Tag Archives: chocolate

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies with Almonds and Sea Salt

Dark Chocolate Cookies TasteFood

Dark Chocolate Crinkle Cookies with Almonds and Sea Salt

Sometimes when life hands you lemons….you make chocolate. In this case, deeply dark, intensely rich Swiss chocolate in the form of a cookie.  While I can’t speak for you, I can do with some chocolate therapy right now, and this cookie is just the antidote. In fact, it’s hard to find a more chocolate-y cookie. Nearly 1 pound of melted dark chocolate is reconfigured in an airy yet rich cookie with a crackly exterior and gooey center, all thanks to 4 billowy eggs and just a little bit of flour. The lemonade will have to wait for another day.

Dark Chocolate Cookie Plate TasteFood

Dark Chocolate Crinkle Cookies with Almonds and Sea Salt

My chocolate mantra applies to this recipe: Choose the best quality dark (70-72%) chocolate you can lay your hands on.

Makes approximately 30 (2-inch) cookies.

14 ounces (400 g) dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
Sea salt

Melt chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
Beat eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until thick and very pale in color, 3 to 4 minutes. Add chocolate and vanilla. Mix to combine.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add to chocolate and stir to combine without overmixing. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 325° F (170° C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop heaping tablespoons of the cookie batter onto parchment, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Sprinkle each cookie with a few almonds and a pinch of sea salt flakes. Bake in oven until tops crack and cookies are set, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer parchment to wire racks to cool. Allow cookies to cool completely before removing from parchment (they will stick if they are still warm).

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream

flourless chocolate cake tastefoodStrawberries, Cream, Chocolate…

Or, more precisely, a wedge of luscious silky-rich chocolate cake with billows of  airy cream and sun-kissed strawberries. Parse it as you may, emphasize it as you must, this is one dessert that will please chocoholics and fruity fiends alike.

I made this cake for a crowd last weekend, and it easily served 12 with a few slices to spare. A tiny sliver goes a long way – or maybe not, depending on your inclination. Choose the best quality dark chocolate you can lay your hands on, because it makes all the difference. The gently sugared cream and naturally sweetened strawberries perfectly round out and balance the chocolatey richness, which, naturally,  helps you eat more.

flourless chocolate cake tastefoodThere was, I promise, a bounty of strawberries when I served this cake, but the berry eaters in the group devoured them before I could use the harvest as a photo prop.

Glazed Flourless Chocolate Cake
slightly adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

Serves 12.

Cake:
12 ounces dark high quality chocolate (70-72%)
3/4 cup unsalted butter
6 large eggs, separated
12 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
4 1/2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped, plus extra for grating

Whipped cream
Strawberries

Heat oven to 350° F (180 C). Butter a 9-inch diameter springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment. Sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder and tap out the excess. Wrap the outside of the pan with foil to prevent leakage.

Combine chocolate and butter in a double boiler or heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

Beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Transfer eggs to a large bowl; thoroughly clean and dry mixing bowl and whisk attachment.

Fold the melted chocolate into the egg yolks. Stir in the vanilla. In the clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar until medium-firm peaks form. Fold the whites into the chocolate in 3 additions. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake until top is slightly puffed and cracked and a knife inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Heat cream and syrup in a small saucepan just until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Gently press down on the top of the cake to even thickness. Remove pan side. Invert cake onto a plate. Remove and discard parchment. Pour the glaze over the center of the cake. Spread the glaze over the top and down the sides of the cake, using a flat icing spatula to smooth the glaze. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Chill in refrigerator until firm, about 10 minutes. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

More chocolate? If you insist…
Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins from Brown Eyed Baker
Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from TasteFood
Chocolate Custard Cake from White on Rice Couple
Rich Chocolate Brownies from TasteFood

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons

coconut macaron tastefood

~ Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons ~

The bane of my childhood candy experience was a Mounds Bar. I just didn’t get it. I would bite into the chocolate nugget, which would immediately give way to a grainy, chewy, grassy interior, that in my opinion had no rightful place in a candy bar. I was mystified by my friends who bought supersized packages of Almond Joys to scarf down when we were at the movies. Every halloween when my brothers and I would pile our loot in the middle of the kitchen table, gloating, eyeing and sizing trade-ups, my chocolate covered coconut bars were the first to go with no regrets. Unfortunately, my brothers were not so keen on coconut either, so the negotiating could get ugly.

