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Hot Chocolate Fudge Sauce Serves 2. I got this from my great-aunt Maisie. Not a speck of real chocolate in it, but it's still delicious. 1 oz butter 1 oz cocoa 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 2 T water 1/2 oz sugar (optional - depends how sweet you like your sauce) 1 T golden syrup Combine ingredients in pan over low heat and whisk till melted. Increase heat to boiling. The longer you boil it, the fudgier it becomes, but I've never managed longer than a couple of minutes. Break out the vanilla icecream and go. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Chocolate, Ice Cream, Sauce ( RG1154 )

story on new chocolates That said, what do you like your chocolate to be filled with? There are liquid centers like liqueurs and even wine ... and the usual nuts of all types ... and now, in reading this article, I see that a company is using some very unique types of centers for its candies ... so let's hear from you on your preferences! Note: they need not be actually produced yet so let your imaginations run rampant!

I began reading Like Water for Chocolate today in the serialized New York Times Great Summer Read insert. (I think this Great Summer Read thing is a wonderful idea, by the way.) Each chapter contains a recipe. I had no plans for dinner tonight, and no ideas, so I made the recipe for "Christmas Rolls" featured in chapter one. These are hard dinner rolls stuffed with a mixture of chorizo, onion, sardines, canned serrano peppers, and oregano, then baked. And although the recipe left the reader to fill in a lot of blanks, I thought the results were pretty damn tasty. Anybody else made any of the other recipes in the book? I don't know yet what the other recipes are. I bet we have the book in my apartment somewhere, but I'm looking forward to the surprise of each daily installment, so I haven't checked. I'm going out of town later in the week, so I can't cook through the book in one week, but I thought it might be neat to have a thread where we can post what we think of the recipes, if anyone has any interest. Having read just the first chapter, I'm not yet prepared to say that I think the book is a classic, but making the featured dish has certainly enhanced the experience of the book for me. My more detailed impressions of the Christmas Rolls: The recipe specifies one onion, 1/2 a chorizo sausage, one can of serrano peppers, and one tin of sardines. I found that not one of these items comes in a standard size, so I sort of made up the mixture to suit my tastes. I assumed she meant a half of a large chorizo sausage, so I used two or three of the little ones you find packaged together in American supermarkets. I found the canned peppers to be pretty bland, so I tossed in about half a habanero pepper as well. The recipe states that homemade rolls are best, but gives no guidance as to how to make them. I was concerned that the author really meant the dough to contain sugar, since I've seen sweet hard rolls a lot in Mexican bakeries, but I eventually went with more of a standard French bread dough for the rolls. I also had no idea how to stuff them. I ended up poking a hole in the side with kitchen shears and then forced the filling in with my fingers. The recipe says to bake the filled rolls for ten minutes, at an unspecified temperature-- I went with 375 degrees, and it worked out well. I have no idea if these tasted as they're supposed to taste, but I did think they came out really nice.

Hi Folks, Anyone have a good and fairly painless chocolate mousse recipe? Wedding cake number 2 is next week and I am preparing all my stuff recipes etc. so I won't be overwhelmed. Now that I have my first one under my belt I feel like I can conquer almost anything The cake itself is simple, click here to see what what the customer has requested: Becerra Wedding Cake Three cakes as pictured with the following changes, cake 1 and 3 will have chocolate mousse, cake 2 raspberry filling. Royal frosting spirals will become roses on outer bottom edge with a hint of light blue on the edges of the roses. Side spirals to become string work only done with pearls and top edge will be very small white flowers with a hint of blue. White candles encircled by white roses. Delightful I think.

