Thursday, March 31, 2011

Auntie Anne's Best Chocolate Cake: Guest Post by Bobbi Mumm


Yesterday was my birthday, and I know that Bobbi Mumm baked this especially for me. She sent this post and the photo on my birthday, so I know I'm right! Sadly, it was virtual since she lives in Saskatoon. I've been longing for this recipe since she first mentioned it on Facebook, so I'm so glad to welcome Bobbi Mumm as a guest blogger. Bobbi is a "mystery/chocolate cross-over" social media friend. That's a mouthful, and so is this chocolate cake!  

Bobbi Mumm is a mystery and thriller writer in Saskatoon, Canada where she works half-time as an event planner at the University of Saskatchewan. Married to a nuclear physicist, she has four children, two of whom are college-age. The twins remain at home. Bobbi practices Karate, as do her kids.

A year ago, Bobbi completed her first novel, Cream with Your Coffin. This past year, she signed with a U.S. literary agent and is seeking a publishing home for the novel. Bobbi was thrilled this week to learn that Cream with Your Coffin is now a quarter-finalist in the http://menorahchocolate.blogspot.com/ Breakthrough Novel Award. An excerpt can be read here  
http://tinyurl.com/http://menorahchocolate.blogspot.com/creamcoffin   Almost finished her second novel, thriller De Rigueur Mortis, Bobbi has fallen in love, all over again, with the mystery that is Paris.

BOBBI MUMM:

Thanks to Janet Rudolph for her tireless championing of mysteries and chocolate. I happen to know that she knows a whole lot about corporate team-building and event planning, too.

In Cream with Your Coffin, American event planner and mother of twins, Lucy Beam, is determined that, by fair means or foul, she’s going to carve out a new life in bucolic Saskatoon, Canada. But juggling social climbing with the parenting of twins—on top of being a Yank oddity—in this, oh-so-Canadian university town is a lot to handle and outspoken Lucy Beam’s fresh start is doomed from the get-go. Pickled neighbours and philandering vets drowned in vats of milk are only the beginning of her troubles.

In spite of her trials, Lucy spends time in her kitchen, cooking for her family and friends. There are five of Lucy’s recipes in Cream with Your Coffin. The most important recipe—the one that helps Lucy uncover the identity of the murderer—happens to be chocolate cake.

This is not any old chocolate cake recipe but one that has been handed down in my family for generations. You’ll see in its simple ingredients how it would have been a standby for the early homestead wives on the prairies.

This photograph was taken by my friend, Eve Kotyk, photographer, writer, and artist extraordinaire. http://tagonist.net Eve and I spent a lovely afternoon photographing the cake and then eating it with our mystery writer friend, Larry. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Auntie Anne’s Best Chocolate Cake
(From Lucy Beam’s recipes in Cream with your Coffin)

2 tbsp vinegar in 2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2½ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp cocoa (sifted)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup melted butter or oil

Line bottoms of round pans with waxed paper or butter and flour to prevent sticking. Add vinegar to milk to start milk souring. Cream sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix everything together and beat two minutes with hand electric mixer or 1 minute with a stand mixer.

Bake at 350˚F until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, around 40 minutes for two round layer cake pans, around 20 minutes for cupcakes.

In layer cake use raspberry jam as filling. Makes two 8 inch rounds or 24 cupcakes.

Bradley's: Orange-Inspired Chocolates

Having tried out some plain chocolate from Bradley’s in Knoxville, TN, and not being entirely impressed, I was hoping that they had some more complex creations with more to offer. Onto the citrus-based chocolates, starting with a dark chocolate orange pate.

The dark chocolate, like the plain dark chocolate I’d sampled before, featured coffee and vanilla, and was just a tad bitter.

That bitter flavor was helpful in cutting the sugary pate, which also had a pleasing but not overwhelming orange flavor. The texture was firm and just a bit gritty, but was well-matched to the chocolate coating such that there was minimal flaking. I generally enjoyed the contrast of flavors, balance of sweet and bitter, and the notable texture matching. Far more enjoyable than the plain chocolate.

Yet another orange-based creation was available in the box: a white chocolate orange truffle.

The white chocolate coating is sweet and soft, but a bit gritty.

Unfortunately, the interior is also quite sweet, and only offers a bit of a tangy orange flavor to offset the sugar overload. It also happens to be a bit dry, which made it fairly difficult to enjoy at any level. Give me another dark chocolate orange pate, please.