It baffles me that my children love coconut. As a result, I have slowly, with time, age and parental compromise, learned to like coconut. I’ve come to terms with its flaky texture and appreciate its nuttiness in a sea of sweetness. I eat it now, unforced, and prefer it paired with dark or bitter chocolate. Sometimes I make macaroons, a jumble of coconut bound together with egg white and, ahem, condensed milk. Yes, the milk is icky-sweet, but it seems to yield the best  juicy soft interior, which is what distinguishes a great macaroon – and alleviates its propensity to dryness. I’ve followed a recipe from Ina Garten from time to time, but switch out some of the sweetened coconut with unsweetened. It helps to tamp down excessive cloyiness. And I always dunk them in dark chocolate, which has a magnificent grounding effect on, well, everything.

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Makes about 24

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
6 ounces unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 ounces dark (70-72%) chocolate, melted

Heat oven to 350° F (180° C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour milk, coconut and vanilla in a large bowl and stir to combine. Beat egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft peaks from. Fold into the coconut.

Drop tablespoon-sized mounds of coconut on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool on rack. Dip half of the macaroons in melted chocolate. Transfer to a plate lined with parchment. Refrigerate until set.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Therapy

Sometimes, life gets busy and a few curveballs come our way. Best laid plans are, well, put to rest. So, we go with the flow, chin-up, and carry on. In honor of life’s little bumps and interruptions, I offer this simple gift. It’s nothing new, but, rather, something familiar, comfortable, and oh-so sweet. You’ve seen these cookies here before in a 24-hour version, but this batch requires no such waiting, because there is a time and place for instant gratification, too. Especially when chocolate is involved.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped dark chocolate

Heat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Combine the butter and sugars together in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at high speed until light and creamy. Add egg and yolk. Continue to mix until thoroughly combined. Add the vanilla and mix again. Whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together in a small bowl. Add to the butter and sugar and mix until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and chocolate. Drop rounded tablespoons of the batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until tops are light golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Chocolate Stout Pound Cake with Whiskey Cream

~ Chocolate Stout Pound Cake with Irish Whiskey Cream ~

When life hands you lemons you make lemonade. When life hands you lemons and Guinness Stout, I’d ignore the lemons and drink the stout. But be sure to save a bottle or two, because you can use any extra beer to make Irish Beef Stew and a decadent Chocolate Stout Pound Cake, which I’m including in a double post series this week in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. And just in case life has, in fact, been handing you lemons lately, I will post the dessert first. Simple things like chocolate, stout, and the phrase “dessert first” are guaranteed to make things better.

Chocolate Stout Pound Cake

Makes one pound cake – recipe adapted from Real Simple.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup stout beer
1/4 pound (120 g) dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a loaf pan. Line with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper. Dust with cocoa powder, shaking out excess.
Combine butter and stout in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until smooth.
Beat eggs and brown sugar in bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chocolate and sour cream and mix to combine. Whisk remaining ingredients together in bowl. Add to the chocolate. Stir to combine without over-mixing. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until set and a wooden skewer inserted in center comes clean, about 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Turn pound cake out on the rack and cool completely. Cut in 1/2 inch slices. Serve with Irish Whiskey Whipped Cream.

Irish Whiskey Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Irish Whiskey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until traces of the whisk are visible. Add remaining ingredients. Continue to whip until soft peaks form. Transfer to a bowl. Serve with Chocolate Stout Pound Cake.

If you like this, you might enjoy these TasteFood recipes:
Coriander Spiced Pound Cake with Strawberries
Orange Pound Cake
Lemon Bars 

Chunky Chocolate Cookies with Toasted Almonds and Raisins

Chocolate Therapy:
Chunky Chocolate Cookies with Toasted Almonds and Raisins 

As we tighten our purse strings, eat out less, purchase fewer perceived must-haves, it’s important to take a moment to focus on the simpler things in our lives that bring us pleasure: Family and friends? Absolutely. Good health and happy children? Of course! Beautiful sunsets and autumn foliage? Thank you very much. But right now what I’m most interested in is chocolate.

It’s not so long ago that I posted a recipe with chocolate on my blog. Perhaps this is reflection of the state of the world as I know it.  So call me repetitive or even a diet saboteur, but let’s be frank. Chocolate is good. When you taste it, you know it. More importantly, when you serve it to your friends and loved ones, it brings a smile to their faces. And, these days, generating smiles on the faces of people we know and touch is a very good thing.