Fruited cocoa cake Here is a very old family recipe. The earliest mention of the cake is in one of my ancestor's journals ca. 1690. My great-grandmother found the "receipt" and deciphered the recipe in about 1880. Although it was prepared at other times of the year, it was always called Christmas Cake. I brought it up to date about 20 years ago when I was allowed access to my great grandmama's journals. I have continued to refine it right up to the present. Like many cakes of that era it contains dried fruits and is fairly heavy. You can use a combination of dried fruits, but the larger ones have to be chopped so all pieces are about the same size. I have used cherries, cranberries, blueberries, black currants, Zante currants, sultanas and my home-dried extra sweet seedless red grapes, dried plums, dried persimmons, peaches and pears. As long as the total amount is as listed in the recipe, it doesn't matter about the combination. I often make this for parties and most people love it. Technically it is a "fruit" cake but even people who do not care for fruitcake will eat this. Also like most of the English cakes that are served at tea, it keeps very well, as I have noted in the recipe. FRUITED COCOA CAKE original recipe ca. 1690 Notes: It is important to use Dutch process cocoa. If you can't find it you have to use baking POWDER instead of baking SODA. I use King Arthur Flour's Double Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa Half and Half. When glazed with the glaze at the end of the recipe, this cake will keep for several days at room temp and will stay incredibly moist. I have in the past made this cake ahead of time and wrapped it well in aluminum foil and kept it in a cool place for 6 weeks. However I now live alone. When my family was still all together, I could not keep it more than a couple of days......to give you an idea of the way things used to be, the original "receipt" called for 6 pounds of twice-boulted flour and 3 full pound loaves of sugar well beaten..... 2 pounds of butter and 3 dozen eggs. ****** 1 cup BUTTER unsalted 1-1/2 tsp SALT 1 tsp CINNAMON, ground Any of these spices are better if freshly ground. 1 tsp CLOVES, ground 1 tsp NUTMEG, ground 1 tsp ALLSPICE, ground 1/3 cup COCOA, Dutch process 3 cups superfine SUGAR 4 extra-large EGGS 3 tsp BAKING SODA 4 cups unbleached FLOUR 1-1/2 cups CURRANTS or raisins, any color. 1-1/2 cups DRIED CHERRIES or dried cranberries, dried blueberries. 1-1/2 cups WALNUTS, chopped or pecans or macadamia nuts, etc. I've used pistachios and even used pine nuts one time. 3 cups APPLESAUCE, unsweetened chunky style if you can find it, even better is homemade. ***** Preheat oven to 350 F Grease and flour a deep 11" x 15" pan or 2 10-inch square pans or 2 holiday mold pans. This will fill a large Bundt pan with enough batter left for a mini loaf or 2-3 muffins. ***** METHOD In a large mixing bowl (or mixer bowl) cream together butter, salt, spices, cocoa and sugar. beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Mix baking soda with flour and sift, reserve 2 heaping tablespoons. Instead of sifting the flour you can simply put it in a large bowl and run a wire whisk through it which does the same as sifting, i.e. fluffing it up a bit. Add flour to batter alternately with applesauce. Sprinkle the fruit and nuts with the reserved flour, toss to coat well and fold into cake batter. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 1 hour or until cake tests done. (deeper pans will require longer baking) ***** Turn cake out onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely if simply dusting with confectioner's sugar for presentation. If using glaze, it can be applied while cake is still slightly warm. ***** ORANGE GLAZE GRATED PEEL OF 2 ORANGES 1/3 CUP SUGAR 1/4 CUP WATER 1 CUP ORANGE JUICE 3 TABLESPOONS GRAND MARNIER LIQUOR OR BRANDY Combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to simmer, stirring constantly, continue cooking until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Drizzle over cake ( I use a turkey baster and a perforated spoon as the glaze is too hot to dip my fingers into which is usually the way I drizzle icing). After the glaze has set, decorate edges of the cake and the plate edges with powdered sugar sifted thru a fine sieve or use a cut-out pattern or paper "lace" doily. You can also drape the cake with rolled fondant or decorate with cutouts of the fondant and brightly colored candied fruits. For dedicated chocoholics, melted chocolate can be drizzled or poured over the cake. Some people like the fluffy white "7-minute" frosting similar to that used on "Black cakes" from Jamaica. ( RG1120 )

