Truffles (not the fungus)

Well, it's been a busy week and work and will be for another 9 days, so I'm not expecting to have much energy for posting until April. So, here's one of my very favorite things to make: chocolate truffles. They are so not hard to make, but they're so tasty, and there is a lot of room for variations and playing around with it. I'll share some of my experiments, but please let me know what you come up with, too! If you've never made them before, I would start with the basic recipe.

By the way, the parsley sprouted a couple days ago and it has well caught up to the basil, which sprouted over a week before. I'm so excited to see what happens!

Makes about 30.

8 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream (aka heavy whipping cream)
2 tablespoons liqueur such as Cognac or Grand Marnier or plain vanilla extract (very optional)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1. Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a small, heavy saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes; gently stir until smooth. Add liqueur and stir to combine. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.

2. Sift cocoa into a bowl. Using a measuring spoon, scoop up 1 teaspoon of chocolate, and quickly roll into a ball about 3/4 inch across. Drop into cocoa; roll each truffle in cocoa to coat. Chill until firm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

TIPS: I've made this a few times and the first few were terrific duds. I got this recipe off of Epicurious.com and one thing I like about this site is you can print off selected reviews from other people who've tried it (sort of like a whole lot of me's giving advice on the same recipe). It does cause issues. This one person said she was a pastry chef, and it drives her crazy to see a recipe with chocolate that doesn't call for a pinch of salt. That seemed reasonable, but every time I've tried it with the salt, the truffles don't ever set, and I end up using the ganache as a middle layer in brownies. And I've never seen a truffle recipe, or ganache recipe for that matter, that calls for salt. So don't do it. Also, it really means heavy cream (aka heavy whipping cream). I also learned the hard way that this is not the same thing as whipping cream. It must say "heavy," or, again, you're just making chocolate goo.

Also, it will be tempting, but no matter how small of a batch you are making, do not microwave the milk to get it to boiling. It won't keep the heat long enough to melt the chocolate.

As for the chocolate, I really like using good quality chocolate chips, not chopping up a bar. It's cheaper and easier.

I really can't vouch for whether these will last for 2 weeks in the fridge. They rarely make it to 2 days.

Other tips: you can add whatever dash of flavoring that you want, or none. I like vanilla, but I'd also like to try mint extract. Whatever you use, it will really be a subtle addition. And you can roll it in whatever you want. I like confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder.

Jean got me an awesome melon baller as a wedding present and that's a really great tool to use for scooping out the chocolate. It's all in the wrist.

Last batch, I wanted to try shaping the ganache some other way than balls. I have a lot of candy molds, and what I did was temper some bittersweet chocolate (I'll post on that later), mix in a pinch of chili powder for kicks, coat the molds with the tempered chocolate, let that harden, and then glop in the ganache. Then I sprinkled the top of the mold (which will be the bottom after I pop them out) with my sugar/cocoa powder mix, and chill until its hard. I was afraid it would stick to the mold, but it turned out really well. I think it's because the chocolate was tempered.... I'm not sure I'd try this by putting the ganache right into the mold. Maybe it would work, who knows!

Mom's Bells and Whistles Irish Soda Bread Part 2: The Bread Itself

1/2c currants or raisins
3T Irish Whiskey (Bourbon may not be used as a substitute though Scotch may be)
3c sifted flour
1t salt
1 1/2t baking powder
1t baking soda
1T light brown sugar
1/4c chopped candied orange peel
2t caraway powder or seeds (I prefer the seeds)
1 1/2c or more buttermilk (see directions below)

Soak currants or raisins in whiskey an hour or more.
Sift all dry ingredients together.
Toss currants/raisins & whiskey marinade through flour mix.
Mix in orange peel & caraway.
Stir in enough buttermilk to make a light dough, like muffin dough.

Use greased, floured 10" circular pan or skillet.

Bake at 350 for 35 min.

Cake should shrink from sides of pan when done.

Cool 1 1/2 - 2 hr. before serving.


RESULTS: Victory!! This was what I wanted. I don't care for the orange peel in the bread, though, but everything else is great. This is a little wetter and softer than the other bread, and if you don't put it in the round pan like it says to, it spreads out a bit like a giant cookie. Still good though. I'm not sure the currants and whiskey add much, so if you don't care for those, I think you can leave them out. The dough is just really tasty. Sorry Beth, Mom wins!