Have you had fruit pate before? What did you think?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Birthday Bonanza Cake!


Today's My Birthday! Here's a Vintage Ad & Recipe to Celebrate!
  BIRTHDAY BONANZA!
OLD FASHIONED SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

Cake
2 1/4 cups Swans Down cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 unsweetened Baker's chocolate squares, melted and cooled
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water 

Frosting
5 unsweetened Baker's chocolate squares, melted and cooled
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup hot water
1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degF.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Cream butter, then add brown sugar and continue beating for 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla and chocolate.
Alternately blend in flour mixture and sour cream, 1/3 at a time on low speed of electric mixer.
Add boiling water, blending well (batter will be thin).
Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round layer cake pans.
Bake at 350 F for 35- 40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove and finish cooling on racks.

Frosting: 
Combine chocolate, icing sugar, butter, hot water and egg.
Blend; then beat at medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes.
Chill until of spreading consistency.
Carefully ice cake (cake crumb is very tender).

Frosting has raw egg in it, so consider another chocolate frosting.

Bradley's: Plain Milk and Dark Chocolates

When I started out my box from Bradley’s in Knoxville, TN by diving into the double-layer gianduja, I broke one of my rules of chocolate tasting: try the plain ones first.

My love for gianduja is stronger than my self-discipline. There. I said it. Happy now?

After devouring the gianduja, I moved right along to a nicely wrapped plain milk chocolate.

There were aromas of caramel and cream, and it had a soft texture with a medium, pleasing melt.

As with the aroma, cream and caramel dominated the flavor. It was a decent milk chocolate, but others, such as El Rey and Valrhona, are appreciably better. I’d rather have a box with some extra giandujas.

The box also happened to include a nicely wrapped plain dark chocolate, which I was obliged to sample before I moved on to other chocolates.

The chocolate had a simple aroma of coffee and vanilla, and a smooth texture with a fairly slow melt.

The taste also featured a strong coffee note, as well as vanilla and caramel undertones. I’d say it was “alright,” but not outstanding. Again, more giandujas would be a nice replacement for this piece.

What do you think about plain chocolates in a chocolate selection box?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Melting Moments Cookies

Kerrygold produces one of my favorite butters. I mentioned this at St. Patrick's Day, but thought I'd mention again, especially as we're entering Spring. When I was growing up, you always knew what the cows were eating by the flavor of the butter and milk. Kerrygold may not be a local butter, but it's delicious and worth searching for (I buy it at Trader Joe's).

The Irish Dairy Board was established in 1961 to band together a handful of small dairy farms throughout Ireland and harness their collective expertise. That fateful year resulted in the creation of the Kerrygold brand, a premium line of crafted cheese and butter made all across Ireland but sold under one brand name. Now, more than 40 years later, Kerrygold sales are nearly $2 billion with products available in over 80 countries. Kerrygold still adheres to the same small farm approach and still rely on independent dairy farmers . It's why each one of their products really are a little slice of Ireland itself.

As I've mentioned many times, you can find terrific recipes on dairy sites, food product sites and associations. This recipe is from the Kerrygold site. I've made these Melting Moments Cookies several times, and there's nothing like a butter cookie with a real buttercream filling, especially when chocolate is added to the buttercream. Melting Moments is a great name for these cookies! You'll remember them, as they melt in your mouth!

MELTING MOMENTS COOKIES

Cookies:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (6 ounces) Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream Filling:
1/4 cup (2 ounces) Kerrygold Unsalted Butter at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 ounce dark bittersweet chocolate, melted

For Cookies:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Heat oven to 300° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift both flours, cornstarch, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth and lightened slightly in color, 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during the mixing. Mix in the flour mixture just until the flour is incorporated and a smooth dough forms.

For each cookie, roll a level tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands into a smooth ball. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Use a fork to gently flatten the cookies to 1 1/4-inch disks and to make an impression of the fork tines in the top of each.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm but do not darken, about 30 minutes. The cookie bottoms will be lightly browned. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes. Use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

For Buttercream Filling:
In a medium bowl, use a large spoon to stir the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in melted chocolate. Turn half of the cooled cookies bottom side up. Use a thin metal spatula to spread a rounded teaspoon of filling evenly over the flat bottom of each. Gently press the flat bottom of the remaining cookies on the filling. Serve at room temperature. Cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Makes 16 Sandwich Cookies.

