October 2008 Archives
Tonight we have truffles, truffles, truffles, and marshmallows!
My wife is off at the local neighborhood drunken wives club, and I'm home with the little one. It's not that bad of a deal. He's asleep, and I can play WoW without any interruptions :D. I sent her off with a basket of festive halloween marshmallows and two containers of truffles.
We both think the marshmallows were the best I've ever made, but I'm afraid that the 24 hours of sitting might have changed the outside texture a little. The outsides were not as soft as they were the evening before. I made orange clove marshmallows. I used the el bulli recipe ad mixed it with the Alton Brown recipe. I think this is my favorite combination of techniques and ingredients. I steeped the orange zest, juice, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, them mixed that with the gelatin - 2 packets powdered gelatin and three sheets of hydrated gelatin.
At first I was wondering if the mixture would come together, but after 13 minutes, everything was looking the way it should. I added the vanilla and orange extract (for extra flavor) and the smell was amazing. THese were the softest marshmallows i've made to date, The sagged under their own weight. I cut some in 1x2 inch rectangles, that was enough length for them to sag a little. To the tongue, this means they are very tender and fluffy. It's really hard o describe. It's like eating meringue straight from the mixer, granted, it was a swiss meringue for the most part. The whipped egg whites add such a lightness compared to gelatin only recipes. It is so worth adding the egg whites to the recipe. The shelf life is lessened, but the experience is much nicer. Recipe after the break
Next was an assortment of truffles.
This was my first real attempt at making truffles. I made a sample batch the week before to see if I could figure out the technique. It's stupid simple. It's a little technique and a lot of patience. That, and the proper equipment.
The first batch was spiced bittersweet chocolate rolled in clove infused dutch process cocoa. The second batch was spiced bittersweet chocolate, rolled in spiced chocolate (cayenne and cinnamon), and rolled in dutch process cocoa. The third batch was bittersweet chocolate, with cinnamon infused home made peanut butter, dipped in chocoalte, and rolled in Oreo crumbs. These were the best.
I've discovered that $20 in couverture chocolate and a few staples can make an insane amount of truffles. About 120 truffles for $25 dollars. These are Godiva quality if you do them right. Granted, you are stuck with a limited number of flavors, but for gifts or entertaining you can't beat the price. The recipe I ended up using was very rich and satisfying. The centers melt in your mouth,and the thin chocolate exterior keeps the ganache center from 'escaping'
OVerall, I think these were very successful. My wife didn't like the second batch of spiced chocolate truffles, I think it might have been the spiciness in the aftertaste, but I'm not 100% sure.
Continue reading Festive truffles and marshmallows!.
TKO's - better known as the Thomas Keller Oreo
I've meant to make these for quite a long time. I just forgot about them. These are grown up cookies. They are very rich, they have a deep chocolate flavor, and they are a little salty.
They have a nice, deep chocolate flavor, they are a little sandy, buttery, and oh so good. The adults and kids in the neighborhood loved the cookies, I made two flavors for the filling. The white ones were straight white chocolate, and the red centers were white chocolate with dried raspberries.
These were not that hard to make -- the ingredient list was short, and it makes a bunch of cookies. I made two batches of these - one for a party, and a second batch for us and the neighborhood families. I used raspberry powder for the filling, I Added it with the cream and it worked really well. The color was nice, and the flavor was very strong.
TKO's
from The Essence of Chocolate
makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies
Cookie:
- 1 1/2 cups plus 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch process if you have it)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 15 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, at room temperature
Filling:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz. white chocolate, chopped
1. For the Filling: In a small pan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk to melt the chocolate until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let stand for 6 hours to thicken up.
2. For the Cookies: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter, a piece at a time. The mixture will be dry and sandy at first, but over 2 minutes, will form pebble-sie pieces that start to cling together. Stop the mixer and transfer the dough to your board.
3. Preheat oven to 350F. Seperate dough into 2 pieces. Roll each piece of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to 1/8" inch thick. Using a fluted cutter, cut into rounds. Scraps can be pieced together and rolled out again. Place 1/2" apart on baking sheets lined with Silpat liners or parchment paper.4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely.
5. To Assemble: Lightly whip the white chocolate cream to aerate and fluff up. Transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" plain tip. Pipe about 1 1/2 tsp in the center of half the cookies. Top with another cookie to sandwich. Gently press down until the cream comes to the edges.
6. Cookies can be stored in a container for up to 3 days. Loosely cover
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