Chunky Chocolate Cookies with Toasted Almonds and Raisins
Makes  30 2-inch cookies

14 ounces dark (70%) chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups  granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup toasted almonds, chopped
3/4 cup golden raisins

Melt  chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Beat sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer until thick and very pale in color, 3 minutes. Add chocolate and vanilla to the eggs and mix well. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Add to the chocolate and mix to combine.  Stir in almonds and raisins. Refrigerate batter 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. (180 C.) Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto the parchment. Bake until the tops are cracked and firm to the touch, 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven. The cookies will still be soft in the center and will continue to harden as they cool. Cool completely on parchment. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

More chocolate therapy? Then try these recipes:
Chocolate Orange Pots de Creme with Fleur de Sel from TasteFood
Miette’s Chocolate Sable Cookies from the Kitchn
Rich Chocolate Brownies from TasteFood
Chocolate Caramel Tart from My Baking Addiction

Flourless Chile-Chocolate Cake

Add a little spice to your love life, I mean, chocolate, for Valentine’s Day. It’s never a bad idea to shake things up, and this flourless chocolate cake does just that. Laced with chipotle, cayenne and cinnamon, this dense fudgy cake has a naughty kick of smoke and heat cloaked in chocolate. Now that’s an exciting Valentine’s cake. To read more and for the recipe, head over to PhanPhatale where I have been asked by author (and new mother!) Jackie Pham to contribute a guest post. Happy Valentine’s Day!

This month I have the pleasure of guest posting on Jackie’s wonderful blog. When I discovered Phamfatale it immediately resonated with me. It shares a similar love for feeding friends and family, while influenced by our international family and life. Jackie’s Vietnamese parents, Parisian upbringing and vegetarian, sweet-loving husband create a kaleidescope of good eats which keep me coming back for more. And with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I can’t think of a more perfect way to share a little blog (and chocolate) love with her readers than with this guest post.

Flourless Chile-Chocolate Cake
Serves 10-12

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut in pieces
3/4 pound semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Powder sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-inch springform. Line with parchment paper; butter the parchment. Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Whisk eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. Add melted chocolate, vanilla, chili powder, cinnamon, salt and cayenne. Mix to combine. Pour into springform. Bake until cake is set and top begins to crack, about 40 minutes. (The center will still be moist.) Cool completely on a rack. Remove the side of the pan. (Cake may be made up to one day in advance. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve sprinkled with powder sugar.

Chocolate Orange Pots de Creme with Fleur de Sel

Inspiration comes in many packages. These chocolate orange pots de creme are the result of a baking mistake. I set out to make them for a recent dinner party with this result in mind – however I forgot to cover the ramekins while they baked in the oven. Covering the ramekins allows the chocolate to set without a thicker top crust forming and detracting from a smooth and creamy consistency throughout the entire pudding. My pots de creme were smooth and creamy on the inside, all right, but the top had a firmer mottled texture. The taste was the same, but not the look. So, I decided to cover the surface with a granular topping which would provide a pleasing and distracting crunch while hiding my mistake. I rubbed the zest of an orange into a bowl of sugar. The sugar helped to separate the grains of zest and suspend them in granular animation, while the orange added a colorful tinge to the sugar. To serve, I garnished each ramekin with a dollop of whipped cream and showered the cream and chocolate with the orange sugar. To top it off I sprinkled a few grains of fleur de sel over each. It was delicious. The orange sugar added a confectionary crunch before dissolving in the mouth, leaving a lingering wisp of sea salt. I love it when mistakes like this happen.

Chocolate Orange Pots de Creme with Fleur de Sel

Begin 1-2 days before serving. Makes enough for 6 (3/4 cup) ramekins or 12 espresso cup servings.

For the pots de creme:
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
6 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet dark chocolate, finely chopped
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Cointreau or Gran Marnier

For the whipped cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Gran Marnier or Cointreau (optional)

For the orange sugar:
Finely grated zest from one untreated navel orange
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Fleur de Sel (or flakes of another sea salt, such as Maldon)

Make the pots de creme:
Preheat oven to 325 F. (170 C.) Heat the cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Remove from heat. Whisk in chocolate until melted and smooth.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until blended. Add the cream in a steady stream, whisking to combine. Whisk in Cointreau. Strain through a fine meshed sieve into another bowl.  Cool 5 minutes. Pour into ramekins or espresso cups. Place the ramekins in a baking pan. Fill the pan with boiling water half way up the ramekins. Cover ramekins with foil and transfer to oven. Bake until set, but still a little wobbly when jiggled, about 55 minutes for ramekins and 45 minutes for espresso cups. Remove from water bath and remove foil. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Make the whipped cream:
Beat the cream in a bowl of an electric mixer until traces of the whisk appear. Add sugar and Gran Marnier. Continue to beat until peaks form.

