Chocolate Semifreddo with Pistachios

Semifreddo in Italian means half cold or half frozen. This dessert is typically sliced and served like a cake or sponge, differing from ice cream, sorbet, and granita in that it doesnt give that icy feeling in the mouth, but rather a velvety cream that melts quickly on the tongue.

Details

  • Preparation Time: 25 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 0 minutes
  • Difficulty: 1
  • Spiciness: 0
  • Number of Servings: 10

Ingredients

Decoration

  • pieces chocolate, dark

  • pieces Butter, unsalted

  • 4 pieces Egg, fresh

  • 80 g Sugar, white

  • 250 g chocolate, dark

  • 450 ml Sweet cream

  • 60 g Pistachio

Steps

  1. For preparing the semifreddo, we need an approximately 6 cm deep oblong baking dish (with a volume of 1 to 1.5 liters), which we lightly grease and line with several layers of food wrap. Make sure the pieces of wrap are large enough to hang over the edges of the dish.

  2. In a heatproof bowl, add eggs and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water in the pot. Lower the temperature so that the water in the pot is just simmering. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer over the steam for about 10 minutes or until you get a thick and frothy egg cream. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to beat the cream for an additional 5 minutes to cool it down.

  3. Roughly chop the chocolate and place it in another heatproof bowl, which you set over a pot of boiling water. Slowly melt the chocolate over the steam. Once melted, gently stir it with a spatula to get a smooth chocolate mixture, which you then mix into the egg cream.

  4. Whip the sweet cream until soft peaks form. Gently and slowly fold it into the egg-chocolate mixture along with 2/3 of the roughly chopped pistachios.

  5. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly with a spatula, smoothing the top. Fold the excess food wrap over the mixture, then store the dish in the freezer overnight (at least for 4 hours) to let the dessert freeze.

  6. Take the dessert out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Carefully invert it onto a larger plate or platter and decorate the top with grated chocolate and the remaining finely chopped pistachios. Let the semifreddo rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving, then slice it into portions, serve on plates, and enjoy immediately.

Nutrition Information (Per 100g)

  • Calories: 359.76 kcal
  • Fat: 19.24 g
    • Saturated Fat: 8.35 g
  • Carbohydrates: 36.84 g
    • Sugars: 29.83 g
  • Protein: 8.2 g
  • Fiber: 3.43 g

Advice

You can also mix in raisins soaked in rum (cranberries), candied fruit, or soft nougat cut into pieces.