Truffles

I made these truffles for my birthday. I adapted the recipe from America's Test Kitchen. They don't look like the traditional truffles that are rolled in cocoa powder. I wanted to make something 'fancier', but you can skip the tempered chocolate coating and just roll them in cocoa powder.

Ganache
4.5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped coarse
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoons Cognac , dark rum, Grand Marnier, Framboise, Kirsch, Frangelico, Amaretto, Kahlua, or port

Chocolate Coating
5 ounces dark chocolate

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. While the chocolate is melting, microwave heavy cream, butter and honey until the butter melts. Let the cream mixture cool for a couple of minutes and then add it to the melted chocolate. Add the liquor and stir until smooth. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.

Using a hand held mixer, whip the mixture until it becomes slightly lighter in color (about 30 seconds). Refrigerate the mixture for 20 minutes.

Line a plate with plastic wrap and scoop out the ganache with a spoon (I like to use 2 teaspoon spring loaded cookie/ice cream spoon). Refrigerate for 15 minutes and roll the balls between palms to make them a little smoother. Refrigerate until hard.

Temper the chocolate. Here is how...

Grate 1 ounce of chocolate on small side of a grater and set aside.

Coarsely chop 4 ounces of chocolate and place into a steel proof bowl. Place over barely simmering water and stir until about 1/3 of chocolate melts.

Remove, stir and check the temperature. Place over the water for a couple of seconds and check the temperature again. Continue to do this until the chocolate reaches 110-115 F.

Move to another bowl and stir until the chocolate drops to 95-100 F. Add a tablespoon of the finely chopped chocolate and stir. When that chocolate gets melted, add another tablespoon and stir. Continue until the temperature drops to 89 F. You may not use all of the chocolate.
 
To make the truffles, remove the chilled truffles from the fridge. Drop a truffle into the chocolate, roll it around and take it out with a fork. Tap the fork a couple of times on the edge of the bowl and drop the truffle on parchment or wax paper. Repeat with the rest. Refrigerate until set up and then move to a sealed container. Store in the fridge for up to a week. Let the truffle 'warm up' for 20 minutes or so at room temperature before eating one out of the fridge.

Baked Brie with Garlic, Almonds and Butter

One of my school buddies was talking about this recipe. I had to try it and it turned out delicious. I like to use a lot of garlic, 3 heads!

Baked Brie with Garlic, Almonds and Butter

8 ounces brie

2-3 heads of garlic, peeled and sliced thin

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

French bread

olive oil for drizzling

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Slice the bread and brush the top with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Toast the bread at 350 F until crusty on the outside, but soft on the inside.

While the bread is toasting, place the brie in a small baking dish. Scatter the butter and garlic around the brie. Place the brie in the center of the oven and bake until the brie melts.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with almonds. Arrange the bread around and use it to scoop out the yummy goo while it is warm. Store leftovers in the fridge and microwave for a couple of seconds to melt everything again.

Daisy Carrot Cupcakes

Happy Mother's Day! I made these for the mothers in my life. I used natural yellow food coloring and synthetic green color. I hate using synthetic food colors, but I just a little drop for some color is probably just fine.

Daisy Carrot Cupcakes
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and grated on small holes of box grater

Mix butter, both sugars and eggs in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.

Divide the batter between cupcake tin lined with cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 (middle of the oven). Remove and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Take out the pan and let cupcakes cool completely.

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened but still cool

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat sugar and butter for 2 minutes with a hand held mixer. Add chunks of cream cheese and beat until smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated until the next day (just let it come to room temperature before using).

To decorate, I tinted a about 1/3 of frosting yellow and a little bit of the frosting green (be sure to leave plenty of frosting white)

Base: spread yellow tinted frosting on top with a butter knife. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Basket weave: use a basket weave tip to pipe 6 lines on top. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Daisies: used the the tip that looks like an oval with one side thinner than the other. Pipe a yellow dot in the middle of each flower.
Leaves: use a leaf tip to pipe leaves around the cupcake

Note: refrigirate the frosting if it gets too warm to hold its shape on the cupcake