Dessert First

Valrhona Demo - A Surfeit of Chocolate

My take on the Valrhona Damas

Hi dear readers! Sorry this post has been a long time in the making, but I had a lot I wanted to share with you all!

A few weeks ago, I got an invitation to attend a dessert demonstration by Valrhona. Valrhona is, of course, considered among the creme de la creme of fine chocolate; appending "Valrhona" to the ingredient list of any chocolate dessert is like shorthand for the most luxe and elegant of indulgences.

Valrhona chocolate can be pricey, but in their case you truly get what you pay for: beautiful, full-flavored chocolate that tastes dreamy and performs wonderfully. Whenever I get to use Valrhona in my baking, I'm a happy girl.

I was especially excited to attend this demonstration because not only was Valrhona unveiling some new products, but they were bringing in some of their in-house pastry chefs to demonstrate how to use them. Another thing that impresses me about Valrhona is their dedication to the industry and art of chocolate: they are involved in both the production and harvest of cacao beans around the world, as well as the creative and thoughtful use of the created chocolate in pastry. Valrhona has a chocolate school, l'École du Grand Chocolat at their headquarters in France, that provides classes in patisserie and confectionery to professionals and enthusiasts.

One of the chefs from the school, Philippe Givre, was flown all the way to the Bay Area to lead this demonstration, along with Derek Poirier and Alex Espiritu, pastry chefs for Valrhona's USA division. Needless to say, what an exciting opportunity!

Chef Philippe Givre. Looks like the quintessential French pastry chef, no?

Really, the demonstration was more like an intense four-hour pastry class taught by a master - I got a lot more technical information and baking tips than I thought I would from a demo, which was great. Chef Givre went into very detailed explanations of the importance of ingredient temperatures, especially when making ganaches, custards, and mousses; how to whip cream properly to maximize its volume, and even a mini-digression into the the importance of dry to liquid ratios in making ice creams and sorbets. Hey, after this I am fully convinced that going to l'École du Grand Chocolat would be an awesome experience(not that it would take me a lot of convincing to go to chocolate school).

In four hours, Chef Givre and his two assisting chefs blitzed through three plated desserts, demonstrating numerous techniques and also explaining how each one utilized different Valrhona products. And yes, we got to sample everything! I think everyone was on a sugar high by the end of the demonstration!

Here's the first dessert: Diagonale of Candied Pineapple with Whipped Lime Ganache, Almond Shortbread, and Fromage Blanc and Lime Sorbet. The idea is really cute: A U-shaped base of shortbread (you can see Chef Poirier making it in the next pic) with piped lines of milk chocolate and lime ganache, topped with candied pineapple and a scoop of sorbet. The ganache is made of cream infused with lime zest, then combined with Valrhona Tainori 64% and Jivara 40%. The mixture is then refrigerated before being whipped to a light, pipable texture - something I haven't done often, but which I'm now obsessed with! Chef Givre indicated that this recipe was specifically created to utilize the Valrhona Tainori, a dark chocolate with notes of almond and yellow fruits, meant to work best with citrus fruits. Of course it's a great way for Valrhona to illustrate their long line of chocolates, but I like the point that not all chocolates are the same and it would be a educational experience to taste different chocolates you use and consider which ones might work with different ingredients.

Here's Chef Derek Poirier showing the U-shaped metal molds used to form the shortbread bases. By the way, he was really concerned that I was going to take a photo of him with his eyes closed. So I hope this one is satisfactory to him!

Chef Givre plating the dessert.

This is the second dessert, called "Damas", consisting of an emmanuel curry sponge base topped with almond mousseux, a milk chocolate namelaka, and orange jelly. This was probably the most adventurous of the desserts and also the one I liked best, so I spent last week reproducing it! Compare the one I made in the first photo to this one; what do you think?

The last dessert was what Chef Givre dubbed "New Opera", a reimagined version of opera cake. The traditional version of opera cake is layers of almond genoise layered with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache. In this deconstructed version, a layer of chocolate cake is topped with a square of tempered chocolate. The piece on top is whipped coffee ganache sandwiched between pieces of coffee nougatine. Finally, the cake is served alongside a coffee granité topped with more whipped coffee ganache. I think I counted about four different kinds of chocolate being used in this dessert. Chef Givre said he wanted to play around with textures while preserving the original flavors of the opera cake. It was a really playful, modern take on an old pastry warhorse; I especially liked the granité with the whipped ganache.

Here's Chef Givre putting those little millefeuiles of nougatine and ganache together.

In addition to these three desserts, the chefs also presented a taste testing of chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream made with Valrhona's newest chocolate, Coeur de Guanaja 80%. Without getting overly technical, this is a dark chocolate specially formulated with lower cocoa butter content, which can allow for a stronger chocolate taste in desserts. Basically, since cocoa butter is a fat and is solid at room temperature, it increases the firmness of pastry items like cakes and ice creams. Since fats can also dilute the purity and intensity of flavors, more cocoa butter can also decrease the strength of chocolate flavor in a dessert. That's why some recipes using chocolate sometimes call for cocoa powder, since it provides chocolate flavor without adding any fat.

Coeur de Guanaja was developed especially to address this issue - it has a lower cocoa butter content, so you can use it and get a strong chocolate flavor in your pastries without compromising the texture of the final result. The taste tests really helped illustrate the difference: a chocolate cake made with Coeur de Guanaja had distinct, chocolately flavor, and was also moister and softer than a cake made with cocoa powder, which was slightly tougher. Chocolate ice cream made with Coeur de Guanaja had a pure, almost bitter chocolate flavor (80% cacao content is pretty dark) and a long, smooth finish, while ice cream made with a regular chocolate had a lighter, sweeter flavor.

I found this all very educational. Even if you don't have the luxury of choosing between ten different chocolates when baking, it's always good to increase your knowledge of how ingredients, especially one as complex as chocolate, works. Then when you want to tinker with your recipes to get different results, it's easier to figure out what you want to change.

 

The chefs were kind enough to pose for photos at the end of the demo. From left to right, Chef Alex Espiritu, Chef Philippe Givre, yours truly, and Chef Derek Poirier. Yes, I know I look really short compared to all of them. The tall chef's hats probably don't help.

Deborah, the public relations contact, was also kind enough to send me a box of samples from Valrhona's current line after the demonstration. Talk about unexpected Christmas, a big box of Valrhona is enough to turn any day into a celebration! What I love is that Valrhona used to provide chocolate exclusively for professionals, but they've really reached out to the consumer market, producing both bars for eating and bars for baking - you don't need to have a contact in the food industry to procure Valrhona or be forced to buy giant five lb bars (fun, but hard to store at home). They have 70g Grand Crus bars in eight of their signature blends, including their famous Manjari, Caraïbe, and Jivara Lait, 250g baking bars in dark, milk, and white chocolate, and Gourmet Grand Crus bars, their very sophisticated version of candy bars. I've been enjoying the Manjari Orange, with pieces of orange inside, and Jivara Pecan, embedded with pecans, for the last week.

Ok, so I mentioned that my favorite dessert at the demo was the "Damas" - I really loved the texture contrasts of the sponge cake and the mousseux, and the curry was an inspired touch. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right spices in my cupboard (Chef Givre suggested using madras curry powder), but I had my own idea on how to spin this recipe.

Since the main flavors in the dessert were almond, milk chocolate, curry, and orange, I chose to eliminate the curry from the sponge and add in candied orange peel and cocoa nibs. Emmanuel sponge is a type of sponge cake made very similar to madeleines. You make the batter and let it rest overnight, which helps the flavors intensify and lets it bake up better the next day. Chef Givre indicated that this is a nice alternative to genoise, since genoise batter cannot be stored and can be finicky, requiring closer supervision while baking. Emmanuel sponge batter can be made ahead of time and bakes up quickly without much fuss. I'll admit the orange-and-cocoa-nib version was amazingly addicitive; I kept snacking on it without the rest of the dessert components!

