar. That’s when I decided that white chocolate is not for me. I had to do something with it and thought of spicing up the white thing with some aromatic spices to get rid of the milky taste by lightening the texture with whipped cream. That’s how ‘Basil Cardamom infused White Chocolate Chantilly’ came into being and hit the blog.

Makes 4 petite dessert

6 oz  White chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1 cup Heavy whipping cream

2-3 tbsp Whole milk

1 tbsp Sweet basil, chopped

2-3 Green cardamom, crushed

3-4 pieces of candied ginger, sliced for garnish

Method

1. Bring milk to a boil. Add crushed cardamom and basil. Remove from heat and let the spices steep in the milk for about 10-15 mins.

2. Once milk is cool, strain and remove spices. Reserve milk for later use. Meanwhile, place the mixer bowl and whisk in the freezer for at least 10 mins.

3. Roughly chop the white chocolate.

4. Gently microwave the chocolate in a glass bowl. Take care not to burn the chocolate. It takes less than a minute to head towards disaster. Alternately, you can use a water bath to do the same. Whip the chocolate until smooth and creamy.

5. Keep the cream cold till needed for whipping. Measure the needed quantity and refrigerate the rest immediately.

6. Remove the bowl and whisk attachment from the freezer, whip the cream with the spiced milk until soft peaks form.

7. Add few spoons of the whipped cream to the white chocolate and whisk quickly. If not the chocolate will solidify when in contact with the cream.

8. Add this mixture to rest of the whipped cream and blend it together until incorporated.

9. Dish out the mixture into small ramekins or glass bowls. Chill for 2-3 hrs.

10. Garnish with sliced candied ginger and serve chilled. Enjoy!