We have immediately run into a bump.
We want to come up with a Chocolate Pantry.
You know, things you will always have on had so you can whip up something chocolately at the drop of a hat(and I have lots of hats!).
We decided it needed to have:
*assorted chips
*assorted chunks
*assorted coco powders
*milk, lots of milk
*European or home churned butter (Alton Brown says its good for baking)
*powdered sugar
But we got bogged down.
What chips and chunks do you always keep on hand?
We agreed Only on simi sweet chocolate chips as necessity.
White only for special recipes (which just including them shall earn us the wrath and disdain of my sister.) so no need to keep on hand.
But we disagree on whether dark chocolate is one to keep on hand.
I prefer dark chocolate. I find it very satisfying...milk chocolate makes me thirsty.
Raven disagrees.
Currently we have Dark coco powder, simi-sweet chocolate chips and mini chips.
That is why we need to expand it!
So what would you keep in your Chocolate Pantry?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Chocolate Mouse Torte
I realize it has been a REALLY REALLY REALLY really long pause in our chocolate adventure.
That would be mostly my fault. I didn't want chocolate while I was sick.
We did make a chocolate dessert over the Holidays. I saw the recipe on the back of a box of cookies that were left in the break room at work.
So I made it.
Twice.
The first one was for a friend who is diabetic. We may have caused some sugar shock, but she seemed to like it. It taught us some lessons.
Oh wait! I haven't even told you what I made!
Well, I didn't take a picture of it at the time, but this is the one the cookie box had:
You see why I HAD to make this?
Since you probably HAVE to make it now the recipe can be found at Kraft.com
When I made the first one I made it on a Sunday night with the intention of delivering it the next morning. Instead it was delivered on Tuesday night. The cookies got all soft. I don't think they thought that was yucky, she seemed to like it...but I still agonize over that error.
As she is diabetic I made it with sugar free jello and whipped cream, and fat free cream cheese.
The chocolate shavings on top were not sugar free though. Instead of berries we used crushed candy canes! (yes, more sugar)
Of course the top went a bit flat because we had to deliver it, but the presentation was still nice-ish.
Now when I made it for us as our Christmas Dessert I made it the same day, so the cookies were still crisp. Again we didn't top it with berries, do you know how hard it is to find fresh berries at Christmas?! Shaving the chocolate was an adventure! I had never done it before and I suggest putting your peeler and the chocolate in the fridge or freezer on a regular bases. I must say I loved licking all the chocolate off my hands when I was done, reminded me of a messy childhood :)
Anyone have any tips for shaving chocolate?
It was fun! I want to do it again!
only... maybe with more chocolate shaved then on my hands.
~goddess
That would be mostly my fault. I didn't want chocolate while I was sick.
We did make a chocolate dessert over the Holidays. I saw the recipe on the back of a box of cookies that were left in the break room at work.
So I made it.
Twice.
The first one was for a friend who is diabetic. We may have caused some sugar shock, but she seemed to like it. It taught us some lessons.
Oh wait! I haven't even told you what I made!
Well, I didn't take a picture of it at the time, but this is the one the cookie box had:
You see why I HAD to make this?
Since you probably HAVE to make it now the recipe can be found at Kraft.com
When I made the first one I made it on a Sunday night with the intention of delivering it the next morning. Instead it was delivered on Tuesday night. The cookies got all soft. I don't think they thought that was yucky, she seemed to like it...but I still agonize over that error.
As she is diabetic I made it with sugar free jello and whipped cream, and fat free cream cheese.
The chocolate shavings on top were not sugar free though. Instead of berries we used crushed candy canes! (yes, more sugar)
Of course the top went a bit flat because we had to deliver it, but the presentation was still nice-ish.
Now when I made it for us as our Christmas Dessert I made it the same day, so the cookies were still crisp. Again we didn't top it with berries, do you know how hard it is to find fresh berries at Christmas?! Shaving the chocolate was an adventure! I had never done it before and I suggest putting your peeler and the chocolate in the fridge or freezer on a regular bases. I must say I loved licking all the chocolate off my hands when I was done, reminded me of a messy childhood :)
Anyone have any tips for shaving chocolate?
It was fun! I want to do it again!
only... maybe with more chocolate shaved then on my hands.