Bradley's: First Bite

I suppose that after my post from this weekend, it’s no secret that I work in the nuclear industry, though I’ve hinted at it before. For example, you may remember my trip to Oak Ridge, TN last month. Nobody goes there for vacation. Or work, even, unless they’re nuclear folk.

Today, though, I’m not going to talk about anything heavy like nuclear safety. I’m going to talk about the chocolates I got from Bradley’s when I was in Oak Ridge.

As you can see, the nine-piece box offered a nice assortment, with no repeated chocolates. I like this.

I also like giandujas, so I elected to start with the dark and milk gianduja piece.

The milk portion of this chocolate was quite sweet and soft, and features a faint hazelnut flavor, while the dark portion is a bit firmer and offers very little hazelnut flavor. The chocolate flavor isn’t very intense in either, but the texture is quite pleasing. When eaten together, the milk and dark layers blend together nicely to offer a bit of hazelnut flavor and a sweetness that isn’t quite overwhelming. It was a nice chocolate, but nothing outstanding.

Do you like chocolates with milk and dark layers?

Monday, March 28, 2011

Prince William's Groom's Cake: Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Prince William has chosen a Wedding Cake made of Cookies. There will be 1700 McVitie's Rich Tea Cookies and 17 kilos of chocolate!

Sweet-toothed Prince William has personally requested a "groom's cake" made of cookies (biscuits) and chocolate to be served alongside the couple's official wedding cake. The groom's cake is a wedding tradition associated with the southern United States (Remember the Red Velvet Armadillo Groom's Cake in Steel Magnolia's?). Prince William is said to have “chosen an old family favorite, made of McVitie’s Rich Tea biscuits and chocolate.”

Guests at the Buckingham Palace reception on April 29 will be able to choose between the "chocolate biscuit cake," as it is commonly known in the UK, and a classic fruitcake.

The groom's cake will be made by British cookie-makers McVitie's, using a secret recipe given to them by royal insiders. What is known is that huge cake will contain 17 kilos of chocolate and some 1,700 of the company's "Rich Tea" brand cookies -- enough to feed all 600 guests.

"It's going to be literally covered in chocolate decoration," Paul Courtney, the cake head chef at McVitie's said. "It's going to be beautiful."

Kate has organized the main wedding cake, commissioning luxury cake designer Fiona Cairns to make a huge multi-tiered fruit cake decorated with cream and white floral decorations.

So there will be two wedding cakes: Which cake is likely to go first?

You can make your own Chocolate Biscuit Cake. It's really just a lot of melted chocolate and broken digestive biscuits. I'm sure the 'official' cake will have breath-taking chocolate decorations, though. This recipe doesn't. As always, use the best quality of chocolate.  Here's a link to a wonderful (and easy) Chocolate Biscuit Cake recipe from The Daily Spud.

Photo: Chocolate Biscuit Cake: TheDailySpud

Grinded Weed Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

-7 ounces (200g) of black chocolate

-5 ounces (125g) of fat butter (do not replace with margarine)
-7 ounces (200g) of powdered sugar
-two tablespoons of flour
-one tablespoon of granulated sugar
-7 ounces (200g) of  nuts
-four eggs
-flavorings (vanilla, lemon or orange peel)
5-10 grams of weed

Preparation:

-Put the butter and chocolate in a double layer steamer pan. Mix until homogeneous.  

-Put the pan aside and add the powdered sugar, flavorings, then one by one, add the eggs. Mix well using a whisk or an electric mixer at lowest speed.  
-Finally, add the flour, nuts (chopped into small pieces) and of course the fine grinded weed. Blend it all together.
-Pour the composition in a non stick pan.  
-Bake the cake at medium heat, for 20-25 minutes.
  
                                     This is how it should look like :)


How to make weed brownies

Weed brownies are a natural method to get high without having to smoke the cannabis.

There are several methods to make weed brownies. You can either use raw cannabis, cannabutter or cannabis oil.


The most basic method of course is using raw cannabis. The easiest way is to use a brownie mix which you can buy from the local store. In this case, you will only need oil, eggs, some water and of course raw grinded weed. If possible, use a non-stick glass pan. If using a classic iron tray (which tends to stick), be sure to grease it up with butter and add a thin layer of flour before adding the composition.

