Say It With Chocolate
There are 10 cooking days left until Valentine's. That's plenty of time to shop, prep, and say "I love you" with homemade goodies.
Christmas and Hanukkah were months ago - yet you still have chocolate bars, coins, and hollow Santas cascading from your cabinets? You can keep the mediocre stuff for a future party pinata, but repurpose the good stuff for the following recipes. How do you know if you have the good stuff? These days, there are plenty of indicators on chocolate packaging. Sometimes, there's the terroir of different countries to consider. Then there are bean varietals (the best, criollo, has the most complex flavor; forastero lacks that complexity but is easier to grow; trinitario is a hybrid of the first two). Most commonly, there's a number indicating what percentage of the chocolate comes from the cacao tree - a number that includes cocoa butter and chocolate liquor. Unfortunately, one brand's 60 percent cacao might be bittersweet (Ghirardelli) while another's 62 percent might be semisweet (Scharffen Berger), depending entirely on the mix. So don't be too reliant on labels - let your palate be the ultimate guide.
INDIVIDUAL FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE TORTES
SERVES 10
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus butter for the pans
1 1/4 pounds chocolate, semisweet or bittersweet, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream (substitute 1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee for a mocha flavor)
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
Cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Have on hand 10 heart-shaped cake tins (capacity 4 ounces), a roasting pan large enough to hold all of the tins, and a kettle of just-boiled water. Butter each tin, line the bottom with parchment paper, and butter the paper. Set oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. (To make a single round cake, prepare a 10-by-2-inch pan, and make recipe as indicated. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, following doneness guidelines for small cakes.)
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the chocolate. Keep stirring, and immediately remove from heat when it is melted. Whisk in the heavy cream (or coffee) and salt.
Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, beat the eggs on high speed with the whisk attachment until they are very foamy, light yellow, and are about doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, add the chocolate mixture to the eggs in a very thin stream, so as not to cook the eggs.
Place the prepared tins in the roasting pan and fill, almost to the top, with batter, about 1/2 cup per tin. Open the oven door and place roasting pan on the rack, then add enough boiled water to the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides of the tins. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the cakes are slightly puffed, but an area about the size of a quarter in the center still looks unset and jiggles.
Remove tins from the roasting pan and cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or, ideally, overnight. When you are ready to serve, dip the bottoms of the tins in hot water, then run a dull knife between the cake and pan. Invert 1 cake onto a plate and remove the paper liner. Re-invert on a serving platter. Repeat with others. Dust with cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar.
This cake can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days, and it freezes well. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator. Because it's flourless, it makes an ideal Passover dessert. The cake tastes best when allowed to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
CHOCOLATE ALMOND BARK
MAKES ABOUT 1 3/4 POUNDS
1/2 pound whole almonds
1 1/4 pounds semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Have on hand an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet lined with a nonstick pan liner or parchment paper and an offset metal spatula. Heat oven to 350 degrees and, on another baking sheet, roast almonds for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly colored and fragrant. Cool and reserve. Temper chocolate following directions in "Kitchen Aide." When the chocolate has cooled to 94 degrees (not 90 degrees, as indicated, because adding the almonds lowers the temperature of the chocolate), quickly fold in the almonds. Immediately transfer mixture onto the nonstick pan liner and smooth with the spatula to the thickness of the almonds. Allow to cool to room temperature and set. Break into 1-or 2-bite pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to several weeks.
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED STRAWBERRIES
MAKES 2 TO 3 DOZEN
3/4 to 1 pound semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted and tempered
1 pound strawberries, rinsed and dried, at room temperature
Have on hand an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet lined with a nonstick pan liner or parchment paper.
Pour the tempered chocolate into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Hold the berries by their leaves and quickly dip into the chocolate, leaving a small amount of berry showing. Shake off excess chocolate and place each berry on its side on the pan liner. Repeat, working quickly. (If the chocolate becomes to cool to work with, reheat following directions in "Kitchen Aide.") Allow to cool to room temperature and chocolate to set. Store at room temperature for several hours or overnight, unwrapped, in the refrigerator.
Denise Drower Swidey is owner of Cook to Order, a cookie and cooking-school business. E-mail her at denise@cook2order.com.