Fruited cocoa cake Here is a very old family recipe. The earliest mention of the cake is in one of my ancestor's journals ca. 1690. My great-grandmother found the "receipt" and deciphered the recipe in about 1880. Although it was prepared at other times of the year, it was always called Christmas Cake. I brought it up to date about 20 years ago when I was allowed access to my great grandmama's journals. I have continued to refine it right up to the present. Like many cakes of that era it contains dried fruits and is fairly heavy. You can use a combination of dried fruits, but the larger ones have to be chopped so all pieces are about the same size. I have used cherries, cranberries, blueberries, black currants, Zante currants, sultanas and my home-dried extra sweet seedless red grapes, dried plums, dried persimmons, peaches and pears. As long as the total amount is as listed in the recipe, it doesn't matter about the combination. I often make this for parties and most people love it. Technically it is a "fruit" cake but even people who do not care for fruitcake will eat this. Also like most of the English cakes that are served at tea, it keeps very well, as I have noted in the recipe. FRUITED COCOA CAKE original recipe ca. 1690 Notes: It is important to use Dutch process cocoa. If you can't find it you have to use baking POWDER instead of baking SODA. I use King Arthur Flour's Double Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa Half and Half. When glazed with the glaze at the end of the recipe, this cake will keep for several days at room temp and will stay incredibly moist. I have in the past made this cake ahead of time and wrapped it well in aluminum foil and kept it in a cool place for 6 weeks. However I now live alone. When my family was still all together, I could not keep it more than a couple of days......to give you an idea of the way things used to be, the original "receipt" called for 6 pounds of twice-boulted flour and 3 full pound loaves of sugar well beaten..... 2 pounds of butter and 3 dozen eggs. ****** 1 cup BUTTER unsalted 1-1/2 tsp SALT 1 tsp CINNAMON, ground Any of these spices are better if freshly ground. 1 tsp CLOVES, ground 1 tsp NUTMEG, ground 1 tsp ALLSPICE, ground 1/3 cup COCOA, Dutch process 3 cups superfine SUGAR 4 extra-large EGGS 3 tsp BAKING SODA 4 cups unbleached FLOUR 1-1/2 cups CURRANTS or raisins, any color. 1-1/2 cups DRIED CHERRIES or dried cranberries, dried blueberries. 1-1/2 cups WALNUTS, chopped or pecans or macadamia nuts, etc. I've used pistachios and even used pine nuts one time. 3 cups APPLESAUCE, unsweetened chunky style if you can find it, even better is homemade. ***** Preheat oven to 350 F Grease and flour a deep 11" x 15" pan or 2 10-inch square pans or 2 holiday mold pans. This will fill a large Bundt pan with enough batter left for a mini loaf or 2-3 muffins. ***** METHOD In a large mixing bowl (or mixer bowl) cream together butter, salt, spices, cocoa and sugar. beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Mix baking soda with flour and sift, reserve 2 heaping tablespoons. Instead of sifting the flour you can simply put it in a large bowl and run a wire whisk through it which does the same as sifting, i.e. fluffing it up a bit. Add flour to batter alternately with applesauce. Sprinkle the fruit and nuts with the reserved flour, toss to coat well and fold into cake batter. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 1 hour or until cake tests done. (deeper pans will require longer baking) ***** Turn cake out onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely if simply dusting with confectioner's sugar for presentation. If using glaze, it can be applied while cake is still slightly warm. ***** ORANGE GLAZE GRATED PEEL OF 2 ORANGES 1/3 CUP SUGAR 1/4 CUP WATER 1 CUP ORANGE JUICE 3 TABLESPOONS GRAND MARNIER LIQUOR OR BRANDY Combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to simmer, stirring constantly, continue cooking until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Drizzle over cake ( I use a turkey baster and a perforated spoon as the glaze is too hot to dip my fingers into which is usually the way I drizzle icing). After the glaze has set, decorate edges of the cake and the plate edges with powdered sugar sifted thru a fine sieve or use a cut-out pattern or paper "lace" doily. You can also drape the cake with rolled fondant or decorate with cutouts of the fondant and brightly colored candied fruits. For dedicated chocoholics, melted chocolate can be drizzled or poured over the cake. Some people like the fluffy white "7-minute" frosting similar to that used on "Black cakes" from Jamaica. ( RG1120 )

Does anyone know what ice cream manufacturers use in their chocolate chips to get them to melt on your tongue quickly so that they taste like chocolate right away and not random bits of unidentifiable chunky stuff? I was thinking maybe a bit of neutral or nut oil added to melted bittersweet? Then I could harden it as much as possible and chop it up. Or would alcohol work? Maybe a splash of Grand Marnier? Any thoughts? I'm going to experiment but I wondered if anyone here had been through this before. Thanks!