~goddess
Sunday, October 4, 2009
First Assingment: Deep Dark Chocolate Souffle
We started by adding the Hershey's dark chocolate powder with flour and mix it well. After mixing the chocolate powder and flour we added softened butter,'but it it wasn't really butter it was parkay' and mixed it. Then we poured 1 cup of milk into a sauce pan and stirred frequently until it was 120 degrees then we poured the mixed chocolate powder, flour, and butter into the sauce pan with the milk and mixed til' it was thick. At the same time Tipi was mixing egg whites and sugar to make a foam like frosting. Then I, Raven mix in the egg yolks in with the chocolate mixture and beat well and then we mix both of the mixtures together and poured into the souffle dish and placed in oven. after 40 min. we dug into the souffle and we now will share our reviews of what we thought of the Chocolate Souffle:
Raven: "When i was helping out with the Souffle i was trying to balance a MP3 in one hand and dishes in the other.... Not smart.... i almost broke all the dishes. but anyways all that work was worth something. We have some pretty interesting chats, but ya after the Chocolate Souffle came out of the over the whole house filled with the delicious goodness of Chocolate... I know, I know, I'm making you crave Chocolate, well it going to get worse... After sampling some Souffle for myself.... The chocolate souffle for my taste need a whole lot of more sugar... but that's just me... it is good but it keep reminding me of egg, for some strange reason. But it was good!"
Monster: "I think it's good but a little too much dark chocolate, but anyways it was delicious! I loved it! It's texture was very weird it was like Tipi's b-day cake. It was a tipi but it was too hot inside so it melted and it was actually excellent!!!
Tipi: "I wish we had some whipped cream to put on top of it. I was a little disappointed in the texture It felt a little grainier then I hoped. I can't recall what souffle is like so I have no idea how close we were to the 'real thing'.
I had been making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I realized just as I was getting ready to start the sauce that I had forgotten the yeast in the bread! That threw off my entire dinner schedule. I added yeast and gave it back to R2. So I had extra time, what was I going to do with it? I kept going with diner, making the sauce and noodles. As I cooked it I kept seeing a picture in the cookbook I checked for the meatball recipe...it was a chocolate truffle cake. Boy did it look good! That was it! I had time to get a dessert mixed up while we waited on the bread!
By this time I had half the bead dough in the oven doing a quick rise (oven on low). So I looked over the recipe. It had alot of things in it we did not have, disappointed I started to put the book and idea aside. Then I saw it...My old Chocolate Loves cookbook.
Over a year ago Raven and I had made the Triple Chocolate Torte together. It had been fun and we had decided we were going to make every recipe in the book from start to finish! When we made the torte we didn't have a cake stand or a heart shape pan. We had made a round one and put it on a regular plate. That's how we learned plates curve. The glaze pooled in the center deeper then the rest of the cake, but it was still wonderful! I am not a big cake person, but I discovered tortes that day!
The next recipe was Glazed Cranberry Mini-Cakes. That's were our adventure stalled. We didn't have the pan it called for... a mini muffin pan. Time passed and eventually we did get the mini muffin pan, but it wasn't the time of year for cranberries or we were too busy...
Flashing back to this afternoon. There was the book and I suddenly wanted a souffle. I checked and there is a recipe for a souffle and it called for coco powder which I actually have! I look over the list and we have all the ingredients! That is huge! See I am being extremely creative for meals this week as we are out of almost everything.
It was meant to be. :)
I asked Raven if she wants to help me and she does, so she gets the ingredients out as I am finishing diner and washing the appropriate dishes. I turn the oven on, both preheat for the souffle and to bake the bread. She measured the flour, I measured the chocolate, she mixed them then cut in the butter. Well, It wasn't butter or margarine like the recipe called for, it was Parkay. But we made do. We set that aside and after reading the recipe through decided to separate the eggs next. Raven got down 2 glass bowls, I cringed. I have no idea how she managed it with the mp3 player in one hand and maneuvering the dishes with the other, but nothing fell crashing to the floor, so it's all good.
I stepped back and had her separate the eggs. Again I cringed and managed to not take over... She cracked the egg on the edge of the bowl (instead of the flat counter top, we don't want egg shrapnel in it so I mention that to her), then juggling them back and forth. Not bad. She does it rather well and gets the eggs separated. I do the last one and she is impressed. I feel silly, just 'patience and practice' I tell her. She starts to measure the milk into the sauce pan using a tiny 1/4 cup measure cup that she'd used to measure the flour... I stop her and show her the liquid measuring cup. She mentions how she misses her Home Ec class, she'll have it again next semester.
I love how calm and focused she is in the kitchen. We do have to keep running all the others out of the kitchen...it gets too crowded. Raven competently takes over the milk and chocolate mixture. So that leaves me to the egg whites.
It is then that I discover 2 things.
First, I miss read the recipe in my quick glance... It calls for 1/2 cup PLUS 2 table spoons of sugar, not just 2 table spoons! Second, the bag of sugar had gotten wet at some point in the past and the bottom of the bag is one solid block of sugar. I hope and pour it into the cup. I get a 1/3 and some chunks! I figure that makes 1/2. A little fanangling more and I've got the 2 table spoons...kinda.
