Strawberry-Chocolate Bavarian Cream

Today I am in a seriously foul mood .
Today I also am making everything on page 90.
This will be the first time I have ever made or eaten Bavarian Cream so I have no idea on what to expect.

I can tell you how it has gone so far.
Usually I have a rule about not cooking when you are in a bad mood, it gets into the food and it just doesn’t taste as good. But I have little choice as it is the Fourth of July and we need, NEED I tell you, a special dessert worthy of this celebration!
  Yesterday I went shopping for the ingredients and pick them all up… or so I thought.
I miss read the ingredients list … I figured that out only after I had started.
First thing was to prep the strawberries. I had picked up a pack of fresh strawberries with the plan that I would use some and the Monster would use 8 for some chocolate dipped Strawberries that would grace the center of our dessert (the recipe is also on page 90). So, at the store yesterday I let her pick out the pack she wanted. I specifically said I like smaller strawberries, but Monster wanted HUGE ones. She compromised and got a pack that had THE single larges strawberry she had seen in her young life! Oh, and there were smaller ones in the pack too, But Look at this big one! She picked out her eight strawberries, including the behemoth one and washed the rest for the dessert. She then sliced them each and we covered them with sugar and set them in the fridge.  The way the instructions are for the Bavarian Cream are we will need the reserved juice from the strawberries for one part and puree for another part.
While the strawberries oozed out their sweet juice she Followed the recipe for the Creamy Chocolate Dipped Strawberries…kinda.
1 cup Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
½ cup Hershey’s Vanilla Milk Chips
1 tablespoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, or oil)
Fresh Strawberries, rinsed and patted dry (about 2 pts.)

Right away there are a few problems…  can you spot them?
They don’t make Vanilla Milk Chips any more and I had bought only 1 pint of strawberries to be split between the two recipes. I am already beginning to wonder if I had really planned for this as well as I had thought I had.
She washed the berries and patted them dry in a dish towel. She measured the chips, just adding more of the simi sweet to make up for the loss of the vanilla. She did all the measuring herself and microwaved them for about a minute… stirred them like crazy then microwaved them a little more… till when she stirred like crazy it came out smooth and yummy looking. Before melting the chips she had lined a small cookie sheet with parchment paper (the recipe had said waxed, which caused her stress till I assured her they could often substitute for each other.)   She wanted to leave the leaves on so she held back the leaves as she dipped and then set them on the sheet, arranging the leaves, and put it in the fridge to set up. There was so much chocolate left over that she and her sister decided we needed some chocolate covered bacon. Raven cooked up some bacon till it was as crisp as she liked it. They let it drain a few minutes then dipped the bacon into the bowl till it was fully covered. I rather wish they wouldn’t have done that. I am wondering how bacon and chocolate and strawberry will go together as Monster plans to give the strawberries a second dipping of chocolate…. I just hope not much bacon grease got in the dipping chocolate in the bowl.

Not a bad start… kinda fun… not much yelling and my mood, though still not happy, isn’t completely foul.
I read the recipe…

Strawberry-Chocolate Bavarian Cream

1 package (10 oz.) frozen sliced strawberries, thawed, or 1 cup sweetened, sliced fresh strawberries
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
½ cup sugar
1 cup Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2 ¼ cups Milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (½ pt) cold whipping cream
Strawberry Cream

