Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas!
TFR's editor here wishing y'all happy holidays and lots of good food! Chef Tabbit is on vacation but will return with more recipes in a week or so :)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Playing with Chocolate
It appears I may have become addicted to chocolate. This semi-sweet semi-double feature is all about how you can have fun with chocolate.
first off is different flavored chocolates. I used all 3 different types of chocolate: white, milk, and dark, flavoring each differently. The white chocolate got mint, the dark got moca and the milk chocolate stayed its original flavor.
All 3 followed a similar recipe of milk, cream, and either gelotin or egg yolks as a thickening agent.
Thickening methods
There are two ways to do this that I know of; the first is using egg yolks mixed with a little bit of sugar. I used three per mixture, but bear in mind that if you mess this one up you'll have bits of scrambled egg in your chocolate, which is rather gross, but if you pull it off it makes such a smooth mix. The key is to set aside a bit of the mix in a cold bowl and completely mix the egg until you can find no lumps, then returning it SLOWLY back into the mix.
Method two requires you buy packets of gelatin, and this stuff is dangerous - well, not like it's gonna kill you, but too much and you'll have a chocolate brick. To correctly use the gelatin take one and ONLY ONE packet and soak it in tap water for about 10 minutes, then slowly stir into the mix. Proper setting takes an hour or so in the fridge.
Ingredients:
Multi-purpose milk chocolate blend
1 cup cream 35%
1 1/4 cup milk.
1 1/2 cups chocolate
Flavoring
2-3 drops pure mint extract
1 cup Coffee of your brewing preference
• To start take a sauce pan and add the cream and milk, then simmer to a rolling boil,
• Add your chocolate, keep the heat low. Stir the mix until all the chocolate is melted and blended evenly.
• This is where you can add you're special flavoring, each of the two should be treated differently.
- For mint, add one drop and take to taste. If the mix isn't minty enough add another drop, repeat until you have the desired minty taste.
- For coffee take your cup of preferred brewed coffee and add it slowly to your mix, using the same tactic as the mint. Bear in mind you can always add more, but you can't take away.
• Finally, take your mix and add it to a small container and let chill in a fridge.
Now what can you possibly do with this flavored chocolate jello/liquid? Frankly anything you can think of. Add it to milk or hot chocolate for a kick of flavor, to ice cream, or your coffee. Those of you that are more adventurous you can add about half a shot of brandy and make a chocolate shot.
Got different flavor, method, or use for these? Tell me in the comments below!
first off is different flavored chocolates. I used all 3 different types of chocolate: white, milk, and dark, flavoring each differently. The white chocolate got mint, the dark got moca and the milk chocolate stayed its original flavor.
All 3 followed a similar recipe of milk, cream, and either gelotin or egg yolks as a thickening agent.
Thickening methods
There are two ways to do this that I know of; the first is using egg yolks mixed with a little bit of sugar. I used three per mixture, but bear in mind that if you mess this one up you'll have bits of scrambled egg in your chocolate, which is rather gross, but if you pull it off it makes such a smooth mix. The key is to set aside a bit of the mix in a cold bowl and completely mix the egg until you can find no lumps, then returning it SLOWLY back into the mix.
Method two requires you buy packets of gelatin, and this stuff is dangerous - well, not like it's gonna kill you, but too much and you'll have a chocolate brick. To correctly use the gelatin take one and ONLY ONE packet and soak it in tap water for about 10 minutes, then slowly stir into the mix. Proper setting takes an hour or so in the fridge.
Ingredients:
Multi-purpose milk chocolate blend
1 cup cream 35%
1 1/4 cup milk.
1 1/2 cups chocolate
Flavoring
2-3 drops pure mint extract
1 cup Coffee of your brewing preference
• To start take a sauce pan and add the cream and milk, then simmer to a rolling boil,
• Add your chocolate, keep the heat low. Stir the mix until all the chocolate is melted and blended evenly.
• This is where you can add you're special flavoring, each of the two should be treated differently.
- For mint, add one drop and take to taste. If the mix isn't minty enough add another drop, repeat until you have the desired minty taste.
- For coffee take your cup of preferred brewed coffee and add it slowly to your mix, using the same tactic as the mint. Bear in mind you can always add more, but you can't take away.
• Finally, take your mix and add it to a small container and let chill in a fridge.
Now what can you possibly do with this flavored chocolate jello/liquid? Frankly anything you can think of. Add it to milk or hot chocolate for a kick of flavor, to ice cream, or your coffee. Those of you that are more adventurous you can add about half a shot of brandy and make a chocolate shot.
Got different flavor, method, or use for these? Tell me in the comments below!
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