Mint chocolate

Recently my chef has allowed us to have a bit more freedom when it comes to the desserts for the restaurant. Well he always allowed us a great deal of creative freedom but recently he said "we need different shapes!"  Naturally Sophia & I jumped at the chance to try something different. Our first differently shaped dessert is called the minty rosa. 

We named it after our coworker rosa because she loves chocolate mint. It's actually based on a petit four that I made in pastry school I just made it bigger and better for a dessert. So this dessert is a white chocolate mint mousse with a dark chocolate ganache and a fresh raspberry jelly center. Sophia helped me take it to the next level though. When making the raspberry jelly I usually just use the raspberry purée that we have in the reach-in cooler, but this week we had some beautiful organic raspberries so she puréed and strained them for me. 

Honestly I think the fresh organic raspberries made all the difference. Even our executive chef tasted and loved it. Who knows what we'll come up with next but I cannot wait to eat it. 

Petit Fours

Pastry school is roughly a 40 hour week for me, this leaves very little time for blogging. I had hoped that as I became more comfortable with the schedule this would change but it seems there is always something to do, a fact that doesn't really bother me. I'm in bliss.

Recently we begun our section on petit fours. Petit fours are small cakes and other delectables that can be consumed in one or two bites. Last week after doing a few we were allowed to come up with our own.

The first petit four that my brilliant classmate and I designed was a white chocolate mint mousse on a layer of dark chocolate raspberry ganache and flourless chocolate cake.

The flourless chocolate cake is light, airy and offers a nice contrast to the richly decadent ganache. The mint was light in flavor and didn't overpower the sweetness of the white chocolate mousse. It tasted somewhat like a thin mint with an extra kick of flavor.

The second petit four we concocted was my personal favorite.  We named it a Banana Colada. Since starting the programs I've wanted to use the banana puree we had in the freezer. Seizing the opportunity to use one of my favorite flavors we create a banana mousse on top of a Pineapple Mango Jelly. The bottom layer was a thin layer of banana mousse with chocolate crunch pearls on a layer of coconut dacquoise. Quite delicious and refreshing to eat.

Petit fours really allow the creative juices to flow and due to their small size they are quite difficult to ignore eating. Usually I'm fairly good about not munching on everything we make in class but I find that this section I will eat at least one petit four from each of my classmates.

Quadruple Chocolate Cake Truffles

Wow, it has been a while. One of the biggest chocolate consumption holidays passed so for Valentine's Day I made the boyfriend something rather special. On Valentine's Day the first year the boyfriend went to college I made him a basket of goodies, including a jar of truffles. The truffles seemed to be a hit with him (and part of his dorm) so I've been looking for ideas to shake things up a big with truffles.

First and foremost bake a cake. Any cake you desire really. For this project I used Double Chocolate cake (chocolate cake with chocolate chips in it; be sure to toss the chips in some flour first so they don't all sink to the bottom). Once your cake is out of the oven and has cooled the fun can begin. Go against all your baking instincts and toss the cake into a bowl.


It feels wrong at first but you must remind yourself that the end result is worth it, so go a head and just tear that cake up.

Next you'll want to add about 3/4ths a can of your favorite frosting. You can of course make your own frosting and should you decide to you'll need about 12 oz. For this project I used Dark Chocolate frosting.


I used a cookie scoop to form the balls but you'll want to use your hands to form them and made them into round balls. Stick them in the fridge while you make the ganache.

I used Ganache for the coating on these truffles because the way the chocolate melts in your mouth is absolute heaven. It gives the truffles a beautiful coat but stays somewhat soft so once you pop those puppies in your mouth the chocolate has already begun to melt and you're getting that intense chocolate flavor.

You'll want to place the truffle in the ganache and roll it around a little bit. Place it on a fork and move the fork back a forth while spooning on more ganache to get a smoother coat.

I can't believe I didn't take a better picture of these before I gave them to the boyfriend. He ended up inhaling them, then on Valentine's day when I made him dinner (what? I can't make sweets all the time can I?) we put some of the last truffles on top of the ice cream we had for dessert.


Luckily for Valentine's Day the boyfriend bought me a mini photoshoot area so hopefully I can start taking better pictures of my stuff. You know, if he doesn't inhale them first.

Chocolate Caramel Puff

My earliest memory where I knew I loved chocolate was watching Death by Chocolate with Marcel Desaulnier with my mother. So imagine my surprise when I found out we had a cookie cookbook by Marcel for 20 years without me knowing it!

I ended up reading the whole cookbook in one night (am I the only one that reads cookbooks like regular books?)

Ingredients for the Chocolate Pate Au Choux (puff dough):

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of water
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sift flour and Cocoa powder together then set aside.
3. Heat the water, butter, and Sugar. Once the mixture is hot stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil.
4. Remove from the heat and add the dry ingredients.
5. Stir with the Wooden Spoon to stir until the mixture comes together.
6. Once the mixture has come together add each egg one at a time after each on is incorporated.
   
