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Hi all- what is being done out there in the world of savory chocolate items? I am doing a chocolate event, we are going to discuss/prepare savory chocolate dishes. Naturally I think of mole', and I put it in chili also, but that's as far as I've ever taken it. And after that my brain crashes, because everything else sounds too weird, unbalanced or a real stretch. So let's hear it from the masses!

With the cold weather upon the City of late, my thoughts naturally turn to warming winter drinks, hot chocolate among them. Who makes the best in the City? NY Magazine lists their six favorites, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, @SQC, Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, The City Bakery and Lunettes et Chocolat. Of these, I've had @SQC's and City Bakery's examples. Thus far, @SQC's is my favorite. It's made with Valrhona chocolate -- thick, strong and slightly bitter. Especially good in their "fire & ice" which includes a scoop of bitter caramel ice cream.

Hi all, I'm looking to see what your favorite gourmet or Artisinal chocolate bar is. I've tried "Vosges Chocolat" and love them, especially the dark chocolate, ginger wasabi bar. Anyone out there have their favorites. Has anyone tried "Chuao" or "Burdick" chocolate bars ? Vin

On Saturday, I happened by this new shop on Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue, between St. Marks and Prospect Place. I had a chat with the owners, a couple who seem very nice, and who seem to have a commitment to good chocolate. They talked about trying to make their own chocolates, but after learning more about the field they decided to team up with a partner who has an established track record. They explored teaming up with Kee in Manhattan but eventually settled on Knipschildt Chocolatier out of Connecticut. I tried the classic truffles they were giving away and I thought they were very good. The shop promises to be another great addition to a street that continues to bloom with new life. Anybody know much about Knipschildt's chocolates?

Hi Everybody! I've tried 3 times to make chocolate meringue for piped meringue shells but the meringue is failing on me. I start with a nice swiss meringue then add cocoa to the bowl and whip about 10 seconds. After a few seconds the meringue goes runny and ends up way too loose to pipe. Any suggestions on what is going wrong? My approx. recipe: 8 oz whites 450 g sugar cream of tartar 3 Tbsp Cocoa Thank-you!

While salivating my way though Daniels Chocolates, I noticed that they sell bricks of Callebaut. The saleswoman told me that these are of better quality than the Callebaut sold at the Superstore bulk bins. Is that true? Does Callebault make different grades of dark chocolate (the kind I usually buy at Superstore.) I didn't post this in the baking section as I am hoping people could direct me to where to get the best Callebaut dark chocolate in Vancouver (if there is, indeed, a better quality one.) I'm also assuming that Daniels prices could be better. Thanks.

Thinking ahead for Valentine's Day, I plan to serve a chocolate dessert at the restaurant. I would like to decorate the plates with the word "love" piped directly on the plate using something chocolate flavour. Ideally, I would temper dark chocolate and decorate all the plates ahead of time. However, it is just not feasible to have so many decorated plates around (not enough room for sure). This means I need a cream/ganache/sauce that stays at pipeable consistency at room temperature so that it is ready to pipe when I plate. If possible, I would like to stay away from ready-made piping gel or the stuff that comes in a tube in cake decorating shops. Do you have a recipe suitable for this purpose?

Aloha we just bought a nice bottle of the chocolate bock from Sam Adams. Never had it before and want to know what temperature would be best (I'm thinking slightly chilled but not too cold). What are some of your experiences? Thanks and a hui ho

Minister of D®ink and I are thinking of venturing out in the real world after a few more inches fall. I've never not gone to a bar on a snow day since I've been of boozing age... Minister's still partially honoring the early stages of the South Beach Diet...and I'm pretending to follow in his foot steps. So, where can we go to get a hot drink that's cooler than our Tazo teas at home? Someone said Oyamel for hot chocolate? Why is this? Please help! Our wagon is out of fuel.