While I was doing that Raven had added the chocolate mixture to the milk mixture and was stirring it well with the whisk. I better get a move on! I get out the hand held mixer and put on the whisk attachment and start whipping the egg whites. Raven has also taken it on herself to make sure the spaghetti is stirred regularly so the sauce , noddles, and meat balls don't burn.
Suddenly, the sauce bursts a bubble as she stirred it with one hand and the chocolate mix with the other! The spaghetti sauce sends a big splot right into her chocolate mix! Scrambling we grab a spoon and scoop out the red sauce. The consistency is different enough that it floats on the top and we can get it our without a big drama, LOL! We both hope for the best and keep going.
The chocolate sauce thickens so she moves it off and adds the sugar with the lumps and some almond flavor...cuz we don't have any vanilla, oops. I'm whisking away with the egg whites and sugar it looks foamier then the ones I've beaten in the past. I have no idea what I did wrong. Maybe because I used a whisk instead of regular beaters? Maybe THAT'S what made the texture like that. Seriously, the egg whites remind me of the foam on top of the lattes!
Raven has mixed the yolks in and has done well with little direction from me. She knows what she is doing. That step is much like how you add the eggs to her favorite brownie recipe, so she tells me.
The next part she hasn't done before so I show and she does. We fold a little of the whites into the sauce pan then pour all the chocolate mix into the egg white mix and fold those in. Now we have an audience. The other kids peer in curiousness and excitement as Raven pours the folded mix into the souffle dish. I take the bread out and she puts the souffle in!.
She the promptly disappears with the chocolate sauce pan to lick it clean. She is very impressed with herself as she has made REAL chocolate from coco powder.
We eat dinner while the souffle cooks.
At some point Monster sneaks into the kitchen to peek into the oven. "No No!" I whisper furiously! "You'll make it fall!" The kids have no idea what I'm taking about so I say, "It's a delicate french dessert. If you make to much noise or vibrations it will fall flat." Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I'm wrong...but I go with it.
When it's time to serve it they all stand around with their plates and I take 2 forks to cut it. That has to be one of the odder things I have told them I was going to do. I put the forks back to back and plunge them in then move the forks apart to tear the souffle.
I think they had more fun watching it shrink a little as it fell slightly then they did in eating it. The fall wasn't as impressive as a German pancake I was informed.
Raven: "When i was helping out with the Souffle i was trying to balance a MP3 in one hand and dishes in the other.... Not smart.... i almost broke all the dishes. but anyways all that work was worth something. We have some pretty interesting chats, but ya after the Chocolate Souffle came out of the over the whole house filled with the delicious goodness of Chocolate... I know, I know, I'm making you crave Chocolate, well it going to get worse... After sampling some Souffle for myself.... The chocolate souffle for my taste need a whole lot of more sugar... but that's just me... it is good but it keep reminding me of egg, for some strange reason. But it was good!"
Monster: "I think it's good but a little too much dark chocolate, but anyways it was delicious! I loved it! It's texture was very weird it was like Tipi's b-day cake. It was a tipi but it was too hot inside so it melted and it was actually excellent!!!
Tipi: "I wish we had some whipped cream to put on top of it. I was a little disappointed in the texture It felt a little grainier then I hoped. I can't recall what souffle is like so I have no idea how close we were to the 'real thing'.
I had been making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I realized just as I was getting ready to start the sauce that I had forgotten the yeast in the bread! That threw off my entire dinner schedule. I added yeast and gave it back to R2. So I had extra time, what was I going to do with it? I kept going with diner, making the sauce and noodles. As I cooked it I kept seeing a picture in the cookbook I checked for the meatball recipe...it was a chocolate truffle cake. Boy did it look good! That was it! I had time to get a dessert mixed up while we waited on the bread!
By this time I had half the bead dough in the oven doing a quick rise (oven on low). So I looked over the recipe. It had alot of things in it we did not have, disappointed I started to put the book and idea aside. Then I saw it...My old Chocolate Loves cookbook.
Over a year ago Raven and I had made the Triple Chocolate Torte together. It had been fun and we had decided we were going to make every recipe in the book from start to finish! When we made the torte we didn't have a cake stand or a heart shape pan. We had made a round one and put it on a regular plate. That's how we learned plates curve. The glaze pooled in the center deeper then the rest of the cake, but it was still wonderful! I am not a big cake person, but I discovered tortes that day!
The next recipe was Glazed Cranberry Mini-Cakes. That's were our adventure stalled. We didn't have the pan it called for... a mini muffin pan. Time passed and eventually we did get the mini muffin pan, but it wasn't the time of year for cranberries or we were too busy...