Ever since I was a kid I have had a soft spot for Five Star.. (hint to those in India). I also love Cadburys... are there new ones in the market today that are good? tell me about them which ones are your favorite do share.. inquiring minds want to know

My parents and I went to California somewhere around 1982. Being around 10 years old, I don't remember a lot of details from the trip. But we were driving around the country somewhere, maybe towards Vaccaville. We stopped at a small food/wine shop where we had a chocolate cheese. It wasn't a spread, like cream cheese, but it was very creamy - maybe the consistency of a firm mozzarella. Anyway, I was wondering if you've ever heard of anything like this - I've been trying to track it down for my parents ever since. Also, just in case you haven't heard of them, there is a nice little dairy down in Thomasville, Georgia called Sweet Grass. They make some pretty good stuff, and their cheeses have been featured in some of the better Atlanta restaurants. If you're curioius, go to www.sweetgrassdairy.com. Thank you for your participation in the Q&A and all the great information you've given us. -Greg

I made alfajores a couple of days ago - an almond-based dough, with dulce de leche sandwiched betwen two cookies. Then my Argentine guest informed me that they were supposed to be dipped in chocolate, something I had no clear idea how to do. I ended up making a ganache, setting the sandwiches on a rack with a silpat underneath, and pouring the ganache over the cookies. Ok, now one side looked perfect, but how to get the bottom glazed too? I stuck them inthe fridge until the ganache set up, flipped them over onto parchment, and repeated the process. Then they were covered in chocolate, but it definitely wasn't a smooth coating all over, and they looked sub-artisanal, to say the least. What's the trick for doing this so the cookies look seamlessly dipped?

I thought it was a personal olfactory malfunction, until my son asked the same question. Any ideas?

Chocolate Sparkle Cookies (Modified) Serves 36 as Dessert. This is a version of Thomas Haas's Chocolate Sparkle Cookies where I've expanded on the instructions. I did an experiment last time where in one batch I used (Haas recommended) Valrhona Guanaja 70% and Scharffen-Berger Bittersweet 70% in the other. In a side-by-side tasting, the Scharffen-Berger cookies disappeared first. For reference, I use Scharffen-Berger cocoa powder, Florida Crystals granulated sugar, and Plugrá unsalted butter. Also, I always make at least 2 batches of these cookies since they get eaten so quickly. Some notes about my method: - I find a can get more volume in the beaten eggs with the genoise method. I warm my eggs and sugar/honey, whisking constantly, over a double boiler until very warm (about 120°F) and the sugar is dissolved. The eggs will probably take around 10 minutes at medium-high speed in a stand mixer to reach full volume (will take longer if you double the recipe) -- you want nice thick ribbons to fall from the beaters. This is important since the eggs are the sole leavening in these cookies. You also want to be gentle when you fold in the chocolate and almond flour. There's not much gained by "lightening" the chocolate with any of the whipped egg in this recipe, so I skip that step. Feel free to fold the almonds into the chocolate and then fold it into the eggs. - If you can't find almond flour, pulse slivered almonds in a food processor with some sugar until finely ground (try not to over-process and make almond butter. Also, don't forget to reduce the sugar in the recipe by how much you've added to the almonds). - You'll need to refrigerate the batter overnight so that it can "set." It's not necessary but when I go to scoop the cookies I found that keeping the batter container in a bowl of ice and wearing a pair of gloves helps tremendously (ambient room temperature and your body heat will start to "melt" the batter and make it harder to work with). - The original recipe said to bake at 325°F never mentioning that temperature was for a convection oven. Since I have a conventional oven, I set mine to 375°F and let it preheat well. Try not to over-bake -- you'll want to take them out while they still look ever so slightly wet in the middle. - The finished cookie should be poofy like this, not flat. Please don't be intimidated by all these "notes" -- the cookies are actually very easy to make. I'm just passing on info I've learned through trial and error to make them (hopefully) virtually failure-proof for you. Since it's my preferred way of working, I've converted the recipe into weight for those of you that have a scale (see original for volume measures). Chocolate Sparkle Cookies 228 g best quality/favorite bittersweet Chocolate 43 g unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs 67 g granulated sugar 21 g mild-flavored honey (I use tupelo; Haas calls for blackberry if you can find it) 4 g cocoa powder 71 g ground almonds pinch of salt powdered sugar for dusting 1. Put the eggs, sugar, and honey in the bowl of your mixer. Over a double boiler, whisk constantly until eggs are quite warm (about 120°F) and the sugar is dissolved. Be careful not to let the eggs start to cook! Remove from the heat and immediately start to whip on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale in color and it falls in thick ribbons from the beater(s), about 10 minutes. 2. While egg mixture is whipping, carefully melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler, stirring so it doesn't scortch. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. In a small bowl, toss the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and pinch of salt. 3. After the eggs have been whipped and the chocolate has cooled slightly, use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the chocolate-butter mixture. Before it's completely mixed in, add the ground almond mixture and finish folding. Gently place in a container, cover, and refrigerate overnight until firm. 4. Place a rack in the lower middle of oven and preheat to 375°F. Use a cookie scoop to make 1-inch balls of dough, roll in granulated sugar, and place on a freezer-safe dish. When all cookies have been formed and rolled in the sugar, place the dish in the freezer for around 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are quite cold (I don't think they'll ever freeze solid). 5. Remove cookies from the freezer, give each a second coating of granulated sugar, and place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Immediately place them in the oven and bake for about 8 or 9 minutes or until the centers look just barely underdone. Return any unbaked cookies to the freezer while the others are baking. Let the baked cookies cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then lightly dust them with the powdered sugar. Keywords: Dessert, Chocolate, Cookie ( RG1079 )

