OMG Chocolate Ice Cream

 

Okay.  I'm officially out of my mind.  I just made a chocolate ice cream that is something like 1200 calories per cup.  Probably more.  90 grams of fat.  Per cup.

I'm out of my mind.

But I'm not crazy.  It was so rich - and I do mean so rich - I could only eat half a cup.  Me.  The ice cream king of the universe.  The guy who can polish off a pint of Ben and Jerry's without batting an eye.

Half a cup.

I used a Dutch process cocoa powder and a 72% dark chocolate.  It was rich, creamy, decadent, ultra-chocolaty and absolutely fantabulously good.

Half a cup.

600 calories and 45 grams of fat.

I'm thinking it was worth it.

OMG Chocolate Ice Cream

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp espresso powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mini peanut butter cups

Combine heavy cream and half and half over medium-low heat.

Combine the sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, eggs, and egg yolks in a medium bowl; beat until thickened.

With the mixer on low speed, add about a cup of hot cream to the cocoa mixture in a slow, steady stream and mix completely.

Stir the chopped chocolate into the saucepan with the hot cream.

Stir the egg mixture into the hot cream.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

Transfer the chocolate mixture to a bowl and stir in vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the chocolate mixture, and refrigerate until completely cooled.

Pour the chilled custard into the freezer bowl, and mix according to manufacturers instructions.

Add the peanut butter cups during the last few minutes of mixing.


Cupcakes

I am finally using these way-fun cupcake holders!  I first saw them on Trevor's blog and knew I had to get some.  I picked them up at Fante's on 9th Street in South Philadelphia for a couple of bucks.  They are not free-standing.  You need to still put them in a muffin tin, but they pop right out!

I made a basic yellow cupcake and frosted with Chocolate Buttercream.  The recipe makes about 16 cupcakes, but I divided it into 12 and baked about 6 minutes longer.

Yellow Cupcakes

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° and line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in milk and vanilla until just combined. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, beating until just combined after each addition.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake in middle of oven about 20 minutes.

I was just slightly neurotic about filling them - not wanting any batter on the "wings"  (neurotic?!?  MOI?!?)  - so I used a pastry bag without a tip.  Worked like a charm.

Same with the icing.

 

They're yummy!


Flourless Chocolate Cake

 

Victor made dessert tonight.  A totally delicious Flourless Chocolate Cake.

He found the recipe last year from Tyler Florence.  He tweaked it just a bit, added a bit of coffee, and this year's cake totally rocks even more than last year's!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

  • 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 9 large eggs, separated
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
  • 1/4 cup strong black coffee
  • 2 cups heavy cream, cold
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.

Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about 1-inch of simmering water until melted. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs – this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate; then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture.  Add the coffee and mix well.

Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.

Serve at room temperature dusted with confectioners’ and the whipped cream.


Chocolate Overload Cookies

I said I was in the mood for cookies.  I'm really, really in the mood for cookies after that first bite!

The original recipe called for chocolate chips.  I added semi-sweet chips, white chocolate chips, and mini peanut butter cups.  The recipe also specifically states NOT Dutch process cocoa - and that was all I had, tonight. (I usually have Guittard cocoa - the last of the family-owned San Francisco chocolatiers which is Dutched - and Hershey's natural cocoa powder in the cabinet.  Not tonight.)

A little science lesson...  Dutch processing adds alkali to cocoa and neutralizes the acid.  It makes for a smoother and deeper cocoa flavor and works well in cakes and pastries where you're not masking the chocolate flavor or competing with the slightly acidic chocolate tones.   I usually make brownies with regular cocoa powder for a more pronounced chocolate flavor.  Both kinds have their uses and one is not better than the other, so all you chocolate snobs can go lie down.

Back to science... cookies relying on baking soda will not work as well with Dutch process cocoa, because baking soda wants acid to work.  While a lot of your basic ingredients will have a bit of acid to them, a simple workaround (and what I did tonight) is to add a quarter-teaspoon of white vinegar to the mix.  It adds the necessary acid and punches up the chocolate flavor.  It worked quite well!