The almond mousseux is a mousse made of almond paste, milk, and cream, mixed with a bit of gelatin and allowed to set. The cut cubes look a bit like tofu, don't they? And they should have the same perfectly silken texture - it's important to make sure there are no hard bits of almond paste floating around in the mix. I'd never made a mousse with almond paste, but this was light and airy, and delicious topped with some orange jelly.

Finally, you might be wondering what "namelaka" is - I know I hadn't heard of the word. Namelaka is the Japanese word for "creamy", and this little daub of chocolate is meant to embody "creamy". When I saw that it was made of milk chocolate, milk, glucose, cream, and some gelatin, I didn't see how it was different from a mousse. But the proportions of the ingredients means that the result should be very, very melt-in-your mouth, with no cloying taste. It requires some attention and precision - the mixture needs to absolutely, 100% smooth - Chef Givre used a stick blender to finish the mix off, and you can't add too much gelatin or it will be stiff and gummy. But I knew it was something good when I gave the boyfriend a spoonful and he remarked on how light and -yes!- creamy it was, before I had described what it was supposed to be.

This is definitely a small project of a dessert, but it's actually not that difficult to make, and it's become one of my favorites because of its elegance and flavor combinations. I'm really glad to have gotten a master lesson in chocolate and recharged my creative juices- and I hope it's inspired you to experiment with your favorite brands!

Damas - Emmanuel Sponge with Candied Orange Peel and Cocoa Nibs, Almond Mousseux, Valrhona Orizaba Lacteé Namelaka, and Orange Jelly

(note: All recipes adapted from the official Valrhona versions. Original measurements were in metric so if you want to be more accurate, use those!)

Emmanuel Sponge

makes one half sheet (13"x17") of cake, about (24) 2 1/2" square pieces

1 cup (238 g) cake flour

1/2 cup (116 g) powdered sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder

3/4 teaspoon (3 g) salt

238 g eggs (about 5 eggs)

1/2 cup (126 g) trimoline (invert sugar - you can buy this online)

1/3 cup (74 g) whole milk

13 1/2 tablespoons (193 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons candied orange peel, finely chopped (I estimated)

1/4 cup cocoa nibs, finely chopped (I estimated)

1 1/2 cups streusel, see recipe below

Sift the cake flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

Combine the eggs and trimoline in a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment until combined.

Add in the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Add in the milk and mix until combined.

Add in the melted butter and mix until combined.

Pour batter into a container and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight before baking. (Note: This really does make it bake better!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a half sheet pan with a silicone baking mat.

Pour the batter into the pan and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the orange peel and cocoa nibs over the batter (I'm afraid I didn't keep accurate measure of how much I used - just enough so that the cake is pretty evenly covered, but you don't need to blanket the batter, or else there'll be too much add-ins and not enough cake! Just think of adding nuts to a cake batter - similar idea).

Sprinkle the baked streusel over the top of the cake.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, rotating halfway. The top should be firm and lightly golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before cutting. This is a fairly sturdy cake and should not fall apart or stick, but if you're going to store it, it might be easier to cut into smaller pieces and store them in an airtight container layered between parchment paper.

Streusel

makes about 1 1/2 cups

1/3 cup (75 g) light brown sugar

1/3 cup (75 g) almond meal

1/4 cup (68 g) cake flour

1/4 teaspoon (0.5 g) salt

1/3 cup (75 g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

 Combine all ingredients except butter in a food processor until finely ground and combined.

Add butter and process just until the streusel starts to come together into lumps.

If the mixture seems very soft, refrigerate for about an hour to firm up.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Spread streusel evenly over the sheet. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, until it is golden brown and baked all the way through.

Crumble into smaller pieces as necessary for sprinkling.

Almond Mousseux

makes one 8x8 square, about 25 pieces

This is basically a frozen mousse. It helps if you have a cake pan with a removable bottom - then it's easy to push the mousseux out from the bottom and cut into pieces. Otherwise, the mousseux will be frozen into the pan and you'll have to cut it out piece by piece.

1/2 cup (125 g) almond paste (Valrhona recommends their 70% paste, you may have to add sugar or use less paste depending on strength of flavor)

1 1/3 cups (300 g) whole milk

1/2 tablespoon (6.5 g) gelatin

1 cup (250 g) whipping cream

Process almond paste in a food processor until it is soft and pliable.

Add in milk and process until combined and smooth (You may have to do this in batches if your food processor is small). Alternatively, combine in a large bowl with a hand blender.

Combine gelatin with just enough water in a cup to let it bloom.

Heat about 1 cup of the almond milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in the gelatin and swirl pan until it is fully melted and incorporated.

Pour heated milk back into main milk mixture and mix to combine. Let mixture cool to about room temperature.

While you are waiting, whip the whipping cream in a mixer to soft peaks.

Fold the whipped cream into the almond milk.

Pour the mixture into an 8"x8" pan with removable bottom and freeze overnight. Note: After it sets, you can store it in the freezer.

Valrhona Orizaba Lacteé Namelaka

makes about 3/4 cup

This recipe uses Valrhona Orizaba Lacteé 40%, but you can use another milk chocolate if you like. Also, one important tip is that in order for the whole mixture to set up properly, you should pour out in a thin even layer, so a wide shallow pan works better than a tall narrow container (if it's too deep the center won't set). I used a 9 x 13 pan and it worked well.

3/4 cup (200 g) whole milk

3/4 tablespoon (10 g) corn syrup

1 teaspoon (4.5 g) gelatin

13 ounces (375 g) milk chocolate

1 3/4 cups (400 g) whipping cream

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a metal bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.

Add corn syrup to melted chocolate and stir to combine.

Combine gelatin with just enough water in a cup to let it bloom.

Heat milk in a saucepan to boiling. Add in the gelatin and swirl pan until it is fully melted and incorporated.

Pour the milk mixture over the melted chocolate in increments, stirring to combine and emulsify each time. It's important to combine the two mixtures slowly and make sure they are fully incorporated or the texture won't be right.

Process the mixture with a hand blender to ensure smoothness.

Pour mixture into a shallow pan and refrigerate overnight to let set.

To assemble the dessert:

Take out the mousseux and namelaka. If they have been sitting in the refrigerator a while, they may need a little time to warm up and soften. However, don't leave them out too long or they'll melt.

Cut the sponge into 2 1/2" square pieces.

Cut the mousseux into roughly 1 1/2" square pieces. Place one cube of mousseux on top of each sponge.

Scoop the namelaka into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. If it seems firm, or chunky in the texture, place in a food processor and process to soften up. Pipe a big drop of namelaka on top of the mousseux.

Birthday and Cake

One always hopes for nice weather on one's birthday - that's natural, don't you think? I imagine for those born in the months of winter, perhaps a picturesque fall of snow might be more appropriate, but since my birthday is in May, I always thought that sunny skies on my birthday wasn't too unreasonable a wish.

However, I'm not sure since my birthday falls right at the beginning of May, that sunshine always seem to be a 50/50 proposition. Perhaps it's all those April showers still carrying over - I recall a equal number of beautifully blue-skied birthdays as well as overcast, drizzly ones.

Mother Nature has decided to make it suspenseful for me this year by sending a spate of rainy, windy weather through the weekend. By the time most of you read this, I'm sure it will be Monday morning and I'll be peeking outside the window to see whether I'll be wearing birthday galoshes or not.

Regardless of weather, I've already been treated to a very nice pre-birthday dinner - I might review this place in a later post because I enjoyed it so much, and I got to enjoy the company of dear friends, which is always the most precious of birthday presents to me.