a very simple combination for me, but a very powerful one, taste- and enjoyment-wise....tea (earl grey mainly) and dark chocolate (like a small wedge of sharffenberger or vrona). that's it. no cake. no scones. just the tea and the chocolate. heightens my appreciation of both. sound strange to anyone? yours? cheers :) hc

Last year I purchased some 3D egg shape molds in an attempt to make little solid chocolate eggs that I wrapped in foils and presented in hollow chocolate eggs. When I finally got all those little guys wrapped and had my taste testers (the kids next door) try them, they all commented on how "hard" the chocolates were, both the milk (38%) and the dark (64%). This year I wanted to do the same thing with heart shapes, but now I'm worried that perhaps I am not doing it right. I know that the little "eggies" and other solid shaped chocolates you buy (even the good ones, as in couverture, not coating) are usually not as hard as mine were. Is there anything I can do to soften the chocolate a bit so that it can still be molded and unmolded? Or should I get some new tatse testers? I for one just let the solid chocolates melt in my mouth rather then trying to bite on it, so it hadn't occured to me. However, now my husband is saying they were a bit hard as well. I know that I could add some softened butter to the tempered chocolate to soften it, but I have only used this method to pipe large shapes freehand, such as chocolate initials that we hand out during Saint Nick's in Europe. I don't know if the same can be molded and unmolded without a problem. Any suggestions?

Hi, It's been such a long time since I've spent time on egullet, mostly because I've been working on opening a chocolate shop....hooray! Anyway, I'm looking for a chocolate display case and wondered if any kind souls had some suggestions. I will be storing fresh ganache filled chocolates, etc. I have seen the websites of Vega showcases but they are too bulky for my tiny space and they require electrical and plumbing adjustments to the space. I have also seen the Fixture group cases and those look good so far but I wanted to check with you all. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Elizabeth

I've been wanting this book for awhile, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has had any experiences (good or bad) with these recipes. The desserts look extraordinary, and I'm looking for book with desserts for special occassions.

Every so often, I think I should buy writing chocolate .... why I don't know, because usually I throw a handful of chips in a small glass cup, and zap it for a few seconds, stir, pour into a cornetta and write. The advantage is that I always have chips (dark, milk, white) and I usually only write on cakes at the end of the week (Fridays and/or Saturday morning) so I don't have to worry about keeping the chocolate filled cornetta around. So I just got off the phone with my Swiss Chalet rep and he's telling me this is great stuff, softer, he'd love to send me some to try, etc, etc. What do you all use to write messages on your cakes...? Do you use writing chocolate? Why or why not?

I have been looking for companies that will made custom boxes for chocolates/candies, just like the ones Jaqcues Torres, Norman Love, Robert Linxe etc. use. For some reason I am unable to find anything on-line that has been helpful. At this point I use stock gold foil boxes with printed ribbons, but I am ready to order my own packaging. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks, Lysbeth