Another more refined recipe is to use cannabutter, so instead of the usual oil, add weedbutter. The rest of the recipe remains the same.

For more details, visit our Weed Brownies Recipes section !

                                        How to make weed brownies - video tutorial

Chocolate Contest Winner!!!

Thanks to everyone for their great entries!  You all did a super job of celebrating Chocolate Week!  I celebrated by consuming WAY more than my share of Reese's eggs and chocolate dipped Easter shortbread cookies from Target (I reviewed them last year and they are back again!). 

I choose the winner the way the National Confectioners Association suggested - a random drawing.  I couldn't think of a better way - the stories were great - but the recipes were great too and how can you compare the two?  And Cheryl is a chocolate hero - spreading the word to her students.  Check out all the comments to see the terrific stories posted.  And there were a few of you who have been long time readers - argh!!!  How to choose?  So the random drawing it had to be.  I put all the entrant's names in a bowl and had my sweetheart draw one out.  And the winner is.........

Kiddocare!!!!

Woohoo!  I'll be sending her address to the NCA and they'll send her chocolate package out to her.  Thanks to all of you for taking the time to enter and for helping us celebrate Chocolate Week!  And thanks so much for sharing!!!!

March Biagio Sample Day: You Should Have Gone

Even though everybody at the organization I work for has been working nearly nonstop since the earthquake in Japan earlier this month, our CEO has been adamant that we all take a few breaks to ensure that we don’t overwork ourselves. I took one such break from drawing up a presentation on seismic probabilistic risk assessments to go to one of my favorite monthly Washington events: the Biagio Sample Day, which I attended with my friend Steven and his son, who is learning to appreciate fine chocolate at a young age.

We were also joined by my friend Juliette and one of Steven’s friends, but some folks aren’t always available for photos. Chocolate, on the other hand, is the ideal model, always willing to pose.

This fine and professional model was an Amadei 70% cocoa extra dark bar, featuring Jamaican beans, had a slow, buttery melt that evenly released nice cherry notes and had just enough sugar added to avoid bitterness.

Several other bars were available for sampling, and I made sure I enjoyed all of them. A few that were especially interesting:

  • A sea salt nib bar by Madecasse, which featured a subtle crunch from the nibs, as well as a nice balance of sweet and bitter thanks to the genius addition of the salt to make the nibs more palatable.
  • The Cluizel Maralumi Milk bar, made entirely from beans sourced from the Maralumi plantation in Papua New Guinea, which had a very complex flavor for a milk chocolate bar. I found it to be spicy, with cinnamon and cumin notes as well as a hint of caramel.
  • A unique bar, simply named “214,” from a completely new-to-me chocolatier, Fresco Chocolate, which draws out unique flavors by precisely manipulating the cocoa during the conching and roasting process, gave off citrus notes immediately. Cranberry and subtly cherry flavors followed, and the slow, intense melt made the slightly sour, but pleasing, fruity taste long-lasting. Fresco even had a written discussion about their process, which was an intriguing read.

Other non-bar creations were available for sample as well, including some Zoe’s peppermint bark from Waynesboro, PA, which included bits of peppermint that were slightly larger than I prefer, but which didn’t overwhelm the taste of the white chocolate.

There was also a divine treat from Chicago-based Terry’s Toffee waiting at the end of the chocolate-tasting display.

The toffee was a perfect texture, neither too soft nor too hard, and was just a tad salty and in no way too sweet. It was also addictive, hence my decision to not purchase any. I instead replenished my supply of some standby favorites from Potomac Chocolate and Claudio Corallo, and selected a few new chocolates to enjoy, including the Madecasse seat salt nib bar and the Fresco 214 bar that were featured at sample day.

A wonderful experience, as always. If you live in DC and haven’t gotten to a sample day at Biagio, you simply must sign up for their mailing list so that you don’t miss out again.

Are you interested in the roasting and conching process for chocolate that you eat?

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Daring Bakers March 2011 Challenge: I Made a Damn Cake, But it Doesn't Matter

March is always a crazy month for me, with a bunch of meets to coach, as well as business meetings to attend as every working group and task force in the nuclear energy industry attempts to schedule their get-togethers JUST before refueling outages begin. I found a few minutes near the beginning of the month to check out the March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge, which was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

YEASTED. Yes, using yeast. My nemesis. How, exactly, was I to fit this in with three weekend swim meets and a slew of meetings where I was slated to deliver talks in rooms packed with the brightest folks from the nuclear industry?