And, I have to admit that gloomy weather has made it easier to stay indoors and work on kitchen projects - my own little birthday cake to myself has been an experiment I've been working on since my last trip to Hong Kong. It's not quite perfect but it's in a pretty tasty stage right now - a little more tweaking and hopefully I'll reach what I'm envisioning in my dreams.

This cake is inspired by one of my favorite teas, jasmine, infusing a base of milk and whipped cream. It's meant to be airy, delicate, floral, and sweet - just like spring. For taste and texture contrast I made a layer of chocolate cake - almost genoise like in texture, and spread with a layer of melted chocolate and feuilletine.

For those of you who haven't used feuilletine, it's made of thin cookie-like sheets of butter, sugar, and flour, crushed into tiny flakes that resemble corn flakes. Feuilletine adds an intriguing, delightful crunchiness to desserts - it's usually mixed with ganache or sprinkled as a layer in cakes, to provide a surprising contrast. It's especially effective in mousse cakes like this jasmine cake, because the cream is so smooth and creamy, that the crunch of the feuilletine provides a fabulous extra dimension to an otherwise homegenously-textured dessert.

You can find feuilletine online, or you can also substitute Rice Krispies - that was what Pierre Herme used in his home recipe for his famous Plaisir Sucre in his Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme book, and it works beautifully.

The chocolate cake is rich, earthy, and grounds the ethereally-light jasmine cream without overpowering it. The feuilletine adds a nice crisp touch. The first few times I made the jasmine cream, the flavor came out too light, so be sure to taste the infused milk before you use it - if it seems too subtle, let it steep a little longer. When I can taste the jasmine against the chocolate, it's tastebud-tingling happiness.

Well, whether it's sunny, rainy, or cloudy, I'm looking forward to another sweet year. Thanks to all of you for keeping me company on this journey - you're the best!

Jasmine Chocolate Cake

makes (6) 2 1/2 cakes

Chocolate Cake

1/4 cup cocoa powder

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.

Sift cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine thoroughly.

Add in vanilla and mix to combine.

Combine buttermilk and vanilla together in a small cup.

Add in flour mixture and buttermilk to batter in 5 alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix after each addition just to combine. The batter should be very liquidy.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread out evenly.

Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool on wire rack.

Feuilletine Layer

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup feuilletine or Rice Krispies

Combine chocolate and butter in a metal bowl and place over a pot of simmering water to melt. Let chocolate butter and melt together, stirring to combine.

Remove bowl from heat and stir in feuilletine until combined.

Spread the mixture in a thin layer over the top of the cooled chocolate cake layer. Let set for about 30 minutes.

Place six 2 1/2 diameter cake rings on a baking sheet. Line the rings with acetate strips on the inside for easier removal of the cakes.

Cut out circles from the chocolate cake layer and place into the cake rings, fitting them snugly into the bottom. (Prepare the rings with the cake layers before you make the jasmine cream).

Jasmine Cream

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup jasmine tea

1 tablespoon powdered gelatin

1 1/2 cup whipping cream

Combine milk and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Remove from heat and add in vanilla and jasmine tea. Cover saucepan and let steep for 15 to 20 minutes.

Combine gelatin with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water in another small bowl.

Strain out jasmine tea from milk. Bring milk back to a boil.

Add in gelatin and stir until it is fully melted and combined.

Remove from stove and let mixture cool to room temperature (do not let it completely cool and start setting up).

In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip cream until it holds soft peaks.

Add in jasmine milk mixture a little at a time, folding it into the whipped cream carefully until it becomes a liquidy mixture.

Divide the jasmine cream among the prepared cake rings, filling them to the top. Smooth out the tops and chill cakes in refrigerator overnight to let the cream set. Remove cakes from rings before serving.

Meeting the Minds Behind Socola Chocolatier

 
I got the opportunity to attend the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon about a month ago – a day long festival celebrating all things chocolate. With over 50 chocolatiers and confectioners, many of them local artisans, the variety of truffles, bars, and other chocolatey delights on display was sugar-shock-inducing.
It must have been unique challenge, as well, for all the chocolatiers: chocolate may be the most popular candy around, but when everyone around you is peddling theobroma cacao, you need to make sure your chocolate stands out.

One of the most memorable chocolatiers for me was Socola Chocolatier, whose eyecatching truffles had a distinctly Asian bent: guava, lychee, tamarind, Vietnamese espresso. While Asian fusion is still a hot-running trend in the culinary world, it takes a deft touch and expertise to take the combination of east and west beyond mere gimmick.  Socola’s chocolates are the genuine article. I knew Socola was special when I kept wanting to reach for another sample; I was thrilled to discover that Socola is a small local company, the brainchild of two sisters, Wendy and Susan Lieu. After speaking to both of them, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a further talk with Susan, the company COO, about this delightful line of truffles.

Photo courtesy of Socola Chocolatier

Talking to Susan makes me feel like I’ve just had a glass of Vietnamese espresso: smart, articulate, and fantastically enthusiastic, she displays an impressive zeal for Socola and life, with a dizzying list of goals, Socola prominently featured among them. For Susan, Socola is not just an entrepreneurial endeavor but a fun adventure with her sister, an opportunity to create outrageously named chocolates, and to share them with their friends. Her excitement and optimism is truly infectious: she’s the perfect spokeswoman for Socola, as well as motivator for anyone needing a little push on their own life goals!

The roots of Socola can be traced back in Susan and Wendy’s family line: their grandfather in Vietnam was a sweetsmaker.  Along with their family, the sisters immigrated to the US when they were children to start a new life. Growing up in Santa Rosa, they were fascinated by the See’s chocolate store across the street from their parents’ store. Wendy, the culinarily-minded of the pair, was inspired to create her own chocolates, using her great-grandmother’s recipes. As word of the chocolates spread, Susan and Wendy decided to band together and start Socola Chocolatier in 2001. Fittingly, Socola is the Vietnamese word for chocolate. In the last eight years, their homegrown venture has blossomed into a successful business.


Photo courtesy of Socola Chocolatier

I learned that Wendy is a graduate of Tante Marie’s Professional Pastry Program – it’s always to a thrill to discover fellow alumna! I really love Wendy’s palate and eye for detail; her flavors meld seamlessly with the chocolate, making ultra-flavorful ganaches. The chocolates are perfectly tempered, and beautifully decorated. I loved the sprinkling of gold luster dust on the Guinness truffles, and the red Hawaiian sea salt scattered across the burnt caramel and sea salt chocolates. My favorite, though, would have to be their guava chocolate, which has a sublime guava pate de fruit on top of chocolate ganache. The chocolate is stamped with a winged alpaca, the mascot for Socola. To learn more this eclectic mascot, you can visit the Socola website and learn about her!


Photo courtesy of Socola Chocolatier

Socola Chocolatier is based in Oakland, and currently is sold at select stores in the East Bay. and online. Soon the chocolates will be available in San Francisco as well. Wendy and Susan have just created a special Mother’s Day Collection, 12 chocolates in six flavors, including Front Porch White Peach, Give It to Me Guava, Luscious Lychee, Matchmaker Matcha, Pretty in Pear, and Tango Tamarind. You can order this collection on their website - the deadline is today, but if you miss it, do try some of their other fantastic selections!

Tweaking an Old Favorite: Meyer Lemon and Chocolate Tart

Whenever Meyer lemons come into season, I always get an irrepressible desire to make lemon tarts. They've always been one of my favorite things to make, and their sunny yellow hue is perfect reflection of the increasingly light-filled days. (We even had a mini-heat wave in San Francisco this weekend, with everyone scrambling to pull sundresses and shorts out from the depths of the closet. Seeing as San Francisco has approximately 2 weeks a year where it's actually hot enough to wear shorts, no one wants to waste those precious days!)

