Author Notes
This is a gelatine dessert that stretches and jiggles the definition of a napoleon. Tired of ordinary Jello desserts? This is for you. Imagine the Emperor exiled to Elba where the food is crap especially when prepared by his English minders He begins playing with his ingredients and thinking up ways to get back at the English. He has some good coffee smuggled from France, English marmalade from the pantry and a few other Italian/Corsican tricks to play. —pierino
Ingredients
-
2 cups
water
-
2 cups
strong black coffee, COLD
-
4 packets
unflavored gelatin powder (1 ounce)
-
1/4 cup
granulated sugar
-
1 tablespoon
fiori di Sicilia*
-
1 tablespoon
vanilla extract
-
Good orange marmalade
-
Whipped cream
Directions
-
Brew the coffee. I like to use the French press method. Allow it to cool down and then chill in the refrigerator until cold.
-
Boil the remaining two cups of water and dissolve the sugar into it.
-
Empty the gelatin packets into a large bowl. Pour the hot water over, followed by the cold coffee. Stir in the vanilla extract and the fiori di Sicilia. Mix well and transfer to a flat glass baking dish (e.g. Pyrex). Cover and chill for at least three hours or overnight.
-
Using a small offset spatula carefully slice the gelatin into rectangles (one per portion). With the edge of the spatula or the blade a sharp knife slice the first rectangle in half horizontally to create two layers of gelatin. Place the first layer on a plate and top with a scoop of marmalade and a spoonful or two of whipped cream. Carefully replace the top rectangle (this is tricky) and finish with more cream. This should yield six to eight portions. E Voila! Napoleon wins again.
-
*Fiori di Sicilia is a citrus extract. It’s quite useful in desserts. Available through King Arthur Flour.
Standup commis flâneur, and food historian. Pierino's background is in Italian and Spanish cooking but of late he's focused on frozen desserts. He is now finishing his cookbook, MALAVIDA! Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Visit the Malavida Brass Knuckle cooking page at Facebook and your posts are welcome there.
See what other Food52ers are saying.