Three simple steps:
Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate
by Alice Medrich. See her book to try Raspberry-Laced Chocolate Cake. Or Extra Bittersweet Ganache Truffles. Or Queen of Sheba Cake. Je'oan D'ark Limoncello Truffles.
Fran Bigelow on chocolate.
Mort Rosenblum on chocolate.
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Ingredients: 10 oz. White Chocolate 4 oz. Crème Fraîche (or heavy cream) 2 tbsp. Limoncello 0.5 tbsp. Finely grated lemon zest. Method: (1) Line bottom and sides of a pan with parchment paper. (2) Break chocolate into small pieces; put in a large bowl. (3) Bring cream slowly to a light boil. Remove from heat and cool 2 minutes. Add liqueur and mix. (4) Melt chocolate. (5) Pour all of cream over chocolate; stir till all chocolate is melted and batter is homogenous. (6) Add finely grated lemon zest and mix till batter is homogenous. (7) Let set 1 hour at room temperature. (8) Refrigerate overnight. (9) With gloved hands, form the truffles into balls and lay out, in preparation for dipping in melted tempered Semisweet (52-62% cacao) Chocolate. |
The above ratio of cream-to-white-chocolate worked well for us. In contrast, another recipe pro-rates 10 oz. White Chocolate to only 1 oz. cream with 1 oz liquor; while one pro-rates 10 oz. White Chocolate to as much as 5.6 oz cream plus 2 tbsp. butter. Experiment to discover what works for you.
If you make a dark-chocolate, a higher proportion of cream is likely to be better, up to 6 oz. cream with 1 oz liquor.
Before you temper your chocolate, melt it gently:
Tempering results in shiny, even, crisp, smooth chocolate that can release cleanly from molds. Three factors are important during tempering: time, temperature, and movement. Tempering is accomplished through an alchemical combination of:
This is the point at which to invest in either a tempering machine or a spatula thermometer. You need to control the temperature of the melted chocolate precisely. You also need to stir it continuously and consistently for quite some time. A fully automatic tempering machine can save you a lot of frustration and grief:
Ingredients: 20 oz. Semisweet (52-62% cacao) Chocolate. Reserve 4 oz. in substantial (1 oz.) chunks. Method: (1) Temper the chocolate. (2) Dip the truffles in the tempered chocolate. (3) Add decoration (such as fragments of candied lemon peel) while tempered chocolate is still soft. |
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