Chocolate!

Skimming through last December's Food and Wine magazine and found an article with chocolate recipes.  Here are my favorite two, and I plan to make them for this Saturday, when I am hosting my bridge group.  If you want to find out how to make fudgy chocolate layer Cake, bittersweet chocolate truffles rolled in spices, or quadruple chocolate brownies, check the link.

If you like creamy liqueurs, try this concoction, from Christopher Elbow of Kansas City's Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates.

Chocolate and Whiskey Liqueur

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup watr
1 vanilla bean, split, seeeds scraped
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
One 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup irish whiskey

In a saucepan, combine the corn syrup, water and vanilla seeds and bring to a boil.  Add the chocolate and whisk over moderate heat until melted.  Transfer to a blender and let cool for five minutes.  Add condensed milk, half and half, and cream, and blend.  Pour into a bowl and add whiskey.  Blend in batches for 30 seconds.  Pour into bottles and refrigerate over night.  Give as gifts or serve at your party.  Keeps refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Note:  Bury that vanilla bean in a sugar container and it will give you the loveliest vanilla flavored sugar.

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This recipe is from the Sona restaurant in Los Angeles and its one-year-old offshoot, Boule.

You may know that biscotti means twice cooked--first the loaf is made and baked, then it is sliced and baked again to give those crunchy delicious slices.

Chocolate and Pistachio Biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softenend
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure coffee extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
7 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or 1 1/2 cup chips)
1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios (6 oz.)

Preheat oven to 350.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Using an electric mixer, beat in the eggs at low speed until a crumbly dough forms.

In a second bowl, beat the brown sugar with the butter and the vanilla, coffee and almond extracts, until combined.  Scrape the mixture into the crumbly dough and beat at medium speed until a soft, sticky dough forms.  Add the chopped chocolate and shelled pistachios and mix at low speed until evenly distributed.

Divide the dough into 4 clumps and transfer two of the clumps to each baking sheet.  Form each into an 8-inch ong rope.  Pat until they are about two inches wide and 3/4 inch thick.  Bake for about 22 minutes, until the logs are puffed and springy to the touch; rotate the pans halfway through baking.  Carefully transfer the logs to a wire rack and cool for ten minutes.  Lower oven temperature to 200.

Using a sharp knife, cut the logs crosswise into scant 1/2-inch slices; each log will yield about twenty.  Return the slices to the baking sheets and bake for about 30 minutes longer, flipping once after 15 minutes, until crisp.  Transfer to racks to cool.

Pack into airtight containers.  They will stay fresh for up to 1 week.

[Addendum:  I made these.  Here's a link to my experience]

Comments

[Joan]

Might be worth learning to play bridge. That's what I am thinking.

[keewee]

I am inclined to think along the same lines as Joan.