Tag Archives: chocolate

Brownies

Making good brownies is not about the recipe you use, but the technique. My baker once overcooked the brownies and my client called and said they were dry. I knew exactly what happened. I baked again, being careful not to over bake and the client was happy.

I love a chewy brownie with a smooth ganache icing. It’s a marriage made in heaven! Enjoy

Brownies

Inspired by recipe from The Art Institute

Course Cookie, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate, ganache

Servings 23

Equipment

12×18 sheet pan
mixer
flat wire whisk

Ingredients

2 5/8 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound butter
9 eggs
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup heavy cream
1 2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and set aside to cool.
Cream together the sugar, salt and butter, using a paddle in the mixing bowl on #2 for 5 minutes.
Add the eggs and mix on #2 for another 5 minutes, scrape the bowl.
Add the flour, chocolate, baking powder and vanilla; mix on #1 until well blended.
Line baking sheet with foil and butter. Pour in the browbnies mnix spreading out even .
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Do not over bake.
Cool thoroughly and spread the top with chocolate ganache.
Cut 4×6 rows to make 24 brownies.

Chocolate Ganache

Heat 1 cup of heavy cream to a simmer. Add 1 2/3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips remove from heat Let set a few minutes to melt the chocolate. stir with a wire whisk to completely melt the chocolate and mix the ganache to a pourable consistency

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Grandma Carrie’s Chocolate Pie

I watched Grandma Carrie make chocolate pie many times but never got her recipe. A recipe from our church cookbook is just like I remember– thickened with flour instead of cornstarch. Tweaking the recipe to include cooking in the microwave does not shorten the time to make it, it just prevents scorching the cream filling.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate, cream pie, meringue

Servings 2 pies

Equipment

2 pie pans
1 wire whisk

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup flour
4 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole milk
5 each eggs
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 each baked pie crusts
1 recipe Swiss Meringue
1 teaspoon chocolate sprinkles

Instructions

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt in microwave safe bowl. Stir to break up cocoa lumps.
Warm milk in microwave for 2 minutes. Add to mixture and stir with a wire whisk to blend.
Microwave on high at 2 minute intervals until thickened, stirring well in between.
Separate egg yolks from the whites. Slightly beat the yolks then blend in a few spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture to temper the yolks. Add the yolk mixture to the chocolate cream mixture and blend well. Microwave for an additional two minutes then add remaining vanilla and butter stirring until blended.
Pour into baked pie shells and top with meringue made from the egg whites. Bake in a 400 degree F. oven until slightly brown. Top with a few chocolate sprinkles to identify it as a chocolate pie.

Pie Crust

A flaky crust made with butter

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword buttermilk, pie crust

Servings 16

Author stevens1951

Equipment

2 pie plates or pans
1 Rolling Pin

Ingredients

2 sticks butter unsalted
2 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

Place flour and salt in a bowl.
Grate cold butter, a little at a time, over flour. Toss the butter into the flour every few minutes to prevent the butter from sticking together.
Sprinkle cold water over the flour mixture and stir with a fork until the dough starts forming a ball.
Divide the dough in half and place on floured pastry board or counter. Roll dough into a circle to fit pie plate. Sprinkle a little more flour over pastry if it sticks to the rolling pin.
Fold dough over and lift into pan. Press dough to fit pan. Fold top edge under and flute. Prick bottom and sides of shell with a fork to prevent shrinkage. Repeat with remaining dough.
For a baked pie shell, heat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Swiss Meringue

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword egg whites, pie

Servings 16

Author stevens1951

Equipment

1 stainless steel mixing bowl
1 saucepan
1 wire whisk

Ingredients

6 each egg whites no yolk or fat can be in whites
12 tablespoons sugar
dash cream of tartar

Instructions

Add 1 inch of water to saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a stainless steel mixing bowl and place over simmering water.
Stir constantly with a wire whisk or the beaters of the electric mixer until sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is slightly warm. Test by rubbing mixture between two fingers.
Remove from saucepan and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Spread meringue on top of pie filling. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. until meringue is browned.

Notes

“Weeping” is the watery liquid that often collects under the meringue and causes the pie to be soggy. This is caused by the sugar not dissolving completely. High humidity also does not help. The Swiss method of dissolving the sugar in warm egg whites helps to prevent weeping.

You’re Da Bomb! Chocolate Bomb, That Is

Chocolate Bombs ready to package

Chocolate Bombs are all the rage for holiday gift giving and I wanted to do something different for Valentine’s Day. Once you assemble the ingredients and equipment, these are actually relatively easy. There are plenty of instructions on the internet on making chocolate bombs.Being the purist that I am, I suggest using a high grade couverture chocolate instead of chocolate coating.Here is the link I used here. No need to re-invent the wheel.

I used Nestle’s White Chocolate Chips for the topping. Just melt them and place in a plastic decorators bag and cut off the tip end. After piping a swirl of chocolate, sprinkle with Valentine Sprinkles followed with a pinch of Disco Dust for bling. I noticed on a couple of the bombs the seams were not sealed so I piped a line of white chocolate to seal them. No need for perfection, they will look great and the recipient will love them..

Chocolate Bombs were placed in a clear bag and tied with a ribbon.

I printed a round tag with instructions and cut out with a 2 inch scalloped punch. There are plenty of free tags online or you could make your own.

The birdhouse was uploaded from Canvasworkspace and printed with my Scanncut. This step is totally unnecessary, but I wanted a box for the extra protection in mailing.

A tag for the Chocolate Bomb was a bird template from Scanncut

All the bird houses with chocolate bombs inside and ready to mail!

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For more on melting chocolate and making cluster candy with the leftovers, access my post on Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

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