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 Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:27 am
Brilliant is Chocolate: in a cake, mouse, drink or bar. Hot, warm, room-temperature, cold, ice-cold – Chocolate is never the same. What other ingredient is so versatile in its melted form? Chocolate is everywhere, even on the catwalks as décor of the show. Or messaging a cream of an anti-wrinkle product onto your skin. It’s versatile, it’s everywhere, and can get any nibbly information about Chocolate anywhere you go! 
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:34 am
Do-it-yourself-chocolate Before you begin a couple of tips
1.) Be wary of the quality of the chocolate you purchase. Just ignore the cheap chocolates you get at the supermarket and only get the best you can find.
Try to find the types that have actual cocoa-butter in it. Dark chocolate with more then 60% cocoa is always a good choice. Not much of a dark chocolate fan? Milk-chocolate with at least 30% cocoa is a good choice.
2.) Don’t let the snobbish reactions of the cocoa percentage get to you. It isn’t always that chocolate with an 80% cocoa is better for cakes then compared to.. lets say 64%. Just go with your instinct on this, and go for what you like.
3.) Don’t consider Milk-chocolate and White chocolate as surrogates, because there are great qualities out there. Both or delish compositions to make a work of art that your mouth will water for unlike that of the dark chocolate.
4.) I have minimized explanations and tried to avoid useless information. But what is listed below is of importance.
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Soft butter; basically means really soft butter that isn’t melted. It’s soft to the point that it can easily be mixed with sugar and eggs. So the best thing is to let the butter set to room-temperature. No microwave and no heat source!
Flour; I personally choose flour type 65, aka baker’s flour. You could also use patent flour (type 45) that you can easily get at the supermarket. Always sieve the flour (with yeast- and cocoa-powder – that is if the recipe calls for)
Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened and of good quality. Preferable sieved.
Eggs: of considerable size – medium to large. Let the egg-white come to room temperature before you use it.
The baking-sheets / shapes rubbed with butter – cover – with flour: If this is in the recipe please do so. If not.. well you will understand why soon enough.
Size of the baking sheets: Varies. Keep to the amount of ingredients as much as possible. But if you tried something different and it succeeded; let me know!
Melting things in the microwave or au bain-marie: When using the microwave, stop it occasionally to stir the chocolate well, specially when your melting it with another ingredient. If using the au bain-marie (see Basic-Recipe sub-forum) make sure to not let the water boil or let the steam come in contact with the chocolate. Also make sure that the bowl you use for the chocolate has been cleaned with lemon before hand.
Cooking time and temperature: These are just guidelines. Because you’re going to pay attention to the temperature to begin with because each oven is different (think of gas, electricity or hot hair) If using a conventional hot air oven lower the temperature by 10.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:56 am
The classic Brownies
The Brownies are well-known and popular in the United States. Forget the read-mix types and try this for size with actual chocolate.
For about 10 brownies
10 minutes to prepare
30 minutes baking time
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What you need:
2 bowls
1 square or rectangle baking-shape (preferable made of silicon)
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Ingredients:
225 g sugar
120 g dark chocolate
90 g butter
2 beaten eggs
90 g flour
50 g hazel -, macadamia- , or pecan nuts (optional)
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What to do:
1.) Preheat the oven at 180 C.
2.) Grease the baking-sheet/shape in thickly with butter.
3.) Melt the butter and the chocolate together in the microwave or au bain-marie, then let it cool somewhat.
4.) To the chocolate mixture, add the beaten eggs then the sugar and then the flour.
5.) Mix till everything is blended in well, and once so far add the nuts if you please to.
6.) Place the mixture in your baking-shape and bake for half an hour.
It should be done, you can always test it by using a tooth-pick. p***k the middle of the shape and if the tooth-pick comes out clean it is done.
Let the brownies cool down and cut them accordingly and serve them as is, or warm with vanilla ice-cream.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:12 am
Warm Chocolate-milk
Warm chocolate-milk in the morning is like a weekend ritual for me, just like coffee and tea throughout the week. And as most of the weekends include, my friends coming over to not only enjoy my chocolate-milk but to enjoy each others company amongst the chitter-chatter.
Serves 2
2 minutes preparation
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What you need:
1 sauce pan
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Ingredients:
75 g dark chocolate, in small chunks
2 teaspoons sugar
1 vanilla pod, split
2,5 dl milk
1,5 dl cream
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What to do:
1.) Warm up all the ingredients in the pan on a low heat. Keep stirring.
2.) The chocolate has to be completely melted and the mixture starts to bubble – foam
3.) Serve into mugs or serving glasses and enjoy.
Tip: Just to spruce things up, you can add whipped cream and sprinkle with cocoa-powder.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:35 am
omg those all look so great now im hungry and thirsty thanks. now i want to eat brownies, drink hot chocolate, and watch polar express. lol so whats up.
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