7. Divide the dough into 24 portions and bake for 20 min.-when baking half way through the time switch and rotate your pans.

While those bake it's time to work on the Caramel Chocolate Ganache!

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
• 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate (chopped)
  
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Splash of coffee

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the heavy cream and and butter over medium heat. You want to melt the butter and then allow the cream to simmer.
3. In a separate, saucepan combine the sugar and the lemon juice. Stir with a whisk to combine and caramelize for 7 to 8 minutes. This was especially exciting for me because I have never made caramel before, and at the 6 minute mark I was standing there thinking there's no way this is going to turn into caramel but lo and behold:
   
   
4. Pour 1/2 the hot cream into the sugar and stir with whisk until it stops bubbling. Then pour the rest and stir until smooth.
5. Pour over the chocolate and allow to sit for 5 minutes before stirring with whisk to stir. Here is where I add a splash of coffee because it really brings out the flavor of chocolate.
6. Allow to sit until the ganache gets thick.
7. Now that your puffs are out of the oven and your ganache is thick it's time to slice the puffs horizontally.
   
8. Pipe the ganache on the bottom half of a puff and top with the other half and then prepare yourself for heaven in your mouth.
   

I made these especially for my sweetie as an early valentines day sweet, and I was really happy with the outcome. These are perfect for the chocoholic in your life (or for yourself if you have a chocolate addiction like me.)

Yule Log with Kahlua Cream and Chocolate Ganache

Every year I can never think of what to get my boyfriend's father for Christmas and so every year I end up making something to delight the sweet tooth. This year my boyfriend mentioned that his father enjoys those hostess snack cakes, Ho Hos, so I decided to try my hand at making a Yule Log. I had seen pictures and while I had never anything rolled before I thought he might enjoy it.

Fortunately, my darling friend Tabitha and her husband Adam bought me The Golden Book of Chocolate as an early Christmas present and I was able to find a recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup granulate sugar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon
• Splash of cold coffee (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter and Flour a jelly roll pan (17 x 12 1/2 inch) and line it with parchment paper. Silly me I had always used these pans as cookie sheets--still do--but I had never known that they were actually considered Jelly Roll pans. For a moment there I thought I was going to need to purchase a brand new pan! Not that that would have really upset me ;)
3. Mix the flour, the baking flour and the 1/3 cup of cocoa powder in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl beat the eggs yolks, 1/4 cup of sugar and the melted butter at a high speed until pale and thick. -As a side note, if you are not confident in your egg separating skills I suggest watching Episode 94 of Three's Company Jack shows the girls how to separate eggs and the lesson actually helped me get more confident in it too.
5. Add the vanilla extract and if you choose to add a splash of cold coffee you should do it now. The recipe in the cook book did not call for it but I find most of the time I make anything with chocolate I end up adding a splash of coffee. Ina Garten does this often and I have found that it really does bring out the taste of the chocolate instead of over powering it.
6. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the dry ingredients.
7. In yet another bowl, beat the egg whites and salt in at a medium speed until frothy. With the mixer at a high speed, gradually add the remaining cup of sugar (1/2 cup) until stiff peaks form. Fold this into the batter.
8. Spoon this into the prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Next is the fun part. When the cake comes out you'll want to flip it over onto a kitchen towel that has been dusted with the remaining amount of cocoa powder (2 tablespoons should be enough but don't be afraid to use more). My mother and I had such an adventure with this because you need to flip the cake onto the towel once it comes out of the oven. After a few moments of us hopelessly trying to figure out how to flip it struck me that the most obvious way is the best way. Finally, I simply yelled out "No fear!" grabbing the edges of the parchment paper I pulled and flipped the cake onto the towel. We had a good laugh because my mother was on the side of the cake and was now covered in cocoa powder.


Using the cloth roll the cake up and let it cool this way.


This will give you time to make the cream.
Ingredients:

• 5 Large eggs yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons Kahlua (or your favorite coffee liqueur)
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat the yolks, sugar, and liqueur until pale and thick.
   
2. Bring the milk to a boil.
3. Place the flour and salt in a bowl.
   
4. Pour a bit of the boiling milk and stir until smooth. Once smooth pour the remaining milk.
5. Pour the milk, flour and salt mixture into the yolks and sugar. -You must must must do this part slowly and be sure to stir while doing this. You want to bring the temperature of the eggs up slowly or else you'll end up with scrambled eggs and those do not go well with chocolate cake.
6. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until it gets thick.
7. Let it cool.

Once your cream is cool you'll want to unroll your cake and spread the cream onto the cake.

Then reroll the cake!

I sliced off the edges for neatness sake:

Then to give the cake that snack cake look I decided to cover it in chocolate Ganache.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate, grated chopped or morsels will work.
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Simply bring the cream to a boil and pour the hot cream into the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is shiney. Let cool and then pour over the cake.