My favorite version of lemon tart is based on the first one I ever made out of Pierre Herme's Desserts by Pierre Herme . It's hard to improve on Pierre Herme's genius: a crisp, buttery pâte sucrée tart shell, filled with the most unctuous of lemon curds. Amazing how two such basic pastry fundamentals could combine into something so elementally good; proof that you don't need complicated techniques or multitudes of elements to make something really delicious.

So I felt the same compulsion this year to break out the tart rings when I saw the little nuggets of sunshine popping up at market; this time, though, I also got the urge to change things up a little bit. Gild the lily just a little and dress up the tart for after dinner.

The perfect accoutrement turned out to be a layer of bittersweet chocolate ganache, spread in a thin layer on the bottom of the shell, before the lemon curd is spooned in. At first I tried just a layer of melted chocolate, but when it hardened it was a little difficult to cut through and compromised the wonderful delicate crispness of the tart shell. A velvety, supple ganache provided just the right dark undertones to the cheery bite of the lemon. And since Meyer lemons are a bit sweeter than regular lemons, the chocolate helps ground and highlight the curd - the sunset in wait at the end of every sunny day, perhaps.

If you don't have Meyer lemons, regular ones will work just as well. While the tart should be chilled, I find it tastes best when you take it out about 20-30 minutes before serving - it lets the curd soften up slightly and regain and its wonderful addictive, creamy texture. It may be hard to wait that long, but believe me, it's worth it.

Hope your days are turning sunnier and warmer!

Pâte Sucrée

makes about 8 tartlets

1 1/4 sticks (5 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/4 cup almond meal or ground almonds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, room temperature

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Lemon Cream

adapted from Pierre Hermé's Desserts

makes about 1 1/2 to 2 cups

1/2 cup sugar

zest from 2 lemons

2 eggs

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

5 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces, softened but not melting

Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

For the pâte sucrée tart shells: Place the butter in a food processor and process until soft and creamy.

Add the confectioners' sugar and process until well blended and smooth.

Add in the almond meal, salt, and vanilla extract and process until well blended.

Add in the egg and egg yolk and process until just blended; scrape the bowl down as necessary.

Add the flour and pulse just until the dough starts to come together into a ball; don't overprocess. The dough will be very soft like cookie dough.

Scrape the dough out of the food processor and make into a ball. Flatten out into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours until it is firm enough to handle.

When you are ready to bake off the tart shells, take the dough out of the refrigerator - let it warm up a bit if necessary but not too much because it will start melting fast.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to 1/8" thickness. If the dough gets too soft, place back in the refrigerator to firm up.

Place the tart rings you will use on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Cut out circles of dough to fit into desired tart rings. Press the dough carefully into the tart rings and up the sides, being careful not to stretch the dough or it will shrink when baked. Place the rings into the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes. Trim off the excess dough from the top of the rings.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F while chilling the tart shells. When you are ready, line the shells with parchment and fill with beans or rice to keep the shells weighed down.

Bake shells for about 15-18  minutes until they are lightly colored and the shell feels dry to the touch. Remove from the oven and place on a rack. Remove the beans and parchment and brush the bottoms of the shells with a light egg wash (made from an egg white and a bit of water). Let cool before filling.

For the lemon cream: Create a water bath by placing a saucepan of water over heat to simmer and placing a metal bowl unto the pan so its bottom does not touch the water. Combine the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers and add to the metal bowl. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.

Cook the mixture over the simmering water, whisking constantly, until the cream reaches 180 degrees and thickens. Keep whisking while the mixture is heating up to prevent the eggs from cooking.

Once the cream is thickened - you should be able to make tracks in the mixture with your whisk - take the cream off the heat and strain it into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Let the cream rest for a bit until it cools to about 140 degrees.

Add in the butter pieces a few at the time and combine on high speed. Once all of the butter has been added, let the mixture combine for a few minutes longer to ensure the mixture is perfectly smooth. It is the addition of butter that changes this recipe from a simple lemon curd to a rich, satiny-smooth cream.

Once the cream is finished pour it into a container and let it chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour before assembly.

To finish the tarts: Place chocolate in a bowl.

Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Pour cream over chocolate let sit for about a minute. Stir with a wooden spoon to melt and combine chocolate with cream into a smooth ganache.

Spoon some ganache into the bottom of the tart shells and spread into a thin layer. Let set for about 10 minutes to firm up.

Spoon some lemon cream into the tart shells, filling all the way to the top. Shake the tarts lightly to smooth out the cream out. Chill tarts in the refrigerator for about an hour before serving.

The Construction of a Cupcake (Class)

Let's rewind a bit to last fall, when I was still afloat on the excitement of the Field Guide to Cookies having just been released, and honest-to-goodness actually existing in physical form, like a dream materialized. At the same time the reality was also sinking in that I had agreed to do a second book, on the intimidatingly far-ranging topic of candy, and I was going to have to really buckle down and start stocking up on bags of sugar and chocolate molds.

In the midst of this sugary maelstrom I received a call from Tante Marie's Cooking School, my alma mater. Would I be interested in teaching a class on cupcakes for the school? It would be a 3-day workshop in March, almost five months away. At that moment, five months away was like envisioning the first flowers of spring budding upon bare branches in the middle of a frozen winter: in other words, an eternity and a world away. I'd never formally taught a cooking or baking class before, but the class seemed so far off that it dampened any incipient nervousness. Surely, I thought, I'd have plenty of time to pull a class together. It would be fun - I saw it as another facet of sharing my love for pastry, just like I do on this blog.

Fast forward about three and half months, flitting by on candy-colored wings. When I looked up to take a breath from the manuscript, it was nearly February, and - yikes! March seemed a whole lot closer than before. Now dreams of cupcakes intertwined with the familiar candy phantasmagoria at night. What did I want to teach? How should I organize the class? How would I fill up the three days? What if I was a boring teacher?

Fortunately, I already had a lot of notes and recipes from all the testing I've done for this blog - joy! One of the reasons I began blogging was to keep track of my various dessert ideas and inspirations over the years. Now this blog was proving the perfect resource, not just for recipes but for remembering all the mistakes and questions that popped up as I experimented in the kitchen, from whether all-purpose or cake flour would work best, or what happened when I used silicone cupcake liners instead of paper ones, or, most importantly, what was the most delicious frosting I could come up with?

Constructing a class on cupcakes proved to be a most worthwhile and illuminating exercise for me; I firmly believe that teaching helps you understand the material much better, and exploring the intricacies of something as simple as a cupcake actually yields a mini-encapsulation of many basic baking tenets. To wit:

- Techniques for creating butter cakes, including the importance of ingredient temperatures, how to cream butter and sugar, the necessity of sifting, how to avoid overmixing batters, and how to know when cakes are baked properly.

- Tips on creating flavor variations, including how to make infusions, how to combine flavors, and how to consider seasonality

- Methods for making filled cupcakes, and recipes for various fillings, including caramel, curd, and ganache.

- Recipes for different frostings, including buttercream (both confectioners' sugar and Swiss meringue), ganache, cream cheese, meringue, and whipped cream

- Techniques for decorating, including piping with a pastry bag, glazing, using rolled fondant, and bruleeing meringue

I'm really excited to be incorporating all of these baking pointers into my class. It's my hope that the class will serve as a primer and a springboard to encourage bakers to experiment with confidence in their own kitchens!

Of course, one of the most highly anticipated parts of any cooking class is the recipes, right? Suffice to say that for a while candy testing was mingling with cupcake in my poor overworked kitchen! Much tweaking and obsessing later, I've arrived at the following offerings for my class.

Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream (first photo)

Deep Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache (second photo)

Summertime Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Fleur de Sel Caramel Filling and Candied Pecans (first photo)

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling and Roasted Meringue Topping (second photo)

Almond Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and Chocolate Buttercream (third photo)

Coffee Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream (third photo)

Lavender Cupcakes with Honey Whipped Cream Frosting

I'm so looking forward to meeting the class and diving into the world of cupcakes! The class will be next week from March 23rd-25th. I don't know if there will be other ones scheduled afterwards, but if you are interested please do e-mail Tante Marie's and let them know what classes you are interested in seeing!

If you're interested in some other cupcakes I've played around with on this blog, check out:

Vanilla Saffron Cupcakes with Rosewater Buttercream

Vanilla Bean Fig Cupcakes with Orange Blossom Honey Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Hazelnut Mousseline and Coffee Buttercream

Goji Berry Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Himalyan Pink Salt

Olallieberry White Tea Cupcakes

Also, this Saturday I'll be speaking about Field Guide to Cookies at the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon, a gathering of chocolate connoisseurs and aficionados. It promises to be a slice of chocolate heaven - I hope to have some yummy photos to share of the event!

A Happy (and Sweet) New Year to All!

Happy New Year and best wishes to you all! 2008 was certainly an exciting year for me and I am looking forward to what 2009 will bring. (Already my to-do list is growing long and ambitious).

Last night was low-key and cozily mellow; perhaps appropriately, the city was blanketed in a soft grey shroud of fog, so the fireworks could be heard but barely seen. It felt like the mists of memory were already drawing close over the ending of the year; in the brightness of morning, the fog melted away over a city that seemed, if not totally shiny and new, dreamily fresh and serene under a soft sun.

We toasted with Prosecco and nibbled on crisp sugar cookies as clock struck midnight. Prosecco is a dry, sparkling Italian white wine - a terrific alternative to champagne and an excellent base for mixing up some cocktails. Combined with a little pomegranate juice and rosewater, we had a rosy way to toast in the new year. Actually, it's so tasty you might try to find any excuse to make it again. I also baked off some chocolate sugar cookie dough - a very handy thing to have on hand as you'll never let a sweet tooth catch you unprepared!

My 2009 is kicking off with a little adventure - I'll be leaving for Hong Kong next week, so I'll hope to come back with fresh inspiration from all the sweets to be found there and some new recipes for you!

Happy 2009!

Pomegranate Prosecco Cocktail

about 4 to 6 glasses

1-750 ml bottle Prosecco, chilled

1 cup pomegranate juice

1/2 teaspoon rosewater

Pour Prosecco into champagne flutes. Combine the pomegrante juice and rosewater in a pitcher, and divide evenly among the flutes.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

About 3 dozen cookies

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg at room temperature, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
2. In stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Scrape the bowl sides and bottom well. While mixer is running on low speed, gradually add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Add the flour mixture gradually while mixer is running on low speed. Mix until the flour is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and uniform.
5. Divide dough into 2 pieces and flatten into 1/2 inch thick discs.
6. Wrap up dough and refrigerate for 2 hours. At this point the dough can be double wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks. To defrost dough, place in refrigerator overnight.
7. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 325°F. Grease several cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
8. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and dust with more flour. Gently roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
9. Using a cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on sheets about an inch apart.
10. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks with a metal spatula to cool completely.
11. Once cookies are cooled, decorate them with icing and colored sugars.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I can't help it: no matter how crazed with end-of-the-year things-left-to-do I may be, how bitingly cold the weather has been (hey, I'm a California girl - I don't do cold weather), or how desperately I'm trying to avoid the clarion call of consumerism (and the endless "SALE!" ads in the mail), I love, love, love Christmas and the holidays. 

I'm helpless before storefronts bedecked in glittery ornaments, little black dresses and flutes of champagne at sleek soirees and cozy gatherings, little children bundled up in scarves and puffy coats, and kitchens smelling like gingerbread and mulling spices. Have I mentioned my boyfriend's new favorite drink is mulled cider of his own recipe?

I also love sending out holiday cards, and finally finished mailing them out today - I know, I'm one of those late ones. But judging by the lines at the post office, I'm in good company, at least. Not everyone's a fan of writing cards, I know, but I spend so much of my time tip-tapping on the computer these days, it's nice to actually put pen to paper and recall what it's like to form your thoughts by hand.

Alas that I can't send you all holiday cards, so I hope the electronic medium will suffice to convey my holiday greetings to all of your dear readers. It's been a big year for me in so many ways, and I'm glad that I've been able to share so much of it with you. I've never been more touched by the kindness and camaraderie among bloggers than this year, when so many of you wrote in to congratulate me on my book and to offer your support. Realizing how many friends I have out there and how wonderful they are has been one of the most rewarding parts of doing this book. I sincerely thank all of you who have supported me!

Besides, of course, my lovely blog tour hosts, I also wanted to thank Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? who has kindly asked me to help judge her Monthly Mingle for December. The theme is World of Spice Cookies, and there will be a winner chosen, with a copy of my book as the prize! The deadline is January 5, 2009, so why not fit some cookies into your holiday kitchen plans?

Also, Susan of Food Blogga is hosting her own cookie event, Eat Christmas Cookies: Cookies from Around the World, which is, coincidentally, what my book is all about. One lucky winner for this event will also win a copy of my book! Wow, I guess Santa's going to have a lot of copies of my book in his sack this Christmas! The deadline for Susan's event is December 21st, so get your entries in quickly!

(By the way, I am compiling links to reviews and mentions of my book online, so if you've mentioned my book on your blog and you'd like me to link to it, please let me know!)

Finally, I have to give gros bisous to Dorie Greenspan, for being such an inspiration and for her cheerful support. Dorie, I hope you're not too tired of me gushing over you, but I have to thank you for writing such kind words about my book on both your blog and in the State of the Cookie debate on Slate. How unbelievably amazing to have an author and baker I've long admired writing about my book - I'm beyond flattered!

In case you didn't get a chance to read the New York Times yesterday, I was interviewed for an article on butter and its role in cookies. They quoted some of my tips for working with butter and also included a recipe for TV Snacks from my book. These cookies, of course, were created by pastry chef Arnaud Larher and written up by Dorie Greenspan herself, so again, Dorie, thank you for letting me adapt them!

One exciting thing you can see is that the butter article was the #1 e-mailed article yesterday!

 

You can see the TV Snacks in the photo - they're the pyramid-shaped ones.

Here's the portion of the article where I'm actually quoted:

Ok, so you must be wondering if I'm making anything besides cookies these days? Why, yes. For the last week I've been indulging in a love affair with that confection known as English toffee.

It may come as a surprise to some of you that English toffee is in fact an American creation; or, at least, the chocolate and nut-covered slabs of toffee that most of us call English toffee. English toffees are a dazzling, dizzying world onto themselves, as anyone who's ever stepped into an English sweet shop can attest: toffees often come as individual drops, flavored with treacle or licorice or studded with Brazil nuts, and ranging in texture from chewy to so-hard-you-can-only-suck-it. The British also have toffee in slab form: they usually aren't covered in chocolate, and are traditionally broken into pieces with a small hammer - certainly a way to liven up your next party!

However, in most of North America English toffee is recognized as pieces of golden, buttery, hard toffee drenched in a blanket of chocolate, and topped with crown of roasted nuts, usually almonds.

English toffee is also known as buttercrunch; I've developed a deep fondness for the word, not only because it eliminates the confectionery confusion surrounding the term English toffee, but also because of the luscious evocativeness of the term. Buttercrunch: buttery-rich and crackling-crunchy at once. What could be more tempting?