Well, as this photo shows, I did it. But it hardly seems to matter anymore. Neither did my previous level of over-scheduling. I’ll post my photos, and you can check out the instructions for making this here, but I just don’t think it matters enough for me to go over how I made this coffee cake.

It doesn't matter because on Friday, March 11, a destructive earthquake devastated northern Japan. Devastated. I was, like most of the world, troubled by the news. The reported death toll was low at first, but I think we all knew it would rise substantially.

The news outlets were all reporting that the affected nuclear reactors had shut down, meaning that control rods had been inserted in the core to greatly reduce the fission reaction rate. At least something was going well. I went about my work preparing for a talk I was to deliver at a meeting on probabilistic risk assessment at nuclear facilities the next week.

Then news outlets reported that there was no offsite power at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site, which is home to six boiling water reactors. It’s important that reactors have access to external power, as this makes it possible to keep coolant (water) flowing through the core to keep it cool, even after the fission reaction rate drops to near zero. At that point, the core is still putting off decay heat, but I was confident that the diesel generators would provide the necessary power.

Then the news outlets reported that the diesel generators failed. While this is never welcome news, I reasoned that each reactor had battery backup that could be used until offsite power was restored. It’s how we design our plants. Those of us in the business take safety seriously, and we care more about safety at nuclear reactors than anybody else.

Friends and old classmates who were watching news reports were, understandably, concerned, and since I’m the only nuclear engineer that most of them know, they asked me what I thought. I assured them that until the core was damaged, there would be no radioactive material released. And should there be core damage, the boiling water reactor designs used at Fukushima Dai-ichi site include robust containment systems to retain any radioactive material that leaves the core once it is damaged, meaning that the public won’t be exposed to radioactive material, save trace quantities of gases that might be vented to ensure that the containment pressure doesn’t get too high.

A few days later, data started to indicate core damage may have occurred in one of the reactors. No confirmation, but it was a possibility. But there was containment. Containment had worked during the partial core damage event at Three Mile Island Unit 2. OK. Breathe. Time for that meeting on probabilistic risk assessment at nuclear facilities (oh the irony…it was honestly scheduled over two years ago). I’d been tasked with delivering a few extra talks over the weekend, but a little extra work seemed like nothing now.

I delivered a talk. Went running. Went back to my room, turned on CNN to see an interview on the events. Then there was a breaking report that the pressure inside the containment at one of the reactors may have dropped.

The rest of the week was surreal. We worked to evaluate what could happen going forward while having nothing but the highest possible respect for the workers at the site.

The whole thing has been both thought-provoking and inspiring.

Thought-proviking because I, like every other worker in the nuclear energy generation sector, care deeply about operating our reactors safely and securely. We absolutely have to do this. Not just for ourselves and our coworkers, but for the public. Our operators practice drills and procedures for extreme, unlikely conditions on a routine basis. We care more than you’ll ever know.

Inspiring because, within our industry, everybody has stepped forward to offer anything and everything they can. People have been working 18-20 hour days, through weekends, with no expectation for extra compensation. Utilities have offered their top technical experts. Everybody, and I mean everybody, is willing to do anything asked of them without hesitation.

And in the meantime, we keep making electricity. Electricity that hospitals use to save lives, electricity that schools need to educate our young people, and electricity that we take for granted in our daily lives without considering the source.

Oh, and in case you care, for the filling, I spread out the meringue, then two ounces of coconut mixed with juice from four limes and a quarter cup of sugar. I topped that with eight ounces of chopped El Rey milk chocolate and six ounces of chopped macadamia nuts.

And that’s how I made the damn coffee cake. But I doubt you care at this point. I sure don’t.

Individual Black Forest Cakes: National Black Forest Cake Day

March 28 is National Black Forest Cake Day! What an odd but delicious holiday.

I'm a huge fan of Clover Stornetta, for their products, as well as their fabulous advertising. I feel Clo is a personal friend, and I've followed her billboards for years. But seriously, Clover products are fabulous. Rich, natural, the best! I'm a Sonoma County girl at heart, if only a part time resident. The Clover Stornetta website has some great recipes, and I know you'll enjoy this fun dessert.