Wait. What?! Cold Whipping cream?!? I had bought Whipped Cream! I read thru the instructions quickly…. I suppose I could just make it with the whipped cream…. I start to get really growly (and whinny) I noticed that I need ¾ a cup of the reserves from the strawberries… I get them out of the fridge and pour the syrup of yum off the strawberries to see how much I have…. Less then a ¼ a cup!!!
Now I am full on growly. For some brilliant reason I decide that if I puree the strawberries now and let them sit then more juice will come out faster! Remember I said I don’t like to cook while I am unhappy…. Well it’s brilliant moves like this that are why.  I puree them with my magic wand thing and go to the store to get whipping cream.
As it is the 4th I pick up some corn on the cob, King’s Hawaiian rolls, and a bag of charcoal. I then think about my mood and go back and get a package of  paper plates.
I get home and there is no separation in my strawberry puree at all! Now what? I think… maybe I could use some strawberry jam? No… I have to figure out a way to use what I have made… no matter how far from the recipe I go, which looks like as usual, I will go far. I decide to strain it.
   I grab my tea strainer and pour some of the strawberry puree in… it kinda works. If I stir my finger around in the strainer then strawberry with out pulp or seeds drips thru! Yeah! I haven’t completely destroyed it! (I hope) I get about ½ a cup of this strain strawberry and then add in water to make it the ¾ of a cup the recipe calls for.
I sprinkle a packet of gelatin over the strawberry stuff then read the recipe again. And again… I don’t see where the other packet of gelatin goes in…. so again… ooooohhhh… both of the packets go into the strawberry….
Yeah it goes like that.
I have to read it a few more time to figure out when the cream is added…
So far I am done with steps 1 and 2 and waiting for the ‘mixture to mound’
But the steaks are done now… I’ll check again… if it’s not mounding yet I’m eating first… then I’ll try this again.

I checked on the chocolate mixture and it was past mounding and into setting… I think that was a bad thing. I stirred it really hard till it was not really as solid and then Folded in the whipped cream I had just beaten up.  The garlic steaks where marched past as I poured it into a oiled bunt cake pan (I don’t have a ring mold… now I know what they are for I will be looking for one) The pan was returned to the refrigerator till  it was set. I whipped up the Strawberry cream before going in to enjoy the diner.
After diner we watched Ghost Rider II which gave our dessert just enough time to set.
 Now, as I have never had Bavarian Cream anything I have never un molded one either. At first I tried to just flip it like you would a cake, but that didn’t do anything. Then Raven remembered a scene from the movie Julie and Julia where she was un molding a jello-like thing. Of course, that scene ended with her in tears, so we went with great caution, seeing as my day had been lacking in luck up unto this point.
 I ran a little cold water over the outside of the pan then we tried flipping it again. This time it worked! The fun thing about glass cake servers is you can look up through them to see if your culinary creation has come out or needs a little more help.  After digging in many drawers I found a big frosting bag but never found the tip! That drives me crazy. I can’t even count the number of things I lost from them being used/played with and not put back. I really think this is the root cause of my mental instability. How different would life be if everyone put back what they use/barrow?
  The frosting bag (tipless)  filled with the strawberry whipped cream, the chocolate dipped strawberries ready and waiting and the mold on the cake plate, off center, but on the plate none the less, it was time to put it all together and see what we had made!

The family gathered round to make their comments and wait, some with impatience some with trepidation, for their piece… results..
It was too sweet, it exploded with sweet and strawberry in the mouth
It’s texture was a little sandy
The  chocolate dipped strawberries where incredible!

I do want to make both of these again! I want to see if I can make the Bavarian Cream smooth and sexy!
The Chocolate dipped Strawberries were the Best I have ever had! I will always make my own now and never turn one down when it is offered to me that  is for sure! Those are defiantly date night worthy!
Heck those alone were a perfect cure to a bad day.


Strawberry-Chocolate Bavarian Cream
Instructions
* Lightly oil 6-cup ring mold. Drain strawberries; reserve syrup. Add  water to syrup to equal ¾ cup. Sprinkle gelatin over liquid; let stand 3 minutes. Refrigerate drains berries for use in Strawberry Cream.

*In medium saucepan, combine sugar, chocolate chips and ½ cup milk; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and very hot. Add gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved.

*Remove from heat; add remaining 1 ¾ cups milk and vanilla. Pour into bowl; refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds when dropped from spoon.

*In small mixer bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff; fold into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared mold; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Unmold; garnish with Strawberry Cream.
8 to 10 servings.

*STRAWBERRY CREAM: Mash or puree reserved strawberries to equal ½ cup. In small mixer bowl, beat whipping cream and vanilla until stiff. Fold in strawberry puree and red food color.