Coffee and Orange Granitas in Chocolate Teardrops

Coffee and Orange Granitas in Chocolate Teardrops

adapted from Michel Roux

200 g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
200 ml freshly made coffee filter
15-25 gr caster sugar
 4 oranges, washed
60 gr caster sugar
acetate strip/ chocolate transfer sheet

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water than remove from the pan.

To make the teardrops, cut 8 acetate strips, 20cm long and 4.5cm wide. Place the acetate strips on a chopping board or greaseproof paper and cover the whole surface with melted chocolate (if you are using chocolate transfer sheet, place it on the workstation with the textured side face up and the shiny side face down on the counter) and leave until beginning to set.

As the chocolate begin to set, take one strip and bend it, with the chocolate on the inside, to form a tear drop shape and set it on the sides(like the picture above). If it is necessary (depends on the acetate sheets you use) secure the ends together with a small paper clip(but be careful, if the paper clip is still new it can squeeze out the chocolate-therefore it is recommended to loosen it a bit). Repeat with the remaining chocolate-coated strips of acetate than refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set or until ready to serve.

For the coffee granita, pour the filter coffee into a shallow freezer proof container dissolve the sugar(depending on your taste you should adjust the sugar- Michel Roux  used unsweetened coffee...but for me it was really bitter, I prefer my coffee with sugar and cream, therefore I put some sugar in it).Freeze it stirring  with a fork every 30 minutes, until little flakes begin to form.
This will take 2-3 hours.

For the orange granita, finely grate the zest from 2 oranges and squeeze the juice form all 4 oranges. Tip the orange juice into a bowl, add the sugar and leave to dissolve(without heating) for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stain throught a fine sieve and add the grated zest. Pour into a shallow container and freeze, as for the coffee granite(above).

When ready to serve, one by one, remove the paper clip and carefully peel off the acetate strip from each chocolate teardrop, placing it straight onto a chilled serving plate and allowing two teardrops per serving. Using a strong fork scrape shavings from the frozen granitas to fill the chocolate drops.
Serve immediately.

Hints and tips: 
- Ideally you shouldn't use your oven before serving (don't do the same mistake as me) as the teardops will  melt quickly
-Also for the reasons above I did one serving at the time avoiding the melting caused by the delay of acetate strips removals
-Even if you haven't used your oven, but you happen to be one of the lucky people who has proper warm weather and summer (not like me currently) than it is also a good tip to put your serving plates into the freezer for 5-10minutes before the plating so again helps you avoid the melting teardops effect
-Although the recipe recommended coffee and orange, but it is also the same principle with all the fruids and liquids, so if you fancy something else just be creative and let me know how you get on