Flashing back to this afternoon. There was the book and I suddenly wanted a souffle. I checked and there is a recipe for a souffle and it called for coco powder which I actually have! I look over the list and we have all the ingredients! That is huge! See I am being extremely creative for meals this week as we are out of almost everything.
It was meant to be. :)
I asked Raven if she wants to help me and she does, so she gets the ingredients out as I am finishing diner and washing the appropriate dishes. I turn the oven on, both preheat for the souffle and to bake the bread. She measured the flour, I measured the chocolate, she mixed them then cut in the butter. Well, It wasn't butter or margarine like the recipe called for, it was Parkay. But we made do. We set that aside and after reading the recipe through decided to separate the eggs next. Raven got down 2 glass bowls, I cringed. I have no idea how she managed it with the mp3 player in one hand and maneuvering the dishes with the other, but nothing fell crashing to the floor, so it's all good.
I stepped back and had her separate the eggs. Again I cringed and managed to not take over... She cracked the egg on the edge of the bowl (instead of the flat counter top, we don't want egg shrapnel in it so I mention that to her), then juggling them back and forth. Not bad. She does it rather well and gets the eggs separated. I do the last one and she is impressed. I feel silly, just 'patience and practice' I tell her. She starts to measure the milk into the sauce pan using a tiny 1/4 cup measure cup that she'd used to measure the flour... I stop her and show her the liquid measuring cup. She mentions how she misses her Home Ec class, she'll have it again next semester.
I love how calm and focused she is in the kitchen. We do have to keep running all the others out of the kitchen...it gets too crowded. Raven competently takes over the milk and chocolate mixture. So that leaves me to the egg whites.
It is then that I discover 2 things.
First, I miss read the recipe in my quick glance... It calls for 1/2 cup PLUS 2 table spoons of sugar, not just 2 table spoons! Second, the bag of sugar had gotten wet at some point in the past and the bottom of the bag is one solid block of sugar. I hope and pour it into the cup. I get a 1/3 and some chunks! I figure that makes 1/2. A little fanangling more and I've got the 2 table spoons...kinda.
While I was doing that Raven had added the chocolate mixture to the milk mixture and was stirring it well with the whisk. I better get a move on! I get out the hand held mixer and put on the whisk attachment and start whipping the egg whites. Raven has also taken it on herself to make sure the spaghetti is stirred regularly so the sauce , noddles, and meat balls don't burn.
Suddenly, the sauce bursts a bubble as she stirred it with one hand and the chocolate mix with the other! The spaghetti sauce sends a big splot right into her chocolate mix! Scrambling we grab a spoon and scoop out the red sauce. The consistency is different enough that it floats on the top and we can get it our without a big drama, LOL! We both hope for the best and keep going.
The chocolate sauce thickens so she moves it off and adds the sugar with the lumps and some almond flavor...cuz we don't have any vanilla, oops. I'm whisking away with the egg whites and sugar it looks foamier then the ones I've beaten in the past. I have no idea what I did wrong. Maybe because I used a whisk instead of regular beaters? Maybe THAT'S what made the texture like that. Seriously, the egg whites remind me of the foam on top of the lattes!
Raven has mixed the yolks in and has done well with little direction from me. She knows what she is doing. That step is much like how you add the eggs to her favorite brownie recipe, so she tells me.
The next part she hasn't done before so I show and she does. We fold a little of the whites into the sauce pan then pour all the chocolate mix into the egg white mix and fold those in. Now we have an audience. The other kids peer in curiousness and excitement as Raven pours the folded mix into the souffle dish. I take the bread out and she puts the souffle in!.
She the promptly disappears with the chocolate sauce pan to lick it clean. She is very impressed with herself as she has made REAL chocolate from coco powder.
We eat dinner while the souffle cooks.
At some point Monster sneaks into the kitchen to peek into the oven. "No No!" I whisper furiously! "You'll make it fall!" The kids have no idea what I'm taking about so I say, "It's a delicate french dessert. If you make to much noise or vibrations it will fall flat." Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I'm wrong...but I go with it.
When it's time to serve it they all stand around with their plates and I take 2 forks to cut it. That has to be one of the odder things I have told them I was going to do. I put the forks back to back and plunge them in then move the forks apart to tear the souffle.
I think they had more fun watching it shrink a little as it fell slightly then they did in eating it. The fall wasn't as impressive as a German pancake I was informed.
Bonding over chocolate
This Our new Blog!
We are going bond as mother and daughter(s) as we explore the cookbook Hershey's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook and create together!
As a group effort we will explore the chocolaty goodness of the Chocolate World.
All this talk of chocolate is making us crave chocolate!
We are going bond as mother and daughter(s) as we explore the cookbook Hershey's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook and create together!
As a group effort we will explore the chocolaty goodness of the Chocolate World.
All this talk of chocolate is making us crave chocolate!
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