Abra -thank you for your kind words and the welcome. So I'll start with a Dessert which I offered in late November to some of our good friends. I took a class at Sissy Sonnleitner's in southern Austria(she is one of the best chefs in Austria) where this fantastic dessert was demonstrated. Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Mousse and Cinnamon-Semifreddo: Chocolate Cake 200 g chocolate 200 g butter 250 g powdered sugar 5 eggs 1 tbs flour ingredients Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl and add sugar while stirring with a wooden spoon. (see result in the above picture) Let cool down until lukewarm. Fold in egg one at a time. At the end mix in the flour. All steps should be done with a wooden spoon Fill chocolate mix into a tart form layered with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 ° Celsius for approx 22 Minutes. The inner part of the cake should be in slight wet condition. Turn over immediately, remove baking paper and let cool down. Let rest for 1 day. Pumpkin-Mousse: 250 g Pumpkin, peeled and seeded 20 g butter 2 tbs brown sugar 1/2 Mocca spoon grind cloves 1/2 Mocca spoon grind cilantro seeds Vanilla sugar 1/2 ts freshly grated ginger nutmeg 10 ml Irish Mist or Cognac 200 ml whipping cream Cut pumpkin into cubes and spread butter onto an aluminum foil. Place cubed pumpkin onto the foil and sprinkle all ingredients except nutmeg, Irish Mist and whipping cream. Tight up foil and bake pumpkin at 180 ° Celsius for 35 minutes. Pour Pumpkin and liquid into a pot and let evaporate the liquid on a hot plate at low heat until it's like a puree. Let cool down and strain through a sieve. Add Irish Mist and fold in whipped cream Cinnamon-Semifreddo: 1 cinnamon rind 70 g brown sugar 150 ml water 5 tbs rum 50 g Ladyfingers 2 eggs 1 egg yolk Vanilla sugar 1/2 ts cinnamon powder 200 ml whipping cream Bring sugar and water to the boil. Add cinnamon rind and let cook at low heat for 1 hour until syrupy (see picture). Pour rum. Cut ladyfingers into small cubes and wet with half of the cinnamon-rum mixture. Beat Eggs and egg yolk with the second half of the rum and cinnamon mix until foamy (see picture). Fold in wet cubed Ladyfingers. Add whipped cream thoroughly sprinkle cinnamon and pour into timbales. Let freeze for 3 to 4 hours Cut cake into small edges, spread pumpkin mousse on it and serve with cinnamon semifreddo like shown in the picture

Help! I'm trying a new recipe for Christmas cookies, and it calls for bittersweet chocolate. The only brand I've found in that variety is Ghirardelli, and this brings two questions: Is there much difference in the taste of the finished product between semi-sweet, or unsweetend, and bittersweet? Is there a favored brand of bittersweet chocolate, and where can I get some? (OK, that was three questions ) Thanks for the guidance!

Could anyone please tell me where I could buy these in the DC/VA area?? I am desperate - thank you!!!!

We dined the other evening at Chef Mavro in Honolulu. He has a new pastry chef and she created a wonderful dessert of a rosemary chocolate substance wrapped in a gelatin "canneloni." The chocolate was thick and rich yet creamy. It wasn't frozen and it wasn't mousse. What would you properly call this filling and is there a French term for it? Thanks for any and all assistance!

Every time we visit the Sen5es Bakery in Downtown Vancouver, I'm always intrigued, but disappointed with the Sparkle Cookies. Call me crazy, but they just don't do it for me. But the Valrhona Chocolate Cookies - oh my! They're deep, dark and unctous, partly because of the Valrhona, but mostly because the texture is incredible. Can I just do any chocolate chocolate chip cookie, sub with Valrhona and successfully replicate these puppies? I'm dying to, yet reluctant to waste good chocolate. Thoughts? Anyone else agree these beat out the Sparkle cookies??

Yesterday we hosted a party for about 30 people. Most of the food was provided by others, but we wanted to make sure we had at least one munchie, one soup, and one dessert. Everything went off without a hitch until I tried to cut the brownies I'd baked into squares and they crumbled to the point where they were too ugly to serve at a party. Taking a page from numerous eGulleteers, I whipped up a batch of butterscotch pudding, and layered it and the brownie crumbles into a trifle of sorts. It was yummy, if a tad heavy. I started thinking that a bit of fruit layered in with the brownies and pudding would have been a nice addition. My question: what fruit would go nicely with both chocolate and butterscotch? I know that bananas would have been an obvious choice, but bananas are the one food I cannot stand in any way, shape, or form. The strawberries we picked earlier this spring and sliced and stored in the freezer were another possibility; I knew that they'd be a slam-dunk with the brownies but wasn't so sure about the butterscotch. What else might have worked? Bonus points if it's available in small-town upstate NY in early December.