Chocolate Sparkle Cookies (Modified) Serves 36 as Dessert. This is a version of Thomas Haas's Chocolate Sparkle Cookies where I've expanded on the instructions. I did an experiment last time where in one batch I used (Haas recommended) Valrhona Guanaja 70% and Scharffen-Berger Bittersweet 70% in the other. In a side-by-side tasting, the Scharffen-Berger cookies disappeared first. For reference, I use Scharffen-Berger cocoa powder, Florida Crystals granulated sugar, and Plugrá unsalted butter. Also, I always make at least 2 batches of these cookies since they get eaten so quickly. Some notes about my method: - I find a can get more volume in the beaten eggs with the genoise method. I warm my eggs and sugar/honey, whisking constantly, over a double boiler until very warm (about 120°F) and the sugar is dissolved. The eggs will probably take around 10 minutes at medium-high speed in a stand mixer to reach full volume (will take longer if you double the recipe) -- you want nice thick ribbons to fall from the beaters. This is important since the eggs are the sole leavening in these cookies. You also want to be gentle when you fold in the chocolate and almond flour. There's not much gained by "lightening" the chocolate with any of the whipped egg in this recipe, so I skip that step. Feel free to fold the almonds into the chocolate and then fold it into the eggs. - If you can't find almond flour, pulse slivered almonds in a food processor with some sugar until finely ground (try not to over-process and make almond butter. Also, don't forget to reduce the sugar in the recipe by how much you've added to the almonds). - You'll need to refrigerate the batter overnight so that it can "set." It's not necessary but when I go to scoop the cookies I found that keeping the batter container in a bowl of ice and wearing a pair of gloves helps tremendously (ambient room temperature and your body heat will start to "melt" the batter and make it harder to work with). - The original recipe said to bake at 325°F never mentioning that temperature was for a convection oven. Since I have a conventional oven, I set mine to 375°F and let it preheat well. Try not to over-bake -- you'll want to take them out while they still look ever so slightly wet in the middle. - The finished cookie should be poofy like this, not flat. Please don't be intimidated by all these "notes" -- the cookies are actually very easy to make. I'm just passing on info I've learned through trial and error to make them (hopefully) virtually failure-proof for you. Since it's my preferred way of working, I've converted the recipe into weight for those of you that have a scale (see original for volume measures). Chocolate Sparkle Cookies 228 g best quality/favorite bittersweet Chocolate 43 g unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs 67 g granulated sugar 21 g mild-flavored honey (I use tupelo; Haas calls for blackberry if you can find it) 4 g cocoa powder 71 g ground almonds pinch of salt powdered sugar for dusting 1. Put the eggs, sugar, and honey in the bowl of your mixer. Over a double boiler, whisk constantly until eggs are quite warm (about 120°F) and the sugar is dissolved. Be careful not to let the eggs start to cook! Remove from the heat and immediately start to whip on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale in color and it falls in thick ribbons from the beater(s), about 10 minutes. 2. While egg mixture is whipping, carefully melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler, stirring so it doesn't scortch. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. In a small bowl, toss the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and pinch of salt. 3. After the eggs have been whipped and the chocolate has cooled slightly, use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the chocolate-butter mixture. Before it's completely mixed in, add the ground almond mixture and finish folding. Gently place in a container, cover, and refrigerate overnight until firm. 4. Place a rack in the lower middle of oven and preheat to 375°F. Use a cookie scoop to make 1-inch balls of dough, roll in granulated sugar, and place on a freezer-safe dish. When all cookies have been formed and rolled in the sugar, place the dish in the freezer for around 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are quite cold (I don't think they'll ever freeze solid). 5. Remove cookies from the freezer, give each a second coating of granulated sugar, and place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Immediately place them in the oven and bake for about 8 or 9 minutes or until the centers look just barely underdone. Return any unbaked cookies to the freezer while the others are baking. Let the baked cookies cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then lightly dust them with the powdered sugar. Keywords: Dessert, Chocolate, Cookie ( RG1079 )

