Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Confessions of a Chocoholic

Forget love – I keep on falling in chocolate
I’m one of those that can never have enough chocolate. Isn’t it just so hard to resist the temptation of the variety of types stacked in the chocolate isle as you are passing to reach the veggies section :P ?! At least I know it’s hard for me. Nothing can brighten up my day like a venti latté and a good piece of chocolate *sigh* or a chocolate-based dessert.


Chocolate, Chocolate et chocolate

Bars, buttons, melts, fudge, flacks, fountains... As a chocoholic, the favorite places to be are the ones with different forms, types and sizes of chocolate (so don’t be surprised to see me in Maya and Chocolate Bar ;D). Other than these specialized chocolatiers, there are some good quality chocolates in our market. My favorite and which I believe is the best is the Swiss Lindt.


This is the first chocolate recipe that I’m sharing and I assure you that it’s not going to be the last. B-)

Today's Chocolate Star :: Chocolate Crinkles

I just love the look and texture of the cracks (photo) that beautifully shows the contrast in colors between white and brown. But not only does it look pretty, it tastes SO good ! One of my favorite aspects about this recipe is that it relies on the butter and chocolate to solidify again to transform the dark dense liquid batter to soft solid dough. I’ve taken this recipe from the website of the talented Stephanie Jaworski, Joy of Baking.


Here’s what you need,


60 g unsalted butter

225 g semisweet chocolate
½ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup powder or icing sugar

This is how you do it,

1. Melt chocolate and butter. Some people like to use the microwave for this process, but I just put it in a pan over boiling water until it completely melts. Leave that aside to cool.


2. Wisk the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder and salt)


3. Beat the eggs and the sugar until it becomes pale and fluffy.


4. Add the chocolate and butter mixture and keep mixing.


5. Gradually add the dry ingredients.


6. The resulted batter is dense yet liquid, so you can’t shape it into balls. Therefore, put it in the fridge for 3 hours or until it reaches a solid consistency.


7. Heat the oven to 325°F (for my oven, I tune it to 275°F)


8. Divide the batter into 36 balls.


9. Roll them in the powder/icing sugar.


10. Place them on parchment paper and bake them for about 10 mins


Quality makes a difference..

For the recipe that I’m sharing today, I highly recommend that you use the classic dark chocolate bar from Lindt (the one without chocolate percentages, just dark). I believe it’s the secret factor that gave my crinkles that special taste that everyone was wondering about when they tasted them.


Tips:

• This amount makes approximately 3 dozens. To get all the cookies to be about the same size, divide the bough in quarters and then each quarter makes 9 pieces. It’s easier to eye-ball a smaller portion to equal size balls.


• You could also make them smaller in size (more small cookies), but take into consideration that the baking time will most likely decrease.


• It can be a bit tricky to know if these cookies are done because they are brown so you can’t see them brown from the bottom and decide that they are done. So stick to the baking time. ;)


Just a thought..

It’s good to serve this with coffee or if you want something fancier put a few pieces in a small plate with some barriers and ice-cream. (Y)


--Nora :)

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