Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love soft baked cookies and these I made with some wholewheat and less butter.
And that makes them...... hmm..... lets say healthier. Therefore its okay to eat all of them in one go :-)

(makes about a dozen 1 1/2" cookies)
(prep time 5 mins)
(bake time 15 mins)
Ingredients

Vanilla 1 tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Bittersweet chocolate chips 1 cup (I used Nestlé Toll House )
Melted butter 4 Tbs
Wholewheat 3/4 cup
All purpose flour 3/4 cup
Egg 1 large
Dark brown sugar 1/3 cup
White sugar 1/3 cup
Whole milk 1 Tbs

Method

This is quite simple and easy to make.
Preheat your oven to 350.
I used a fork and a large bowl to mix up the dough.
First combine the melted butter, egg and all of the sugar together.
Whisk this for a minute.
Now add the rest of the ingredients - except the chocolate chips -  and mix really well you might need to use your hands.
When the all the ingredients are fully incorporated fold in the chocolate chips and drop spoonfulls on a cookie sheet.
Bake for abour 12-15 mins in a preheated 350 oven. The sides should feel firm and the center only slightly soft.
Let these rest for a few minutes and they are ready to eat.


 

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Chocolate Truffles

I made some dark chocolate truffles for my sweetie a few days back. Some how I had leftover ganache in my fridge, usually I would just take a spoon to it, but this time around I thought I'd be classy and make some candy instead.

(makes 8 pieces)

(prep time 30 mins + additional time for cooling, shaping and dipping)

Chocolate Ganache

First you will need to make the chocolate ganache, and then you will need to let it set in the fridge overnight.

Heavy cream 1/2 cup (use 36%)

Your favorite dark chocolate 5 oz (chopped up into small bits)

Butter 1 Tbs

Flavors like brandy, or any other liqueur  1 Tbs (optional) 

Milk chocolate 4 oz (to be used later for dipping the truffles in)

You will also need a small piece of Styrofoam (explained later)

Method

Keep the chocolate bits in a large bowl and set aside.

In a heavy based pot bring the cream to a gentle simmer over medium high heat.

Pour half of the cream onto the bits of chocolate and mix well.

Then pour the rest of the cream, mix and combine very well.

Stir in the butter and flavours.

The chocolate should have completely melted and you should have a chocolaty smooth and shiny mixture in front of you that's difficult not to lick!

Let this mixture sit in the fridge for 6 hours or over night.

The next day you will be able to scoop it out with a spoon, and you should be able to shape them. They are very delicate and melt quickly in your palms so you need to work quickly and gently.

Dust some cocoa powder on your hands, this prevents the ganache from sticking to your hands too much, scoop out a tablespoon worth of ganache in your hands, carefully roll it into a small ball and place it back in the fridge. This is your basic truffle, you can roll this in cocoa powder, ground nuts, coconut flakes etc and you are set.

However I wanted it to have a hard outer shell similar to the truffles that you get from fancy chocolate stores.

That means you need to dip it in tempered chocolate.

You can make tempered chocolate from scratch but I cheat a bit and melt a regular chocolate bar on a double boiler and let it sit till it cools down completely and reaches room temp. The chocolate stays melted for a long time at room temperature. I used about 4 oz of milk chocolate for this.

I also like to freeze the ganache for 45 mins before dipping it in the chocolate.

Half way through freezing time take the ganache out and re-shape it into round balls, and stick a toothpick in it. Re-shaping it gives it a rounder shape (no flat bottoms), the toothpick makes it easier to dip them in chocolate and later you can stick it in some Styrofoam till the chocolate fully hardens, again this prevents flat bottoms.

Now all you gotta do is dip the truffles in melted chocolate and let it rest in the fridge until the chocolate hardens. Place them in candy liners and ta da you're done! I drizzled some melted white chocolate on top, made a little gift box and gave these to my honey :-)

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Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons

Update:

I recently made this batch (see pics below) without the chocolate coating and without shaping them. I just drop 2 Tbsp worth of the dough on a cookie sheet and baked them for 20 mins.

 

I think they look fantastic this way - partially beacuse I have a better camera now :-) What's not to love about these, very quick and easy and always a crowd pleaser.

 

 

Original post starts here.

 

These are perfection! Nice and chewy in the inside.

I browsed through several recipes and came up with this version.

So cute in chinese takeout boxes, don't you think they make perfect little food gifts?

You won't believe how easy it is to make them.

 

(makes about 18-20 cookies)
(prep time 10 mins)
(bake time 20-25 mins)
Ingredients

Sweetened coconut flakes 14 oz
Dried coconut flakes (unsweetened) 1/3 cup (lightly toasted)
Condensed milk 2/3 cup
All purpose flour 1/4 cup + 1 Tbs
Large egg whites 3
Nice pinch of salt
Dark chocolate bits 1/3 cup

Method

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and rubber some butter over it. Keep aside.
Mix all of the coconut, flour, condensed milk and salt together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl whip the egg whites till they become frothy and form stiff peaks. Takes about 1-2 mins with a hand held mixer.
Fold in the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Scoop out 2 Tbs worth of the dense and sticky coconut mixture and shape it gently using two spoons.
Place the cookies 1" apart from each other and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins.
After baking for 20 mins I realised that the top of the cookie wasn't toasty enough.
I didn't want to bake them longer and risk over cooking them, so I placed the cookies under the broiler for a a minute or two to get the tops all goldeny brown. You want to keep an eye on the cookies while you are doing this. They can burn quite quickly. It also helps if you rotate the cookie sheet to make sure all the cookies are equally browned.

Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and peel them off the wax paper, allow to cool completely.
A lot of recipes that I went through made a chocolate ganache for dipping these in, but the ganache remains soft and its hard to keep the cookies together in a box without the ganache rubbing off and making a mess.
So for the second batch of cookies that I made, I just melted some regular dark chocolate and dipped the cookies in that. The chocolate hardened after a bit and I was left with perfect little coconut macaroons.
:-)
Note to myself: Next cookie to try "Macaron"!

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Chocolate Tart with Baked Bananas and Caramel

How I turned this.....

Into this!

This dessert was inspired from this recipe, it has great instructions and wonderful pics!
I used the exact recipe for the ganache but I halved the caramel to make room for the bananas.
I made it for some friends of ours and they all liked it very much. I don't get to make desserts very often so this took me a lot of time to prepare.
This makes a 10" tart enough for 8 people easily.

Pie Crust

I used Chef Alton Brown's recipe for the pie crust.
The quantities are very accurate and you get enough dough for the bottom of a 10" pie dish (had a little left over).
Minor changes:
Instead of the lard I used vegetable shortening just because I don't like the sound of lard. I read on several baking blogs that using a combo of butter with lard or shortening makes for a flakier crust rather than going all butter.
It's easier to chop up all the butter and shortening first and then place it the freezer, otherwise it gets too hard to cut and melts while you are using you fingers to handle it!
I placed all the fat in the freezer for at least an hour.
The chilled water, I never used a spritzer, I just added it gradually to the dough one tablespoon at the time.

You will have to blind bake the crust.
Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Butter and flour a 10" tart pan or a pie dish.
Roll out the dough and place it inside the dish and press it gently against the sides and bottom of the pan.
Since this is a tart and not a pie you don't have to flute the corners and make a fancy edge just cut the over hang with a knife.
Use a fork to poke holes all over the bottom and sides to keep it from rising up during baking.
Place it in the fridge for another 30 mins.
Use pie weights or dry beans and arrange them inside the dish.
If you are going to use beans, I recommend placing them over a sheet of aluminum so that you can remove them quickly.
Bake for 10 mins in the middle rack, remove the weights and bake for another 15 mins.
Keep aside and allow to cool down.

This is something intereseting that I recently read.
Adding some vodka to the dough makes it super flaky!
So for Alton Browns recipe I would use 2 Tbs water and 2 Tbs vodka.

Sea salt roasted peanuts

You will need about 1/3 cup of roughly chopped peanuts.
These you can buy, like Planters dry roasted peanuts with sea salt.
Or do what I did.
I took some dry roasted unsalted peanuts, tossed them in 1/2 tsp of oil and heated them up quickly on a frying pan and then sprinkled some coarse sea salt over them.
Chop these up and keep aside.

Baked bananas

Bananas 3 large - ripe
Butter 1 tsp
Dark rum or pineapple juice 3 Tbs

Pre heat oven to 345 degrees.
Take a large sheet of aluminum foil and fold up 1" from each side to make a shallow container. It should be large enough so all the bananas can lay snug to each other. Place this aluminum container on a cookie sheet or inside a baking dish.
Peel three ripe bananas and slit them in halves lengthwise.
Rub a small amount of butter on each side of the cut bananas and sprinkle about 3 Tbs of dark rum or some fruit juice over them.
Bake on the middle rack for 15-20 mins or until the bananas feel tender but firm we don't want these to be mushy.
Remove from the baking dish and let them soak in the juices until they cool down completely
Cut into 1" chunks and keep aside for later.

* Inspired from this recipe.

Caramel

Sugar 2/3 cup
Corn Syrup 1 1/2 Tbs
Salt 1/8 tsp
Water 3 Tbs
Butter 3 Tbs
Heavy Cream 3 Tbs

Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and water in a sauce pan.
Cook over medium high heat until the temp is 365 degrees on a candy thermometer.
I don't have a candy thermometer, but at 365 degrees the caramel is at the hard ball stage.You can check that by dropping a small amount into a glass of very cold water. The syrup will settle to the bottom of the glass and if you scrape that off and roll it between your fingers it should feel very hard.
It took me about 8 minutes to get to that stage.
Whisk in the butter and cream.
You will get a pale yellow and very soft caramel.
Very delicious!
Keep aside and allow this to cool for an hour at least.

* Click here for the original source
 
Chocolate Ganache

VERY IMPORTANT: You can't make the ganache in advance because it will set, therefore make it just when you are ready to pour it.

Heavy cream 1/2 cup (I used 36% heavy cream)
Bitter chocolate 4 oz (I used a 3.5oz bar of Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa + 1/2 oz of Lindt Milk chocolate)
Butter 1 Tbs

I remember reading somewhere, a long time ago, that ganache should always be made in 2 additions. This ensures a smoother texture and prevents the ganache from separating.

Chop the chocolate into small bits and put half of it in a bowl.
Bring the cream to a soft simmer in a sauce pan over medium high heat.
Pour half of the hot cream into the bowl with chocolate and mix well.
Add the rest of the chocolate and the cream and make sure everything is well combines.
Mix in the butter and your ganache will get a nice sheen.

* Click here for the original source

Assembly

At this point you should have these ready and at room temperature.
Pre baked pie crust
Baked bananas - cut into 1" pieces
Salted peanuts - roughly chopped
Caramel

Arrange the bananas and cover the bottom of the pie.
Sprinkle the peanuts and pour the caramel.
Allow this to cool in the fridge for at least an hour before you can add the ganache.
After an hour pour in the ganache, tap your dish a few times to ensure even distribution and chill the tart in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.

Sit back, congratulate yourself for finishing this task, relax and anticipate how it all tastes. Don't forget to let it rest on the counter for 15 mins before eating.
Longest 15 mins ever! :-)

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