Passionate Chocolate

As I've mentioned before, I've never actually eaten a macaron before from someone who actually knows how to make them (ie, not me). I googled "macaron Salt Lake City" and only one website came up, Les Madeleines. They started out as a cupcake bakery a few years ago (wonderful creative flavors), and it appears they've moved on to add sandwiches, drinks, and other pastries, including macarons. I finally got around to going again over the weekend to try her macarons. The are different from how mine turn out. Mine are considerably more hollow. Perhaps I'm overbaking (a tendacy of mine). Anyhow, the macaron flavor they had was passionfruit. I also got a passionfruit cupcake. I don't think I'd ever considered passionfruit before, but it is wonderful. Unfortunately, it isn't exactly the time of year for passionfruit. After some searching at a few markets, I had to settle on passionfruit juice frozen concentrate.
I also have a lot of egg yolk left over from all the macarons, so I figured the best solution was a passionfruit mousse. (The Yule Log has completely turned me onto to homemade mousse.) And as I was falling asleep last night the rest of the dessert came to me, as if it was meant to be: passionfruit mousse with a chocolate chantilly on a walnut crust.

Walnut Crust

1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 Tbl melted butter

Combine graham cracker, walnuts and butter. Press into the bottom of a aluminum foil lined 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350 F for 10 min. Let cool.

Chocolate Chantilly
(from Flore of Florilège Gourmand)
1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream 35% fat
3.9 oz (110g) milk chocolate
1 tsp (8g) glucose or thick corn syrup
3/4 cup (180g) heavy cream 35% fat

1. Chop the chocolate coarsely.
2. Heat the 160g of cream to boiling and pour over the chocolate and glucose syrup.
3. Wait 30 seconds then stir the mix until smooth. Add the remaining cream.
4. Refrigerate to cool, then whip up.
5. Spread onto cool crust. Refrigerate.

Passionfruit Mousse
(adapted from The Food Network)

• 2 egg whites
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-ounce water
• 1 loose cup passion fruit frozen concentrate
  
• 1 peeled, cored apple, pureed
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons gelatin sprinkled over 1 Tbl cold water
  
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Ribbon yolks and sugar, temper with purees and cook until 185 degrees F. Add gelatin, strain, cool and fold in half of the whipped cream. Whip egg whites into soft peaks. Cook sugar, corn syrup and water until 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Slowly add sugar and continue to whip on high speed into stiff peaks, set aside. Combine purees and bring to a boil. Fold remaining cream into egg whites. Fold mixtures together and spread on top of chocolate chantilly. Chill in freezer.