Individual Black Forest Cakes

1/4 cup CLOVER BUTTER, room temperature
1/3 cup plus 3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cup drained jarred sour cherries (1 tsp juice reserved)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large CLOVER EGG YOLK
3 Tbsp CLOVER WHOLE MILK
1/4 cup CLOVER HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM
2 tsp rum

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cherry juice in the bottom of each of two 8-ounce ramekins. Microwave until butter and brown sugar are melted and bubbling, about 1 minute. Arrange cherries in a tightly packed layer in the bottom of each ramekin.

In a small bowl, whisk together flower, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In another small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar with a spoon until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in egg yolk, then flour mixture and milk. Divide batter between ramekins.

Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs attached, approximately 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat cream, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and rum until soft peaks form. Run a knife around edge of each cake and invert onto a plate. Top cakes with rum whipped cream.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Fran's Gray Salt Wafers: The Last of My Loot

My last bit of bounty from Fran’s in Seattle was of the variety that I consume in large quantities. Salted chocolate, of course. In this case, gray salt “thins.”

These are, in fact, quite thin, which makes them ideal for slowly savoring the small box.

The texture is a bit waxy at first, and the melt tempo isn’t quite right as a result. Once the chocolate does start to melt away, a few grains of salt subtly come forward and draw out the sweetness of the chocolate. This makes this chocolate, which seems to be a semi-sweet type, come across as even sweeter. As the salt isn’t overwhelming, it complements the hints of coffee in vanilla in the chocolate, and the taste is relatively well-balanced if not superbly complex. The waxy texture, on the other hand, could be improved upon.

Have you ever had chocolate with a great taste despite a waxy texture?

Friday, March 25, 2011

Fran's Caramel-Macadamia Gold: Dressed-Up Snicker's

If it isn’t obvious from my last two posts, my haul from visiting Fran’s in Seattle was caramel-centric. Nothing wrong with that. In order to make sure I had enough variety for my evaluations, I wanted to check out another nut-caramel treat: The Macadamia Gold Bar.

The aroma is overwhelmingly sweet, and the chocolate coating has a bit of a coffee undertone. It’s surprisingly strong and bitter for a milk chocolate.

That bitterness is fortunate, as the rest of this is a big ball (well, bar) of sugar. The caramel is a bit chewy and has a hint of butter, but not a bit of salt to cut the sugar. The macadamia nuts are miraculously nice and crunchy, somehow not totally soaked in sugar from the caramel.

It’s like an upscale Snicker’s bar, but just as sugary. A bit much, even for me. If the macadamia nuts were salted, this might counteract the mounds of sugar a bit, with them unsalted, it’s a sugar bomb.

Have you had macadamia nuts with caramel before?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Chicken Mole Poblano with Animal Crackers

Recently, I'm not sure where, I read or saw something about making mole with animal crackers. I began to research this, since it makes sense. The animal cracker give the mole body and texture and a certain amount of sweetness, but using animal crackers was new to me!

Since I'm in Santa Fe for Left Coast Crime, this seemed like the perfect time to post this recipe. I've posted mole recipes before, specifically around Cinco de Mayo, so be sure and search for those recipes to compare.

I found a great recipe for Chicken Mole Poblano at Kendall Jackson. I love Kendall Jackson wines, and the wine pairing suggestion for Chicken Mole Poblano is to serve with Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Malbec. Good choice!

The complex flavors from toasted spices and Mexican chocolate pair wonderfully with the spicy black pepper flavors in the Malbec. The secret ingredient, animal crackers, adds a hint of sweetness and also helps to thicken the sauce.

CHICKEN MOLE POBLANO

For the chicken:
1 whole chicken
3 quarts water
½ onion
3 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. oregano

Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour or until chicken is done. Strain and reserve the liquid and chicken.

For the mole sauce:
4 Tbsp. rice oil (or other neutral flavored oil)
8 dried mulato chilies, stems and seeds removed
4 dried pasilla chilies, stems and seeds removed
4 dried ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed
2 dried cascabel or chipotle chilies, stems and seeds removed
12 almonds
¼ cup peanuts
3 garlic cloves
¼ large onion
½ plantain, diced
12 animal crackers
5 raisins
3 whole black peppercorns
2 cloves
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
5 cups reserved chicken stock
2 slices bacon
½ bar (1½ oz.) Mexican chocolate (Ibarra)

In a large heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, add the oil and sauté the chilies for approximately 3 minutes. Stir the chilies constantly, being careful not to burn them. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chilies and reserve.