One taste of this candy and it's easy to see why it's so popular; I certainly couldn't stop at one taste! The toffee should taste of sweet, sugary caramel, generously enriched with butter for a creamy, full, flavor. The rich, dark chocolate helps ground and round out toffee, a smooth, deep bass note to toffee's piccolo-like bursts of sweetness. The almonds on top up the decadence factor by another notch.

Tins of buttercrunch are near-ubiquitous during the holidays; they have become synonymous with indulgence and celebration. However, this candy is surprisingly, perhaps dangerously easy to make at home, so you don't need to buy the overpriced stuff at the supermarket, just pull out your candy thermometer!

Although the classic buttercrunch is garnished with roasted almonds, I decided to put my own spin on things and use pecans instead. I also added a sprinkling of fleur de sel to heighten the sweet and salty contrasts: the result is almost insanely addictive. I put the container in the cupboard to prevent mindless noshing, and then discovered that a few days' seasoning makes the flavors even better! However, I wouldn't be surprised if your batch doesn't make it that long! Tied in cellophane bags or packed into tins, this buttercrunch will surely be one of the sweetest, and most happily received gifts of the season.

A couple of notes: when making the toffee, try to pour it out as evenly as possible. Also try not to make it too thick, as that might make it difficult to bite through when it's hardened. You can try to use an offset spatula or knife to spread the toffee around, but don't manipulate it too much: it sets up quickly.

Toffee, like most other confections, are quite sensitive to humidity. Definitely store your buttercrunch in an airtight container in a dry place, or it will get soft and sticky quickly.

Many English toffee recipes do not call for tempering the chocolate. Instead, you can simply pour melted chocolate on top of the toffee, or even put chocolate chips on the still-hot toffee and spread it around with a knife to let it melt. I am a fan of tempered chocolate, because I think it tastes better (it's got that snap when you bite into it) and it looks better (shiny, smooth, and hard). Tempered chocolate, of course, also keeps better: it won't melt or get damaged as easily as a soft chocolate coating. However, I understand that tempering can be a time-consuming process that requires Zen master-like patience, and I also don't have the space in this entry to provide a Tempering 101: Tutorial, so I completely understand if you'd just rather stick with plain melted chocolate. Do use a good quality chocolate no matter what, though: a luxurious confection like this deserves the best of ingredients. I used my Callebaut 54%.

(I hope to cover tempering in a post in the future. In the meantime, if you want a good, clear guide to tempering, go to David Leibovitz's post here.)

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season with your loved ones. Since I'm not sure I'll get in another post before Christmas, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope that Santa leaves you something sweet underneath the Christmas tree - or should it be the other way around for us bakers?

Pecan Buttercrunch with Fleur de Sel

about 16 pieces

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

1 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped into small pieces

Fleur de Sel

Line a baking sheet or pan with a silicone baking mat.

Combine the sugars, butter, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring to combine, until it comes to a boil.

Continue cooking without stirring until the mixture reaches 298°F on a candy thermometer.

Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out evenly, working quickly before it sets. Let the toffee layer cool completely.

Either temper the chocolate or simply melt it in a double boiler. Pour the chocolate over the toffee layer and spread out evenly.

Immediately sprinkle the pecans over the chocolate. Sprinkle a few grains of fleur de sel over the chocolate. Let the chocolate fully set.

Break the toffee into pieces before serving.

Ready for Another Chocolate Adventure?

Thank you to all of you for your well-wishes - they definitely buoyed my spirits over a weekend of sneezing, sniffling, and coughing - let's just say you probably didn't want me anywhere near where your food was being prepared! However, I'm happy to say I am 100% recovered, all tissues and cough drops have been returned to their proper places, and I'm itching to be back in the kitchen!

I have a backlog of posts I'm eager to get up, and the first one is a recap of a very fun event I went to a few weeks ago. Remember the Chocolate Adventure contest from last year? It's back for a second round: entrants are invited to create an original recipe using Scharffen Berger chocolate and one or more of 16 adventure ingredients, from more obvious items like cocoa nibs and matcha tea to true challenges like mustard seeds, jicama, and coriander. This year, the adventure theme is being extended even further: there are three categories: Sweet, Savory, and Beverage. Each category will have a grand prize winner who will get $5,000, signed copies of Essence of Chocolate, Pure Dessert, and Demolition Desserts (I'll add that I can vouch for the excellence of all three books and their necessity on your bookshelf!), plus the honor of having their recipe published on TuttiFoodie and the Scharffen Berger newsletter.

All the official rules are here: you are allowed up to 10 entries, so get your chef's hats on and your tastebuds primed. The contest started on October 1 and runs until January 4th, 2009, so you have plenty of time to come up with the most innovative, adventurous chocolate recipe ever!

To kick off the excitement and get us thinking about unusual flavor combinations with chocolate, sponsors Schaffen Berger Chocolate Maker and TuttiFoodie, along with food diva extraordinaire Marcia of Tablehopper, threw a little party at Orson, Elizabeth Falkner's newest restaurant.

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Falkner, and I thought the choice of her as a kind of patron saint for a contest celebrating culinary creativity was inspired genius. Falkner is a chef who works fearlessly with sweet and savory ingredients, who plays with flavor and texture in the most whimsical, avant-garde of ways, yet never forgets that food should be foremost delicious and satisfying. Her first restaurant, Citizen Cake, showed she was so much more than just a pastry chef working with sugar and butter, and Orson is just the next extension in her culinary explorations.

The restaurant looks like a cross between a modern art museum and a sleek, ultracool lounge. The center is wide open and dominated by a dramatic hanging sculpture over a bar, perfect for after-work libations.

Here's a better perspective of the space. We are about to have John Scharffenberger lead us through a blind chocolate tasting - if you look closely, you can spot the little eye masks at each person's seat. Scharffen Berger has just released a special edition 10th Anniversary bar called Finisterra, made of a blend of beans from Venezuela, Trinidad, and Madagascar. What Scharffenberger did was have us taste each of the three component chocolates individually, to see how they differed in taste, mouthfeel, and finish, and then taste the finished bar, explaining how they combined the three and how they worked with each to create an entirely new flavor, but with identifiable notes from its parts. It was really eye-opening - pardon the bad pun - how not being able to see definitely forced you to concentrate and focus on the flavors of the chocolate in a different way. Plus, there is something just a little naughty about having someone feed you chocolate while you're blindfolded...

I realize I took no photos of Elizabeth Falkner! Well, here's one if you don't know what she looks like. She was busy running back and forth from the kitchen, bringing out an amazing array of courses, all using chocolate and some of the adventure ingredients in some surprising arrangement. All I can say is,  thank your lucky stars that Falkner is not competing in this contest! She is, however, one of the judges, so know that this is one chef who is very well versed in exotic experimentation!

We started off with a rum-based cocktail laced with kaffir lime and chocolate shavings, moved on to potato rounds topped with cocoa nibs and romanesco, and then chicarrones (fried pork skins) dipped in a bittersweet chocolate sauce. By the way, the chicarrones are a staple on her bar menu, but served with barbecue sauce. Give me a bucket of those chicarrones and some chocolate sauce to dip it in, and I will happily die from a heart attack.

For the main courses, we started with a salad of mango, avocado, and cherry tomatoes with chocolate shavings and a violet vinaigrette, and then were served roast pork in a chocolate mole sauce spiced with chili and ginger. Sorry I have no photos of all these - it's not that I pigged out and ate them all before snapping shots, it's just the quality didn't come out very well!

Here are two shots that did come out decently - this one is a quenelle of Parmesan pudding along with some red peppers, and cocoa nibs mixed with unflavored Pop Rocks - yes, pop rocks are one of the adventure ingredients.  Creamy and rich without being overpowering, and the pop rocks added an interesting sensation contrast to the pudding.