Chocolate Chip Cookies 1-1/4 c (150g) all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 c (125g) unsalted butter, softened 6 T (75g) granulated sugar 6 T (75g) light brown sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 large egg 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp hot water 1 c (125g) walnut pieces, lightly toasted 1 c (175g) chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Cream butter. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Using a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and add them to the butter/sugar mixture. Add egg and beat for 2 minutes. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Stir into butter/sugar/egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour in 2 or 3 batches. Blend in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop in small mounds onto baking sheet, spacing 3” apart. Bake until uniformly light brown, 10 - 12 minutes. Actually, I use a small scoop that makes a ball about the size of a jacks ball, then I flatten the ball with the bottom of a glass. Keywords: Cookie ( RG1078 )

Chocolate Chip Cookies 1-1/4 c (150g) all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 c (125g) unsalted butter, softened 6 T (75g) granulated sugar 6 T (75g) light brown sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 large egg 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp hot water 1 c (125g) walnut pieces, lightly toasted 1 c (175g) chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Cream butter. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Using a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and add them to the butter/sugar mixture. Add egg and beat for 2 minutes. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Stir into butter/sugar/egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour in 2 or 3 batches. Blend in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop in small mounds onto baking sheet, spacing 3” apart. Bake until uniformly light brown, 10 - 12 minutes. Actually, I use a small scoop that makes a ball about the size of a jacks ball, then I flatten the ball with the bottom of a glass. Keywords: Cookie ( RG1078 )

Today, I stopped in to visit Fran's Chocolates in University Village. Fran Bigelow produces not only some of the best chocolates in the world, she also creates some of the finest ice cream I've ever enjoyed. Before we go on, I have to invoke Stendahl's famous dictum about ice cream: "Ah, such a pity it isn't a sin!" Spoken like a true Catholic and a true Frenchman. And obviously, as much an ice cream devotee as I am. FIf you live in Seattle and have never enjoyed Fran's confections, you must. Even if you don't live in Seattle, you can enjoy her mail order confection (alas, no ice creams though!). Now, Fran's come out with her own chocolate cookbook, Pure Chocolate, which I heartily recommend.Everything that Fran produces is impeccable and delicious. But here are some of my personal favorites: Tahitian Vanilla ice cream Chocolats de chocolats ice cream Turbinado Burnt Sugar ice cream Dark chocolate truffles Chocolate espresso torte The Seattle Times' Pacific Magazine has done a Fran Bigelow profile with some fine photos. She's been written up in a New York Times food section blurb (but I think they've missed out in not featuring her food in an article) and food mags like Food & Wine & sells at Neimanmarcus.com (why in heaven's name am I shilling for them?). So the snooty wealthy can enjoy her as well. This is not just Seattle's best, but some of the world's best! This post first appeared in my blog: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_ol..._worlds_be.html

Just wondering if anyone has tried making a chocolate mousse with just chocolate and water? I made one which was nice right after making but when it set it set too firm. Any ideas?