Add the almonds and peanuts and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Add the garlic, onions and plantains and cook until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes. Add the animal crackers and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Add the raisins, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon and cook until aromatic. Remove from the heat and place in a blender, add the chilies, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds and the chicken stock. Purée until the sauce is a smooth consistency.

In a small pan, cook the bacon until the fat has rendered. Remove the bacon and all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan (bacon can be eaten or reserved for another use). Add the chocolate to the pan. Once the chocolate has dissolved, cook for 2 minutes or until aromatic. Add the bacon fat and chocolate mixture to the purée and stir to combine.

To serve: Slice the chicken onto a platter and cover with mole sauce. Garnish with remaining sesame seeds. Serve with Mexican rice and tortillas on the side.

The extra mole sauce can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Fran's Caramel-Almond Gold: Big Old Nuts

As pleasing as the salted caramels from Fran’s were, I certainly believed that they could offer a bit more. I’d picked up a couple of other caramel-based treats from Fran’s, and was hopeful that one of them might meet the mark.

Perhaps, for example, this Caramel-Almond Dark Chocolate Gold Bite.

The aroma was earthy with a bit of vanilla, and the chocolate exterior was quite bitter to play well with the sugar from the caramel.

That chocolate is quite soft, and matches perfectly to the texture of the caramel, which strikes a nice balance between liquid and chewy. The caramel is sweet, with a taste of vanilla, and houses some nicely-roasted, crisp almonds that I’d enjoy more if chopped rather than whole. Though my personal preference would be for a saltier caramel and for the nuts to be chopped, the caramel is quite nice overall.

Nuts in caramel: a do or a don’t?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Aunt Vera's Chocolate Oatmeal Pie: Sara Sue Hoklotubbe

As I've mentioned before, my mystery and chocolate worlds often collide. Mystery Writer Sara Sue Hoklotubbe's latest novel, The American Cafe, mentions Oatmeal Pie on pages 64-65, so I contacted her about the recipe.  Here's an original recipe from Sara's late aunt, Vera Youngblood Robertson. Sara modified the recipe a bit to fit with the chocolate theme, and it’s delicious (in fact, Sara and her husband, Eddie, just emailed to say that they had practically eaten a whole pie this afternoon!)



Aunt Vera’s (Chocolate) Oatmeal Pie

Ingredients
2 eggs
3/4 c. red syrup (her aunt's term for pancake or waffle syrup)
1/2 c. coconut (flaked or shredded)
1/2 stick butter
1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Mix ingredients together and pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Let cool before serving. Enjoy!

Fran's Salted Caramels: Milk and Dark Chocolate

Fran’s Chocolates are quite famous in Seattle. Famous enough that they even have their own storefronts in the city. When I stopped by to scope out their store during my trip last month, I was promptly offered a sample of one of their salted caramels.

And I then promptly picked up a box to purchase.

The box included both milk and dark chocolate versions. First up: the milk chocolate.

There’s minimal aroma to this treat, and there was salt clumped on top. This lead me to believe that the salty taste wouldn’t be very uniform, and I was skeptical.

The chocolate is quite creamy and melts well, but does not feature a very complex flavor. It does melt quite well, and is perfectly matched to the texture of the internal caramel. The caramel itself is very sweet, and features only cream and butter flavors with just a hint of salt. As I’d suspected, there were a few bites overloaded with salt, and a few lacking. I’d have preferred better-distributed salt, as it was the only thing that prevented this from being, far, far too sweet. Instead, it was just a bit too sweet.

Having consumed that sugary creation, I moved on to the dark chocolate version.

This time, there were aromas of cream, caramel, and coffee.

The chocolate has a good melt and is just a bit bitter, which nicely offsets the sugary caramel inside, but is not overly complex of long-lasting. The chocolate crumbles a bit against the chewy caramel, but this flaw is minor. While the salt nicely compliments the chocolate and caramel, it’s not well-distributed enough to make this notable.

I enjoyed each of these caramels, but they could use some improvement. Since I enjoyed the texture of the milk chocolate version and the flavor of the dark chocolate version, the solution is clear: eat both.

What flavors do you like to taste in caramels?