 

This was the one "real" dessert - imagine that we've had about 8 dishes, all using chocolate in some way, and only one was a sweet item! This was, of course, one of my favorites - chocolate and black olive ice cream sandwiched between thin cookies made of chocolate, cocoa nibs, and espresso. I'm not a fan of olives, but this was really something special - the bitter saltiness of the olives played wonderfully off the chocolate, making it sweeter and more complex at once. It's one of those dishes that makes you happy you've opened your mind to possibilities heretofore unconsidered.

All of us lucky enough to be at Orson certainly came away with a new appreciation for the versatility of chocolate as an ingredient. I've seen plenty of amazing creativity out there in the blogosphere as well, so I'm sure all of you who enter will be dreaming up some astonishing dishes!

I'm being a little less creative for this post, but after eating at Elizabeth Falkner's restaurant I couldn't help making one of her recipes from Demolition Desserts. This one, called A Chocolate Tart Named Desire, is a sweet, sassy ode to the South - essentially a warm chocolate cake batter baked in a buttery tart shell lined with a layer of rich caramel. Decorate with some pecan praline and some mint-and-bourbon-laced cream, and you have yourself a beautiful, balmy evening on the front porch - or a cozy evening inside, if fall's already settled in firmly where you are.

The dessert is multi-part, like most of Falkner's desserts, but it's worth the work - the chocolate tart is nicely rich and smooth, and I like how the tart crust "corrals" the cake batter so it doesn't run everywhere. The caramel sauce and pecan praline just up the decadence factor - there's something about pecans and brown sugar and butter that makes it really hard to stop eating them. Finally, a little bit of mint, just to cut through all the richness and add a sprightly top note.

It's good to be back, everyone - best of luck if you're entering the Chocolate Adventure contest, and also come back next week - I'm the next Sugar High Friday host and I'm just about ready to announce the theme!

Other Recipes to Try

Tiramisushi

Rosebud Creme Brulee

Warm Chocolate Caramel Tart

adapted from Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts

makes about (8)  3 1/2 in tarts

Crust

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons (2 ounces) sugar

1 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened,cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons heavy cream

Caramel Sauce

1/4 cup water

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter

3 large eggs, separated

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

To make the crust: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix a few times with the paddle attachment just to combine.

Add in the butter and mix on low speed until it just starts to come together - there should still be visible pieces of butter and it should not be a smooth, homogeneous mass.

Add in the egg yolk and cream and mix until the dough just forms into one mass.

Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. form into a flat slab, and wrap well. Chill for at least one hour to let the dough firm up.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and place eight 3 1/2 tart rings on it.

Take out the dough, cut in half, and return rest to the refrigerator for another time. Roll out the dough to about 3/16" thick. Using the tart rings as a guide, cut out rounds of dough and press into the tart rings, forming it to the bottom and sides. Trim the dough off the top so it is even with the tart rings.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway. If the dough starts to puff up, push it back down with a dough tamper.

Remove from oven and let cool while you make the caramel sauce and filling.

To make the caramel sauce: Combine the water, cream of tartar, sugar, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until it reaches 350 degrees and has turned dark amber. Be careful not to let it burn.

While the sugar is cooking, you can heat the cream up in the microwave or on the stove until it is warm but not boiling -it will prevent it from causing the hot caramel to seize up when you add it.

Add the butter to the caramel and stir to combine.

Pour in the cream, being careful as it will bubble out. Some of the caramel may seize up, but just place back over the heat and stir until it's melted again.

When it is all combined and smooth, remove from, stir in the salt and vanilla, and let cool before using.

To make the filling: Combine the chocolate and butter in a metal bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a clean mixer bowl, whip the egg whites with 3 tablespoons of the sugar and the salt until soft peaks form. Set aside. 

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg yolk and remaining sugar together until combined and thick. Slowly pour in few spoonfuls of the warm chocolate mixture and whisk to combine until smooth. Pour in a few more spoonfuls and repeat. You want to do it slowly because if you pour it all in at once the chocolate could seize up.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture gently with a spatula. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold into the chocolate mixture as well.

You can use the filling right away or refrigerate for up to 3 hours.

To finish the tarts: Spoon 1 tablespoon of the caramel sauce into the bottom of the tart shells. Spoon the filling on top of the caramel sauce, covering it completely and filling the tart shell all the way to the rim.

Bake the tarts for 10 minutes. The filling should puff up and still look slightly shiny. Serve immediately.

From the Pantry: Almond Shortbread with Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ganache

 

I know quite a few of my fellow Daring Bakers have chocolate fatigue after the chocolate eclair affair, but what do you when you've got a jar's worth of leftover chocolate glaze? Can't just let it go to waste.

One of my friends, long ago, told me the theory of why men need their alone time, why they come home and need to sit in front of the TV in silence, or retreat to the garage/workshop by themselves, whereas women will talk and chat with their friends, one of the topics of course being, "why doesn't my guy want to talk to me?"

The"caveman theory" goes that back in prehistoric times, cavemen would retreat to their caves to ponder the difficulties of life, and think about how to solve their problems. I don't know, I guess being cavemen they hadn't evolved enough to talk about their problems with others. Instead, they sat in their cave until they had figured out the solution to their problems or come to terms with their caveman existence, and that's how men have been programmed to act ever since.

So now, whenever I'm talking to my boyfriend and I notice he's staring off the distance, and not really paying attention to what I'm saying (I know all you girls know what I mean!) I immediately ask him, "Are you in your cave?" And he'll usually say yes, and I'll respond, "Well, just let me know when you're done sitting in your cave."

Well, I'm not really one for sitting around in caves, but being a baker what I do is "sit in my pantry." When, say, I've got a tub of chocolate glaze and I need to use it, I'll sit in my chair and start picturing all the ingredients I have on hand, and all the different ways to combine them. I'll pair flavors, add some, discard others, consider various techniques, until something pops into my mind and I think, yes, that's exactly what I want to eat right now. It's amazing how it always coalesces together  - sometimes I'll know in a moment what I want to make, sometimes it takes a while, but once I've thought it out I'm always so excited to get started.

When I first started baking, I was reproducing recipes from my favorite cookbooks - a  perfectly respectable and reasonable course for a beginner. I would always pore over the recipe listings, noting the various combinations of ingredients and flavors, and wonder how these so-talented chefs had conceived of them. It wasn't until several years later that I gained the courage and initiative to start coming up with recipes of my own, but now I realize it's just a matter of learning, practicing, and experimenting. Sometimes my creations come out just as I envisioned, other times I taste them and I think about what I'd do differently. But I like to think every time I attempt something new in the kitchen is another step on the long and very delicious road of pastry.

So what did my trip to the pantry yield this time? Well, I thought about turning the glaze into truffles, or using it as a layer in a cake. Then I thought about what tastes I'd been missing lately, and my mind flashed immediately to almonds. That turned quickly into almond shortbread, topped with a spoonful of chocolate. I wanted one more element, and the last piece fell into place: raspberries. So: tender, buttery discs of shortbread combined with a rich, dark chocolate raspberry ganache. When my mouth starts watering I know I've hit on my kitchen project for the day.

The almond shortbread recipe is adapted from the shortbread recipe for my Field Guide to Cookies book, so you are getting a bonus preview as well! It's very rich and buttery, and fantastically fragrant with the almond extract! The dough can get very soft, especially if you are working in warm weather like I was, so my advice is to not fight the dough and use the refrigerator as your friend! I find it easiest to roll the dough out on a silicone baking mat or some other transportable surface. If it starts getting soft and sticky, place the entire thing in the refrigerator and let it chill for about 5 minutes or so. Resist the urge to dump more and more flour on it to prevent sticking, or from balling up the dough to try again: the less you manipulate the dough, the more tender and delicate your shortbread will be. Again, work with the dough, don't fight it! The results will be well worth it.

