Chocolate Week

Had some trouble posting this but I think it's all straightened out now. Anyways, as I was trying to say before, the pastry chef course I have been taking is coming down to the finish line. Next Monday we have our final test( gulp!). This past week was the first of two lesson about chocolate. We learned about the origins of chocolate, how it is made, what makes a fine chocolate and how to work with it in baking. Next week comes the candy part. The 4 recipes we made were all quite simple, but very rich and delicious, as well as impressive on the plate. (Not to mention impressive on the waistline!)

Coconut Chocolate-Orange Treat

three layers of a coconut macaroon type with chocolate-orange ganache in between-

total decadence!

Three Chocolate Cookies-

a chocolate cookie with bitter, milk and white chocolate chip pieces

(at home I exchanged the white chocolate chips for peanut butter chips- both were amazing!)

Cremeux chocolate tart-

a delicious base with chocolate, carmelized nuts, butter and a bit of flour (wow!),

a crispy middle and cremeux in between! Hard to describe the incredible flavor.

Coffee-Chocolate Brownies with a cheese and white chocolate topping- just the best!

Recipe for these brownies ( which can also be marbelized instead of having the cheese on top)

For a small square pan( I used an aluminum 25cm x 18 cm)

Brownie mix:

80 g. dark chocolate

80 g. butter

1 tsp. instant coffee diluted in 1 Tblsp. hot water

100 g. brown sugar

60 g. white sugar

2 eggs

60 g. white flour

pinch of salt

20 g. chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 170 C (325 F)

Butter the pan well.

Melt the chocolate, butter and coffee in a double boiler ( bain marie) . Mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and sugar well and then add to the chocolate mix which has been removed from the heat source. Continue to mix until smooth. Add the flour, walnuts and salt and lightly mix.

Pour into pan and bake 17 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the cheese topping:

30 ml. heavy cream

75 g. white chocolate

100 grams cream cheese (here in Israel I use a soft white cheese that is 9% fat) If you use Philadelphia, be sure it is softened to room temperature.

25 g/ sugar

1 egg

20 g. flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt the heavy cream and white chocolate in a double boiler. In a separate bowl mix the cheese, sugar , egg and vanilla. Mix in the chocolate mix. Add the flour and mix well until smooth with no lumps.

As soon as the brownies are finished baking for 17 minutes, take them out and carefully pour the cheese mix on top ( start from the sides and let in fill in towards the middle) and return to the oven for another 15 minutes to set. The top should not brown. Cool completely and cut in to small squares (they are very rich!) I dusted some with cocoa and some with confectioner's sugar and set them on a plate in a checkerboard fashion. Use your imagination!