Frozen Salted Caramel Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Bars
Salted caramel sauce and a toasted hazelnut crust are an incredible duo in these frozen chocolate mousse bars. -- the perfect creamy frozen dessert!
Servings 9 servings
Calories 331kcal
Ingredients
Hazelnut Cookie Crust
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted and ground to a course meal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Salted Caramel
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Mousse Filling
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Additional toasted chopped hazelnuts for topping
Instructions
Hazelnut Cookie Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 square baking pan with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Fold in ground hazelnuts, flour, baking soda, and salt until a soft dough forms.
- Pat dough evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust at 350F 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool crust completely on a wire cooling rack.
Salted Caramel
- Combine sugar, butter, and honey in a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally until a golden brown. Very slowly, whisk cream into caramel (careful, it will splatter slightly) and cook an additional 1-2 minutes until caramel is a deep golden brown. Remove from heat and whisk in salt. Let caramel cool slightly.
- Reserve a few tablespoons caramel sauce for garnishing. Pour remaining caramel over hazelnut crust and smooth top. Place in freezer to chill while you prepare the mousse filling.
Chocolate Mousse Filling
- In a small bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes of beating. Heat 3/4 cup cream in a small saucepan over medium until hot (do not let boil) Very slowly drizzle hot cream into egg yolk mixture, a little at a time to temper the egg yolks. Once all the cream has been added to egg yolks, add all back to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture is slightly thickened and at a low simmer.
- Offheat, strain hot cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Whisk chocolate and vanilla into hot cream mixture until chocolate is melted. Let cool.
- In a separate bowl, whip remaining 1/4 cup cream to stiff peaks. Very gently fold into cooled chocolate mixture. Spread chocolate mousse over caramel layer of bars, cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze 6 hours until mousse is firm.
- When ready to serve, drizzle reserved caramel sauce over top of bars and sprinkle with additional toasted hazelnuts. Use parchment paper overhang to remove bars from pan and slice into 9 even bars. Enjoy!
Notes
Mousse filling recipe slightly adapted from Epicurious.
Nutrition
Serving: 1bar | Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 33.7g | Protein: 3.3g | Fat: 21.2g | Saturated Fat: 11.9g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 211mg | Potassium: 107mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26.3g | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg