Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

Basic truffle ingredients

• 8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (high quality, 62% cacao or higher)
• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Optional base flavorings:

• Mint leaves (1 bunch, stems removed, chopped, about 1 cup)
• Cinnamon and cardamon (1 cinnamon stick, 2 cardamom pods)
• Amaretto (1-2 tablespoons)
• Almond extract (1 teaspoon)

Truffle coatings

• Cocoa powder
• Finely chopped walnuts
• Finely chopped almonds

Directions

1. In a small, heavy saucepan bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer (this may take a while, be sure to stir and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula every few minutes).
   
   
2. If you are using one of the other recommended flavorings, stir it in with the cream (and ignore vanilla in the next step). If adding mint or other solids, after the cream simmers, remove from heat and let seep for an hour. Then strain away solids, and return the cream to a simmer and proceed with recipe.
   
   
3. Place the chocolate in a separate bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate, add the vanilla, and allow to stand for a few minutes then stir until smooth. (This chocolate base is called ganache.)
   
   
4. Allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator for two hours. Remove and with a teaspoon roll out balls of the ganache. Roll in your hands quickly (as it will melt from the heat of your hands) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
   
   
5. Roll in cocoa powder or chopped nuts and serve, or place back in the refrigerator until needed.

Makes 30-40 chocolate truffles.

Chocolate Bourbon Cake Recipe

I Love Chocolate. Enough said...

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
• 5 ounces high quality, unsweetened dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup instant espresso (can use instant coffee)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup bourbon whiskey (can use 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling

Direction

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity), or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans. Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool.
   
   
2. Put instant espresso and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Stir in whiskey and salt; let cool.
   
   
3. Beat softened butter until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). Add sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
   
   
4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, start checking them after 55 minutes).
   
   
5. Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.

The Easiest Chocolate Mousse Ever

The trick here is that instead of beating egg whites into peaks, you whip the chocolate and egg together in a blender. Salmonella from underdone eggs is rare, but if you're concerned about partly uncooked yolks, skip this for the kids and save it for the adults.

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 15 minutes Total time
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (includes chilling)

Ingredients

• 6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate (such as Valrhona), chopped, plus extra for shavings (optional)
• 1 cup milk (any fat content)
• 2 tablespoons brewed espresso
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
• 2 eggs (the freshest possible)

Directions

1. Place the chocolate in a blender.
   
   
2. Heat the milk, espresso, and butter in a small pot until the milk is scalded, about 3 minutes.
   
   
3. Pour the milk mixture into the blender and blend until the chocolate is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
   
   
4. Add the eggs and blend until no lumps remain.
   
   
5. Pour into cups and chill until set, about 1 1/2 hours. Garnish with the chocolate shavings, if desired, and serve.

This Just Sounded Delicious

Maple Huckleberry Coffee Cake Recipe

I used a 1-pound loaf pan here, but you could likely get away with a 8 or 9-inch cake or pie pan. Just check in more frequently as the coffee cake is baking because the cooking time will be different. If you have trouble locating whole wheat pastry flour, I suspect spelt flour would make a good substitution - unbleached all-purpose flour is an option as well. I used maple sugar as the granulated sweetener in the crumble top - but I recognize that it can be expensive and sometimes hard to find - feel free to substitute raw cane sugar or brown sugar.

Serves 12 - 16 modest slices.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour)
• 3 tablespoons rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• zest of one lemon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/3 cups fresh wild huckleberries (or other berries), well picked over

Topping:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1/4-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

special equipment: a 1-pound loaf pan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, rack in the middle. Butter a 1-pound loaf pan, and line with parchment paper. Alternately, you could just butter and flour the pan, but I've found that lining the pan with parchment makes removing the cake from the pan after baking no problem.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, thyme, and rosemary. Set aside. In a separate large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer or by hand - until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times along the way. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again. Add half of the flour, stir just a bit, now add a splash of the buttermilk, stir again, but not too much. Add the rest of the flour and stir a bit, and now the rest of the buttermilk. Stir until everything barely comes together and then very gently fold in one cup of the huckleberries. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.

To make the streusel topping, place the flour, butter, maple sugar, thyme and pecans in a food processor and pulse 20-30 times or until the topping is a bit beyond sandy/crumbly. It should be moist-looking - on its way to being slightly doughy. Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup huckleberries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Barely pat in place with your fingertips.

Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack (this way the cake won't steam in the pan as it's cooling.