My glaze, after refrigeration, had firmed up enough to be piped out, but if you have no leftover glaze i've provided a simple ganache recipe below. It's flavored with Framboise, but you can add whatever flavoring strikes your fancy. I rolled out the shortbread to a thicker 1/4" and topped the baked cookies with a swirl of ganache; I also rolled it out to a thinner 1/8" and made a sandwich with the ganache as filling. Either way, it makes for an elegant little afternoon bite, and it used up my remaining chocolate nicely.

So if you ever see me gazing off into the distance, just know I'm not "in my cave", I'm "in my pantry", dreaming up something new to bake!

Almond Shortbread

Makes 36  2 inch by 1 ¼  inch cookies

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Whisk both flours together in a bowl  and set aside.

In the mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and almond extract on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Remove bowl from mixer and mix in the flours by hand with a wooden spoon, until combined. The dough should be homogeneous and stick together as one lump, but try to mix as little and gently as possible - this will make the shortbread more tender.

Place dough on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a ¾ inch thick  rectangle.

Refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up the dough. At this point the dough can be double wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease several cookie sheet pans or line with parchment paper.

Process the sliced almonds until fine in a food processor.

On a floured board, place dough and dust with flour. Gently roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. If dough gets soft, place back into refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Roll cookie edges in the ground sliced almonds. Place on sheet pans leaving 1 inch space between cookies. Dock centers of cookies with the tines of a fork twice.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges a lightly golden in color.

Cool completely on sheet pans or transfer to a wire rack to cool.
   

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache

Makes about 1 cup


4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon Framboise


Chop the chocolate up into small pieces and place into a bowl.

Combine the cream and corn syrup together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil on medium heat over the stove.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and let the mixture sit for a minute or so to let the chocolate start melting.

Using a rubber spatula, carefully stir the mixture until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth, trying not to incorporate too much air into it.  Stir in the Framboise.

Let ganache cool to room temperature and thicken. Once it is thick enough to pipe you can spoon it into a pipng bag fitted with a small star tip and decorate the cookies. If it's too soft you can refrigerate for an hour or so to let it firm up.

Other Recipes to Try

TKOs

A Study in Shortbread

Linzer Tart

A Brownie with Aspirations

Back when I did my little poll on what all of you would like to see more of, the winner (by a few cake crumbs) was back to basics: the best chocolate cake, the best tart crust, etc…

Well, here’s my first attempt to fulfill that promise: my best brownie recipe! However, as we’re doing back-to-basics Dessert First style, this is not just a basic brownie, but a brownie with aspirations: a brownie that’s more than just a brownie. What do I mean by that? Keep reading…

My favorite type of brownie is what is commonly described as fudgy: it bridges that heavenly, elusive gap between cake and well, fudge. It should be rich, moist, intense, a showcase for chocolate, hindered as little as possible by sugar and flour and everything else. And that crackly, paper-thin crust on top, like the finest of tissue paper covering the perfect present beneath – what brownie could be complete without it?

 

In testing out numerous permutations and iterations of recipes, I’ve discovered something else I like about brownies: they’re best made by hand, in a bowl. What more perfect choice for a back-to-basics recipe? No fancy equipment or techniques required, just a bowl, spoon, and your arm power. I think this has something to do with the nature of fudgy brownies: the ingredients need to be beaten together, but not overbeaten, and since the batter becomes so thick, a stand mixer would have to work pretty hard to mix it, which leads to overbeating and the brownie losing that dense velvety texture when baked. 

I’ve found that a combination of bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates work best; semisweet chocolate doesn’t have the depth and richness of flavor I need. Do use your best, favorite baking chocolate: after all, that’s what your brownie is supposed to be all about! You can increase the sugar if you want a sweeter brownie; I was afraid this recipe might be a tad on the dark and intense side, but it met with positive public reception, so I’ll let you be the final judge! I also didn’t add nuts, as I fall very definitely on the “no nuts” side of the brownie fence, but should your loyalties lie in the other direction, you can add ½ - ¾ cup of nuts to the batter. 

Which leads me to my next point: this may be my best basic brownie recipe, but it’s certainly open to adaptation and revision! If you want to add chocolate chips, cocoa nibs, add more sugar, try a different chocolate, go right ahead! To me, a basic recipe should be like a basic black dress: always reliable but easily jazzed up or down as inclination dictates. It should give you the freedom and confidence to experiment, so as you play with it and tweak the ingredients to your tastes, you make it yours. I’m inspired by Alice Medrich, who, after coming up with seemingly every brownie recipe possible in her Bittersweet book, revisited the concept again in her Pure Dessert again, and presented another stellar brownie recipe. There might be one day you feel like mint brownies, or cheesecake brownies, or you find a new chocolate and wonder how it will work in your baking. How wonderful to have a basic recipe that you understand and trust, to use as a base!

So that’s why my basic brownie is a brownie with aspirations: he a great little guy all on his own but he can be capable of much, much, more. And I decided to show an example of how far he can go by serving him with a scoop of espresso caramel swirl ice cream and a cocoa nib lace cookie topper.
The espresso caramel ice cream is a smoky, sultry little number: ground espresso gives the ice cream a coffee kick while the ribbon of buttery caramel sweetens it up and prevents the dessert from becoming too dark and bitter. The lace cookie, with nutty cocoa nibs suspended in an airy filigree of caramelized sugar, provides a crisp exclamation point to the dessert. All together, these three pieces combine to create a very elegant, adult dessert, about as far from licking the bowl in Mom’s kitchen as you can imagine, and yet, as you scoop some ice cream and brownie in your mouth, you’ll get the same happy feeling. I hope you enjoy these brownies!

Dark Fudgy Brownie

about 16 squares

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/3 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8 inch square baking pan with foil and grease well with butter.

Combine chocolates and butter in a metal bowl and place over a bain-marie (pot of simmering water) on medium heat. Heat until chocolates and butter are melted and combined - be sure to stir occasionally to combine and to make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.

Remove from heat and let cool while you make the rest of the batter.

Whisk eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until thick and light-colored, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add in the salt, vanilla, and cocoa powder and whisk to combine.

Add in the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Sift the flour over the mixture and whisk to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, making sure to spread it evenly into the corners. Smooth the top out with a spatula.

Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, rotating halfway. Brownies are done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake!

Let cool on wire rack before cutting into pieces.

Espresso Caramel Ice Cream

makes about 1 quart

½ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons ground espresso
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar

Combine milk, cream, salt, and espresso in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

While the milk is heating, whisk the egg yolk and sugar together in a medium bowl.

Pour about half the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. 

Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan and return to the stove. Cook over medium-low heat for about 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture reaches 180 degrees and the mixture is thickened and coats the back of the spoon.

Strain the base into a clean bowl and set in an ice bath. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Freeze base in an ice cream maker per manufacturer’s instructions. Right when the ice cream is finished, pour the caramel sauce over and fold in with a few strokes – there’s no need to completely mix them together as you want a swirl. Scrape the ice cream into a container and freeze for another 2 hours before serving.

Cocoa Nib Lace Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup cocoa nibs

In a small saucepan, melt butter, sugar and corn syrup together over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture begins to boil.

Remove from heat. Add flour and stir to combine.

Add cream, vanilla, and salt and stir to combine.

Add in nibs and stir until fully combined. Let mixture cool for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. 

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, about 4 per sheet as they will spread.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until they are golden brown and stop bubbling.

Cool sheets on wire racks for a few minutes before removing cookies with a metal spatula. Cookies will be very fragile so work carefully. Move cookies to parchment paper or wax paper to finish cooling.