Chocolate (4/7/14 and 11/3/14)
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Brought to you by Gail Hintze and Catherine Barnett.
For this special edition of Cooking around the World, we explored the incredibly varied flavors that can be enjoyed within the world of chocolate. From white chocolate (made with cocoa butter, but without the solids) to dark chocolate with 85% cacao content, we shared the tasting experience and compared notes. These seven varieties were available to taste: Callebaut white, Callebaut milk, Alter Eco Dark Velvet milk (47%), Ghirardelli Semisweet chocolate chips, Callebaut dark (60-ish%), Green & Black's dark (70%), Pascha dark (85%), and the purest form: cacao nibs (100% and heavenly used as a truffle coating, by the way). For a decadent treat, we finished out the evening with a truffle-making demo by Gail, and everyone got to roll a couple of truffles in toppings of their choice (pecans, cacao nibs, and cocoa). |
Our reprise of the program in November featured most of the same chocolates, except that we replaced the Pascha with an 88% dark from the Endangered Species brand. We also substituted toasted coconut and crushed almonds for cacao nibs in the lineup of truffle toppings, just to keep things interesting! We had some great new choco-trivia, too, and more information on some of the topics (including the world's first website made entirely out of chocolate and the full ad for "Coco Cod") can be found below. Finally, Gail provided a bonus recipe, which has now been added to this page: chocolate sauce.
Click here to download the recipes, contributed by Gail Hintze.
Click here for the tasting guide (includes varieties we tried at the second session, as well as a flavor wheel and a blank tasting guide for your own use).
Want to try more chocolate recipes?
Click here for the archive from our program in 2016.
Click here for the archive from our program in 2023.
Click here to download the recipes, contributed by Gail Hintze.
Click here for the tasting guide (includes varieties we tried at the second session, as well as a flavor wheel and a blank tasting guide for your own use).
Want to try more chocolate recipes?
Click here for the archive from our program in 2016.
Click here for the archive from our program in 2023.
Chocolate Truffles
Chop finely: 1 lb. good-quality semisweet chocolate
Heat gently in saucepan until bubbles form around the edge of the pan:
¾ C heavy cream
Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and stir with a whisk until the chocolate is melted.
Stir in: 1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp orange liqueur
3 tbsp Amaretto
Let cool about five minutes.
Gradually whisk in: 5 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
(An immersible blender is great for this task.)
Refrigerate, covered, until firm. Use a small scoop (with release mechanism) to scoop into balls. Roll balls lightly in cocoa, chopped toasted pecans, cocoa nibs, or whatever suits your fancy!
Notes
Every good chocolate has its own unique taste. You may want to experiment to find your favorite.
This recipe was developed for Peter’s semisweet. You may need to adjust the amount of cream in the basic recipe for different chocolates, so that the ganache is not too stiff or too soft. If I use a Callebaut semisweet, I increase the cream to 1 cup.
Truffles will keep in the freezer, tightly covered, for months. Whether they’ve been in the refrigerator or freezer, you will enjoy the best flavor if you bring your truffles to room temperature before eating.
Heat gently in saucepan until bubbles form around the edge of the pan:
¾ C heavy cream
Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and stir with a whisk until the chocolate is melted.
Stir in: 1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp orange liqueur
3 tbsp Amaretto
Let cool about five minutes.
Gradually whisk in: 5 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
(An immersible blender is great for this task.)
Refrigerate, covered, until firm. Use a small scoop (with release mechanism) to scoop into balls. Roll balls lightly in cocoa, chopped toasted pecans, cocoa nibs, or whatever suits your fancy!
Notes
Every good chocolate has its own unique taste. You may want to experiment to find your favorite.
This recipe was developed for Peter’s semisweet. You may need to adjust the amount of cream in the basic recipe for different chocolates, so that the ganache is not too stiff or too soft. If I use a Callebaut semisweet, I increase the cream to 1 cup.
Truffles will keep in the freezer, tightly covered, for months. Whether they’ve been in the refrigerator or freezer, you will enjoy the best flavor if you bring your truffles to room temperature before eating.
Chocolate Sauce
Place in an 8-cup glass measuring cup (or microwaveable bowl):
4 oz. good-quality semisweet chocolate, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces*
¼ c. strong coffee
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream (or milk)
2 tbsp. dark rum
Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave at 100% about five minutes (note: you may want to cook it less than that if you have a new, powerful microwave – you can always cook it a little longer, but it’s awful if it burns).
Remove from oven. Uncover and whisk until smooth. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Keeps well in the refrigerator, in a tightly covered glass jar. Reheat for 1 minute, uncovered, at 100%; stir and serve.
Note: Use the best chocolate you can get your hands on! I like Peter’s (made by Nestle), Valrhona, or Scharfenberger, but you’ll want to experiment to determine your own favorite.
4 oz. good-quality semisweet chocolate, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces*
¼ c. strong coffee
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream (or milk)
2 tbsp. dark rum
Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave at 100% about five minutes (note: you may want to cook it less than that if you have a new, powerful microwave – you can always cook it a little longer, but it’s awful if it burns).
Remove from oven. Uncover and whisk until smooth. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Keeps well in the refrigerator, in a tightly covered glass jar. Reheat for 1 minute, uncovered, at 100%; stir and serve.
Note: Use the best chocolate you can get your hands on! I like Peter’s (made by Nestle), Valrhona, or Scharfenberger, but you’ll want to experiment to determine your own favorite.
Chocolate-y Links:
Fair Trade info:
Fair Trade USA http://fairtradeusa.org Fair Trade Federation http://www.fairtradefederation.org Global Village Peoria http://www.globalvillagepeoria.org Equal Exchange http://equalexchange.coop/products/chocolate Divine Chocolate http://www.divinechocolate.com/uk/about-us/research-resources |
Click here to visit the Sagres Preta Chocolate website.
Read more about the making of the website at World Record Academy. |