Make the orange sugar:
Combine zest and sugar in a small bowl. Rub with fingers to evenly distribute the zest.

To serve, sprinkle each ramekin evely with the orange sugar. Spoon a dollop of cream over the center. Sprinkle with additional sugar and a few grains of fleur de sel.

If you like this you might enjoy these recipes:
Dark Chocolate Pudding from Whipped
Chocolate Orange Truffles from the Kitchn
Chocolate Dipped Orange Peel Cookies from Use Real Butter
Cranberry Orange Trifle with Candied Walnuts from TasteFood

Orange, Chocolate and Almond Biscotti


~ Orange, Chocolate and Almond Biscotti ~

Biscotti are a twice-baked crisp Italian cookie, famously crunchy and perfect for dipping in coffee or milk. Many variations exist, including the traditional anise or almond biscotti, as well as cocoa infused chocolate biscotti. In this recipe I threw in everything I like in a cookie: chocolate, raisins, toasted almonds and orange zest. It sounds like a busy list of ingredients, but the resulting cookie was delightfully simple and not overly sweet.

Orange, Chocolate and Almond Biscotti
I added raisins to the biscotti as an afterthought for a little sweetness and texture; they may be omitted if you prefer a drier biscotti. I recommend using golden raisins for their color and flavor if you can find them.

Makes  approximately 30 biscotti.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Cointreau or Gran Marnier
1  teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping tablespoon orange zest
3.5 ounces (100 g.) finely chopped or grated dark chocolate
1 cup finely chopped toasted almonds
3/4 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl of an electric mixer. Mix briefly to combine. Whisk eggs, oil, orange liqueur, vanilla and zest together in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the flour. Beat on medium speed until combined, 1 minute. Stir in chocolate, raisins and almonds.
Divide dough in half. Transfer to baking sheet and shape each half into a log the length of the baking sheet. Flatten each log into a 2 inch wide strip. Bake until firm and beginning to color, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes.
Reduce oven to 300 F. (150 C.)  Transfer biscotti to a cutting board. Cut in 3/4 inch strips with a serrated knife.  Arrange cut side down on baking sheet. Bake until they are lightly golden, about 20 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking. Remove from oven and cool completely on racks. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

If you like this, you might enjoy these recipes:
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Orange Spiced Pound Cake
Coconut Blondies

Sinfully Rich Chocolate Brownies


~ Sinfully Rich Chocolate Brownies ~

Home, inspired, saturated: This sums up my present state on the heels of a 5 day retreat to the Allegheny mountains in West Virginia, where I had the honor and privilege of receiving a scholarship award from Chronicle Books to attend the Professional Food Writers Symposium at the Greenbrier Resort. (More to come on that soon, I promise!) In the meantime, my return home immediately collided with life as I had 24 hours in which to prepare and cater a beach party for 50 wonderful guests, while catching up on family, work and soccer games. As I catch my breath and collect my thoughts, dirty laundry and mail, I turn to the only sensible remedy for restoring any semblance of order and balance: dark Swiss chocolate. You will note that there are 4 brownies on my plate.

Sinfully Rich Chocolate Brownies

Makes 32 dense, fudgy small squares

1 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
12 ounces high quality dark chocolate (70%), coarsely chopped such as Lindt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan. Line bottom and sides with parchment paper. Butter the paper.
Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl until the mixture lightens in color. Add chocolate to the eggs and stir to combine well. Add flour to the chocolate batter, stirring with a wooden spoon, until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 25 minutes, or until top is set and sides begin to pull away from pan.  Brownies will be fudgey and a wooden pick will not come out clean.  Cool completely on rack.  Cover and refrigerate overnight. To cut, remove brownies from pan by lifting paper at sides. Cut in small squares. (The brownies will soften at room temperature.) Keep them stored in the refrigerator, and they will last for up to one week – if they last that long.