Showing posts with label Chocolate

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, June 17, 2015

NewImage

Adapted from David Leite, The New York Times

INGREDIENTS:2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds (about 3 1/2 cups) bittersweet chocolate disks or semi-sweet chocolate chips


DIRECTIONS:

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.  It is important to refrigerate for 36 hours before baking.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Alton Brown’s Cocoa Brownies Video

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, January 23, 2012

Ingredients

  • Soft butter, for greasing the pan
  • Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar, sifted
  • 1 cup brown sugar, sifted
  • 8 ounces melted butter
  • 11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup flour, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

SERVINGS: 16 (PER BROWNIE); Calories: 243; Total Fat: 13 grams; Saturated Fat: 8 grams; Protein: 3 grams; Total carbohydrates: 28 grams; Sugar: 22 grams Fiber: 1 grams; Cholesterol: 83 milligrams; Sodium: 82 milligrams

Source:  Foodnetwork.com

Supposedly the best EVER chocolate ice cream recipe

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, January 29, 2007
CHOCOLATE GANACHE ICE CREAM

***NOTE: The recipe fails to list an important step, and that is to strain the custard before adding to the chocolate ganache. I've noted it in parentheses below.

I suggest adding 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. The taste was a little flat without it, and the vanilla rounded it out. (I used 1/4 tsp Penzey's double vanilla, which is equal to 1/2 tsp regular strength vanilla).

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Put chocolate in 2-quart liquid measuring cup or large heatproof bowl.

Bring 3/4 cup cream to a boil. Pour cream over chocolate and let sit a minute, then, using rubber spatula and starting in center of mixture, stir cream into chocolate in ever-widening circles. When ganache is smooth, set aside.

Bring milk and remaining 3/4 cup cream to a boil in medium heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, whisk yolks and sugar together until well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/3 of the hot liquid - this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in remaining liquid.

Pour custard back into pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon; if you run your finger down bowl of spoon, custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove pan from heat, ***(strain it into a bowl), and slowly and gently stir custard into ganache. (I mixed in vanilla extract after stirring custard into ganache).

Refrigerate custard until chilled before churning into ice cream. (I chill overnight).

Scrape chilled custard into bowl of ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Pack ice cream into container and freeze at least 2 hours, until firm enough to scoop.

Serving: If ice cream is very firm - as ice cream made with premium-quality chocolate often is - allow to sit on counter a few minutes before scooping.

Storing: Packed tightly in covered container, ice cream will keep in freezer about 2 weeks.

From "Baking From My Home To Yours" - Dorie Greenspan
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