Chocolate one way or the other, is the one thing I love – I LOVE – that has not yet made it in the blog. This is quite astonishing. I don ‘t even know why. But this is all history now. Last Valentine s after watching a million shows on the history of chocolate the temptation was too much not to give in and make something chocolaty. The only think available was the bitter chocolate that I used when I was making the mudslide cookies. Well then after all I had talked about chocolate… but it is never enough for chocolate.
And although usually you would expect me to start with the history of chocolate and fun facts about it, I would just be kidding you and myself if I think I can do it with in the limits of the blog page. Sometimes that webpage can be long, I know, but com’ on for chocolate? No freaking way.
The ingredients of the show are:
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 4 oz bitter (unsweeten) chocolate
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup of milk
Start by chopping the chocolate with a serrated knife.
This is my homemade ben Mari or double boiler. It is a metal bowl, over simmering water. It should not touch the bottom of the the pot. So to suspend it, I am using a pair of chopsticks.
Let it slowly start melting, and turn your attention to the butter. Cut a tbsp and divide it in 3-4 equal parts.
Stir them in the chocolate and continue stirring gently with a spatula. Silicone will be nice.
Measure 1/2 cup of sugar.
Add 1/4 cup of milk and…
Stir it in.
Estimate about a tsp of vanilla extract.
By that time the chocolate will be melted. Gently stir it a couple of times to make sure that the pieces are all melted.
Add the milk/sugar/vanilla mixture.
Slowly fold the chocolate to incorporate the addition. A weird thing will happen. The liquid will attract and sort of clamp all the solids together resulting a very thick and paste concoction. Nothing like real chocolate. Off course we are making gunush. That ‘s how it looks like.
Add one more tbsp of butter and let it slowly melt. This will restore some of the shine in the chocolate and some of the fluidity.
Now it is flavor time. I am using a home made spice mix with 1 part clove, two parts cinnamon, 1 part all spice and 1/4 part of star anise.
Lube up a pan.
Cover it with wax or parchment paper and
And get whatever mold you find around to use it. I am using here a star cookie cutter, and the lids of my spices, which actually gave an extra flavor to the chocolate. Put the in the refrigerator or the freezer.
The ganache never really freezes and never becomes fully solid. The chocolate is amazing. And easy to make. The best part is that you can drop a piece in the hot milk to make it hot chocolate drink.
Leave a Reply