I'm a huge fan of the choc chip cookies made by City Bakery in NYC--they're rich and chewy and crispy and almost toffee-like, studded with big ol' shards of chocolate. I've got a recipe that actually tastes pretty close, but I have two problems: 1. The cookies come out flat and crispy, which, while fine in its own way, is not what I'm trying for 2. They're fairly greasy-feeling, with much more butter left on the fingers than CB's version. Today I tried chilling the dough--rolling it into a cookie schlong and slicing instead of scooping--but it only made them crispier. Here's the recipe I'm playing with. Any suggestions would be VERY much appreciated! 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ t. baking soda ½ t. salt ¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces ½ cup sugar ¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar 1 ½ t. pure vanilla extract 1 large egg, at room temperature 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2 inch chunks 1) Preheat oven to 350. Adjust racks to lower and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. 2) Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. 3) Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Add the sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Cream on medium speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. 4) Add the egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. 5) On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and mix until they are just incorporated. If using a hand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir them in. 6) Spoon the dough using a cookie scooper 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. 7) Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown around the edges, swapping placement and turning the sheets front to back halfway through the baking. 8) Remove from the oven and carefully slide the parchment or Silpats directly onto a work surface. Let cool until set, then slide cookies onto rack to cool fully.

It's me again with yet another question. I'm sure I've used up my quota of questions for the last couple days but I have one more... Here's a lsit of what my supplier sells: CA13 Mi-Amare (Pistols) 5kg IFF2 Callebaut - D811 5kg IFF3 Callebaut - 811 5kg IFF21 Semi-Calets (USA) Item#95842 D811 25lb LIN3652 Lindt Surfin (Dark) Chocolate 2/1kg LIN3673 Lindt Extra Bitter Chocolate 2/1kg LIN2832 Lindt 70% Excellence (Bars) Couverture Bitter 10kg KR7635 Semi Sweet Choc. Squares (GENIE) 10kg KR7636 Unsweet Dark Squares (Bakerettes) 10kg CC1 Schokinag Bitter Sweet Slab 2.5kg CC5 Schokinag 55/45/35 Chips - 1000ct 10kg BC501 Couverture Wafers - C501/J 10kg I am not sure what would best serve my purposes. I'm not clear on the difference between "pistols" & "calets" and "semi-calets". I work for a higher-end coffee house but it's not a bakery so I have to choose good products but not neccessarily the best as cost is a bit of an issue. I use chocolate melted in cheesecake, melted with margarine to top some types of squares, melted in one of my frostings and chips in cookies. Do I need to buy block chocolate or can I use calets or wafers? Are calets the same size as chocolate chips and can I use them in cookies or do I need proper chocolate chips for them to hold their shape? Or is there enough cocoa butter in the Schokinag chips that I could use them for the other purposes as well? My rep is very kind but I don't think he's a baker, just a salesman, so I'd like the opinion of someone who actually uses the products. Thanks again for all your help!

This is a spin-off from the cocoa thread. I'd like to try using dutch process cocoa in my brownies but don't have ready access to small amounts. I think the smallest bag my supplier has is about 5 lbs. My brownies have just cocoa, no solid chocolate and a bit of instant coffee as well as 1/4 tsp of baking soda. A few people mentioned that you should use regular cocoa in recipes that contain baking soda. Is a 1/4 teaspoon enough to mess them them up? How does the dutch process cocoa effect the flavour. I seem to remember reading that the flavour will be richer and the texture a bit fudgier. Can anyone help me with their experiences? Sorry, this is a bit long. To sum up, my questions are: 1. Will 1/4 tsp baking soda affect my brownies negatively if I use dutch process cocoa? 2. Is it worth trying dutch process cocoa? Is the flavour that much better? Thanks for your input.

I am trying to make (for my own knowledge) a dessert consisting of a layer of chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate mousse, and a layer of white chocolate mousse. I want to put it together in a mold so it's really nice and neat. My question is: I've only been able to find molds that are about 3 or so inches high. How do I layer the cake and mousses? I bought acetate paper but I don't think this is what acetate is for. Should I cut a piece of parchement that's double or so the size of the mold and pipe the mousses onto one another that way? But then how do I get the paper off the mousse without messing it all up? By the way, what can I use acetate paper for? thanks!