PS: I gave some to Suz and Brad WHO JUST GOT ENGAGED!!!! and Suz said she COULD taste the currants (couldn't taste the whiskey) and the oranges were her favorite part, and thought they worked perfectly with the currants. So, I'd say, if your tastes lean that way, go for it. The oranges were fun to make, anyway,

Mom's Bells and Whistles Irish Soda Bread Part 1: Candied Orange Peels

Mom has been sleuthing for me the best candied orange peel to use in this recipe. Many recipes that she found assume that you'll be coating them in chocolate, which we felt wouldn't be the right one. I found two recipes in Joy of Cooking, and am trying the easier one (version 2), which is a quicker process (save the soaking overnight part) that makes a softer peel (I thought this would be better in a bread), but they don't keep as long (not a problem). My problem with Joy of Cooking is that she has a high opinion of her readers and their instincts so her recipes are often open to interpretation. This kind of overestimation has burned me in the past, so I'll try to add my own notes.

• Cut into strips grapefruit or orange peel (I used one orange).
• Soak for 24 hours in salt water to cover, using 1 T salt to 4 cups of water (I ended up only needing 1 cup of water to cover)
• Drain peel.
• Rinse and soak for 20 minutes in fresh water.
• Drain, cover with fresh water and boil for 20 minutes (I did this on med. high heat).
• Drain again.
• Measure sugar in equal parts with the peel (My peel, when smooshed into a measuring cup, was about 3/4 c, so I used that much sugar)
• Cook the peel (I used med. to med. low heat). Add a VERY little water, ONLY if necessary, until the peel has absorbed the sugar.
• Shake the pot as the syrup diminishes, so that the peel does not burn.
• Dry thoroughly and store tightly covered.

RESULTS: Well, this is a delight to cook. The peels were just beautiful in the pot, and they started off with that sharp orange smell, but then they smelled spicier, and there was a caramelly under-smell. They taste good, too. I have no idea what the ideal orange peel would be like for this bread recipe, but just looking at the oranges, they seem to have a lot of sugar caked on them, a little like rock salt but not nearly as hard. I wonder if I used too much sugar, or if I stirred too much in the beginning or shook too much toward the end. I'll likely make these again, I want to try dipping them in chocolate (which the first recipe in the book is designed for).

Foodie Tours

Brielle, my friend from high school, and her husband Chris have started a website called Foodie Tours (see the link on the right side). It's all about culinary vacations, and they have a bookstore. Eventually, they'd like to gear up to have bookings online, but right now they're focusing on populating the forum and have started a posting contest.

dried mushrooms revisited

I know what I did wrong with the gritty mushrooms. See my reply to Dave here.

By the way, has everyone heard that they're making the last Harry Potter book into TWO movies?

Basil sprouts

Here are some basil sprout pictures:

What I thought I'd do was put them in the bottom trays of the pots because the books recommended sowing them in trays. I didn't count on so many sprouts coming up, so this might be a little hard to keep just the few best sprouts. I might just let them duke it out for a bit. I won't transplant until they get their first set of true leaves, looks like it could be a couple weeks still. I'll keep you posted! By the way, the macro setting on the camera works much better when the zoom isn't on, as I just found out. I tried taking all these pictures of flowers before, and it didn't work because I thought you had to have macro on AND zoom. Silly me.

Chris and I went out for dinner tonight. I had a Stromboli with tomatoes, cheese, garlic and CRAB. It was good. I'm going to smell like garlic for a while, though. :)

Blech!

I made a sauce for ravioli today that was made from dried porcini mushrooms and butter, cream and shallots. Dis-gusting. The mushrooms were completely gritty, it was like eating sand. Luckily, we tasted the sauce before pouring it on the ravioli, so we just had the ravioli with butter. I might be better with fresh mushrooms, but I think I'll forever associate that flavor with grit. Chris wasn't too excited about the smell, either.

It's been an eventful week here. I caught a 36-hour bug, Chris pulled a shoulder muscle, Harper swallowed a mysterious pointy something, so we've been on dog-watch all night to make sure she doesn't puncture her stomach. I think she's fine, though. Thanks to her vet, Dr. Beth!

In quieter news, my basil is totally spouting. There are little basil plants all over the tray, it's great. I hope some of them make it to adulthood. No parsley yet, but there isn't supposed to be since it takes so long to sprout. Yesterday was also gloriously warm and sunny. Spring can't be far off now. Hurray!

By the way, for those of you know someone celebrating their 100 Wedding Anniversary, apparently the gift to give is a 10K diamond. We're just going to stick to paper this year.