I was at the mall today and was thinking about where to finally get some bittersweet chocolate. I went to the lindt store (the only real chocolate place in the mall) and found they had some baking supplies. The salesman reccomended the big (10~ ounce) bittersweet bar, so I bought it for around $6. Now, I've never had bittersweet chocolate before so I didn't know quite to expect but my impression was that it would be ..bitter and sweet. This stuff tastes GOOD, undoubtedly, but it doesn't taste at all bitter. It tastes like hershey dark chocolate or the semisweet chocolate chips my mother buys. Basically, what should a bittersweet chocolate taste like, and is Lindt a true bittersweet? Also, any experience baking with Lindt? The salesman admitted he didn't know much about cooking (ie can it be used for couverture or be tempered) so he wasn't of too much use. Here's hoping I didn't just buy an expensive candy bar

So after reading a bit on these boards and elsewhere, I decided to attempt to make my own chocolate plastic, using 7 oz. white chocolate and 1 1/2 Tb corn syrup. I've let it rest and tried to knead it, but it's just staying crumbly. How do I fix it? Just more kneading? Start again with a new batch and add more corn syrup? Any suggestions?

If anyone has suggestions for Sidra bar's and Chocolate y Churro places in Madrid I'd be grateful to hear them. Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...ecc%5Frvi%5Ff/1 UGH.

Do you cook with chocolate? How do you use it to prepare Indian inspired dishes do share inquiring minds want to know

Ok, so this local fondue restaurant place has this chocolate fondue. Thing is you have to order it 2 days in advance because they say it takes 8 hours to make: A minimum of two days advance notice is required. Sorry we can only do one each night. A feast in itself - more than just a dessert! Personally served to you by Dante (or one of his managers). The fruit is hand-picked at the market and the Swiss honey-base chocolate is hand folded by our chefs and brews for 8 hours. It is served with only fresh strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, bananas, honeydew, other fresh fruit in season, and marshmallows.....a real delicacy. Dante suggests that you finish your meal 2-3 hours before coming here for the chocolate fondue; then plan on gorging for a minimum of two hours. Prepared for a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 12 persons. Due to the complexity of preparation, we do only 1 per night. I call *cough* bullshit (a way to sell something for way too much money by making it mysterious) What say you? Am I wrong? I want to know what this amazingly sophisticated hand folding thing is about (besides profit). Please explain to me why you'd cook chocolate for 8 hours (if in fact they are telling the truth). This is a place for the unsophisticated palate (albeit with deep pockets) so I know they can't be using amazing chocolate. I'm really curious and thinking about calling them. Something tells me they probably won't elaborate on the specifics. Thanks

What do manufacturers put in chocolate chips that make them keep their shape when heated? And why don't chips make good couveture? (I'm not talking about pistoles.) Does it have to do with the cocoa butter? Are they substituting lecithin?

The Baking Club - Chocolate Butter Cake This recipe makes 2 9-inch cakes. (Adapted from the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum) Unsweetened Dutch Processed Cocoa ½ cup + 3 tablespoons, lightly spooned 2.25 oz. 63 g Boiling water 1 liquid cup 8.25 oz 236 g 3 large eggs Scant 5 fluid oz 5.25 oz (without shells) 150 g (without shells) Vanilla 2 ¼ teaspoons 9 g Sifted cake flour 2 ¼ cups + 2 T 8.25 oz 235 g Sugar 1 ½ cups 10.5 oz 300 g Baking powder 1 T 15 g Salt ¾ teaspoon 5 g Unsalted butter, softened 1 cup 8 oz 227 g Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the cocoa and boiling water. Cool. Mix eggs, 1/4 of cocoa mixture, & vanilla. Mix together the dry ingredients. Add butter and remaining cocoa. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes to develop the cakes's structure. Add the egg mixture in 3 batches. Bake for about 25-35 minutes. Keywords: Intermediate, Cake ( RG1008 )