Chocolate Overload Cookies

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder (add 1/4 tsp white vinegar with Vanilla if using Dutch process)
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup mini peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy and beat in egg and vanilla until combined well. Mix in flour mixture until just combined and stir in chips.

Drop dough by tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake about 12 minutes.

Cool as long as you can, and then eat!

These really are pretty awesome.  And it's unusual for me to make 'normal' sized cookies.  I usually make humongaloid cookies.  Tonight I thought I'd try actually doing small scoops.  I'm glad I did.  It made about 65 cookies!


Covered in Chocolate

 

The weather outside is frightful.  Okay.  Just cold - which to this thin-blooded San Franciscan - is not as enjoyable as a warm ocean breeze.  Oh well.  It gives me an excuse to stay indoors and finish the cookies.

Today is adding the finishing touches...  the chocolate-dipping.  It's the most tedious and the most fun at the same time.  I love making everything look fun and festive - and dipping peppermint patties one-by-one is fun for the first tray.  By tray three I'm always swearing I'm not making them next year.  Of course, I do, because I really like to eat them...

xmas-chocolate-2

Today's cookies started with dark chocolate dipped macadamia nut orange biscotti, milk chocolate dipped walnut butter cookies, dark chocolate covered peppermint patties, and white chocolate dipped lemon coconut cookies.

xmas-chocolate-3

I have one more cookie to bake, and then we can start making the trays to give away.....

Ho Ho Ho! :)


Chocolate Hazelnut Marble Cake

So... whilst I was back here in the office bloggng away about dinner, Victor was in the kitchen baking a cake for dessert! Just a simple recipe from Better Homes and Gardens - but with a Victor twist. He took half the batter and added Ghirardelli Chocolate Hazelnut Cocoa Mix to it! Oh YUMMY!!

And then added a simple cocoa and powdered sugar topping. No heavy buttercream icing tonight. We have to watch our figures!!

Yes... life is good!


Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

The in-laws were over for dinner last night and I decided i wanted something for dessert I hadn't made in a while. I headed downstairs to peruse some of the older cookbooks and out fell a handwritten recipe I must have copied from somewhere years ago. No idea really where it came from. But it's definitely my scrawl... But oh - am I ever glad i found it! It may just be the best desset I've had in years!

It is the most rich, chocoaltey tasting, yet light chocolate roll I have ever had. No flour! Gluten free! Someone had to have given me the recipe and I just never made it, because I'd remember this! Delicious. Fantastic. It's like eating chocolate air... It was sooooo good!!!

So - here it is... Easy enough to make. A bit time consuming, but it's worth it!!!

  • 8 oz chocolate. I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of cream of tartar

Melt chocolate with 1/4 cup water. Beat yolks with 1/3 cup sugar about 5 minutes - until really creamy. Fold in chocolate. Whip whites with salt, cr of tartar and vanilla until stiff. Fold whites into chocolate. Spread in pan (I lined with parchment and sprayed with food release.) Bake at 350 about 12-13 minutes.

It raised up and then fell when I took it out of the oven, and it cracked like hell when I rolled it. It's supposed to. I filled it with whipped cream that I added powdered sugar and cocoa powder and vanilla. And I sifted cocoa/powdered sugar on top to make it look pretty!

Oh... and since I've done lots of baking in my life... after it cooled, I sifted some cocoa powder/powdered sugar on the cake, placed a sheet of parchment on top, and then flipped it over onto another sheet pan. Then I spread the filling on and used the parchment to help roll it up. The cocoa helped to keep the cake from sticking - and added even more chocolate flavor1


Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls

 

I FINALLY got the Rum Balls made! These are by far the best Rum Balls this side of heaven! While Auntie's original recipe called for rolling in powdered sugar, a few years ago, we started dipping them in chocolate to create a rum ball truffle. They are worth every calorie and/or DUI you may get!

This is her original recipe. Even though I have it memorized, I bring it out every time I make them and ask her for help in making sure they come out right. She hasn't failed me, yet! I use Meyers Rum.

Thanks, Auntie!!