Chocolate Napoleons with Caramel Mousse

By Chez_Alexander

Phyllo sheets are sprinkled with sugar and cocoa to make chocolate crisps, which are then layered with luscious caramel mousse and drizzled with homemade caramel sauce and chocolate syrup. This makes a stunning presentation, rich in flavor with contrasting light textures.

Ingredients

• CHOCOLATE CRISPS
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
• 2 TBS butter, melted
• CARAMEL MOUSSE
• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
• 3 1/2 TBS Rich Caramel Sauce (see separate recipe)
• FOR SERVING
• 2 TBS Rich Caramel Sauce, warmed
• 2 TBS store-bought chocolate syrup

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from epicurious.com

Preparation

Step 1

CHOCOLATE CRISPS

1. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

2. Place the sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl and whisk to blend well. Set the bowl aside.

3. Cut each phyllo sheet crosswise into 3 equal pieces, then stack the pieces to make two stacks. Cover the stacks with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel to keep the phyllo from drying out while you work with it.

4. Place 1 piece of phyllo on the prepared baking sheet and brush a little of the melted butter over it. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cocoa-sugar mixture over the butter, and top with another piece of the phyllo. Brush the phyllo with butter and sprinkle with 1/4 of the cocoa mixture. Top with another piece of phyllo, pressing down on it gently, and brush it with butter. Repeat the process with the remaining phyllo, cocoa-sugar mixture, and butter, to make 2 stacks. Refrigerate the phyllo stacks for 10 minutes.

5. Remove the stacks from the refrigerator. While they are still on the baking sheet, use a sharp knife to cut each stack into 3 irregular triangular pieces. To cut phyllo into 3 triangles, place the stack with the short end closest to you. Cut from the top left corner across the phyllo to the center of the long right side, then back across to the bottom left corner.

6. Place a piece of parchment paper over the stacks and weight the stacks by placing another baking sheet on top. Bake until the phyllo crisps are golden, 14-15 minutes.

7. Remove the phyllo crisps from the oven. Remove the top baking sheet and carefully peel off the top parchment. Place the bottom baking sheet on a wire rack and let the crisps cool on the baking sheet. The crisps can be prepared up to 6 hours in advance, covered loosely with waxed paper at room temperature.

CARAMEL MOUSSE

Place heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Then beat in the 3 1/2 TBS caramel sauce on high speed until well blended, 20-30 seconds.

ASSEMBLY

1. To assemble the napoleons, place a phyllo crisp (1 triangular stack) on each dessert plate and top with a tablespoon of the caramel mousse. Repeat the layers of phyllo and mousse, and top with the remaining crisps. Drizzle each napoleon with a tablespoon of warm caramel sauce and a tablespoon of chocolate syrup.

Makes 2 Napoleons. Each Napoleon = 19 Weight Watchers points (includes Rich Caramel Sauce and chocolate syrup)