The Chocolate Holiday is almost here !!

Forget sentimental cards, diamond earrings and bouquets of roses... Valentine's Day is all about chocolate !!

This year I decided to experiment with the chocolate bark I blogged about two years ago.
Instead of one big round, I made it into individual disks studded with nuts and bits of dried fruit.
It's so very simple,  quick to make and they look beautiful.

I also tried to make some in my silicone baking cups with shredded coconut on the bottom and almonds on top.

It was marginally successful...I wished I had been a little more aggressive about mixing the melted chocolate with the coconut.

I tried the same trick with the disks on the parchment.

With similar results...

I am sure they will all taste delicious !!
I used a mix of two dark chocolates, I find the quality of these bars great for this kind of confection.

Since our microwave oven is broken, I melted my chocolate the old fashioned way, in a double boiler. It is slower, requiring more patient ;-) but does the job, it's best not to let the water boil.

Use your imagination, customize each one, have fun !!

Here are a few other wonderful chocolate desserts to try.

Flour-less chocolate cake

Very Very Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache ( vegan)

The Most Amazing Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Easy Brownies

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Divine Brownies

Chocolate Sorbet

Coconut Bliss Balls

Coconut bliss balls is not the best name for these simple sweet treats, but it is the name they came with so that's what I will call them until I come up with a better name.
My friend Laurie made them for me once upon a time, then made me promise not to blog about them until she did. She has a wonderful food blog herself, check it out. I just looked and she posted about these treat back in December 2014...I guess it's OK if I post about them now ;-)

I was so impressed when I first ate them, then made them, with how simple they are...few ingredients and simple prep, almost too easy. They do need to chill several hours before serving, so take that into consideration if you plan to use them for dessert. They are vegan and gluten free, in case that matters...

Coconut Bliss Balls

Ingredients

    •    2 cup finely shredded coconut
    •    3 Tbsp. coconut oil
    •    2 Tbsp. maple syrup
    •    ½ tsp. vanilla extract
    •    1  cup dark chocolate chips
    •    sea salt

 Makes about 25-27 balls

1) Combine coconut, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor. Blend until well combined into a thick ‘crumb’.

2) Use your hands to mold the coconut crumb into bite-size balls. They should stick together nicely. Place the balls on a piece of wax paper. If you are having trouble getting them to stick together try chilling the mixture for an hour.

3) You can chill them once you formed them into balls or try to coat them now. It depends on the temperature of your kitchen. If you are in Baton Rouge like one of my favorite people, then chilling them will make them easier to dip.



4) When you are ready to dip the balls, melt chocolate chips, I like using the microwave for this, start with 1 minute, then stir, heat for 30 more seconds, stir, until you have a nice soft texture. You can use a double boiler if you prefer. I had trouble getting my soupy enough one time and found that a teaspoon of coconut oil added to the chocolate worked wonders.

5) Use a spoon to dip each ball into the chocolate. This is the messy and sometimes tricky part. Persevere ;-)

6) Sprinkle each ball with a bit of sea salt while the chocolate is still moist. I used this wonderful lavender rosemary sea salt my friend Joni made for me.

7) Refrigerate the balls for two hours (to harden) and enjoy!

Strawberry "shortcake" for the chocolate lover.

A couple weekends ago our friends, Rex and Margaret, came for a visit. Rex is a true chocoholic, so I usually try to come up with some new amazing chocolate dessert.
It is strawberry season, I really wanted to showcase our local fruit and I had made almost every very chocolate dessert in my repertoire...

Somehow I had to get chocolate into my strawberry shortcake, suddenly it hit me, use a brownie for the "shortcake" !!

I love my brownie recipe. It calls for 3 ounces of cream cheese which I didn't have handy so I used the same amount of my thick yogurt instead. And instead of chocolate chips, I took the time to chop some nice dark chocolate into small pieces. The results were fantastic. The brownies were great by themselves and as a base for the strawberries and whipped cream.

It's always a food festival with Rex and Margaret in the house. Here is the rest of the menu from that evening.

Freshly picked asparagus roasted on the grill. Margaret brought us a huge bag from her brother's farm.

Laurie's potatoes.

Three different kinds of sausages from local charcuterie, El Sachichero, also on the grill.

A huge green salad.

Here is happy Rex and that's even before dessert !!

Very Very Chocolate Cookies

"When it comes to chocolate, more is always better."
That's the tag line for these super rich chocolate cookies with walnuts.
They are almost like a round brownie and will make any chocolate lover smile.

Remember to plan ahead as this dough needs to be chilled before baking !!

Ingredients:

5 oz. unsweetened chocolate*, chopped
8 oz. bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup butter
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

1) In a small pan over low heat, melt the unsweetened chocolate and 4 oz. of the bittersweet chocolate. Set aside to cool.

2) Using a standing mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer, whip the eggs and sugar on medium speed for 10 minutes until thick and light in color.

3) With the mixer on low speed, add the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla until blended.

4) With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, baking powder and salt, scraping the bowl.

5) Fold in the remaining 4 oz. of chocolate and the walnuts.

6) Refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to scoop, at least 1 1/2 hours.

7) Preheat oven to 350 F. The original recipe says to use an ungreased cookie sheet, I lined mine with parchment.

8) Drop scoops or large rounded tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.

9) Bake until the cookies are cracked on top, dry on the surface but soft inside, about 15 minutes.

10) Allow to cool for a minute before removing to a cooling rack.

11) Store in a closed container and see how long you can keep them around ;-) They do freeze well if you have that much restraint.

* The second time I made these cookies I did not have unsweetened chocolate, so I used the darkest chocolate I did have. They still came out VERY chocolaty !!

The Most Amazing Chocolate Ice Cream

 Our 27th wedding anniversary this last weekend, the fall equinox and a visit from our friends Rex and Margaret, all conspired to inspire me to make this dark chocolate ice cream. Rex is a committed chocoholic, he prefers the term "connoisseur";-)
Each time he comes to visit I try to make some outrageous chocolate dessert. With our recent garage sale find of the Cuisinart  ice cream maker, this was a natural choice. For Rex the darker chocolate the better !! I was so impressed with how creamy and rich this recipe was.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks

2 cups heavy  whipping cream

1/3 cup  cocoa powder

2/3 cup sugar

6 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1) Coarsely chop the six ounces of dark chocolate.

2) Separate  and whisk together two egg yolks in a medium size bowl.

3) Pour the whipping cream, milk and sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan. To add the cocoa powder I used a sieve to prevent lumps.

4) Whisk all those ingredients and heat over medium high heat until just boiling.

5) Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate in three batches. Make sure it has all melted before adding the next batch.

6) Slowly add a 1/4 cup of the hot chocolate mixture to the egg yolks. Once it is well combined slowly add the remaining chocolate mixture.

7) Return to the stove. Stir over medium heat  until it begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes.

8) Remove from the heat and add one teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 
Mix those in. I allow this to cool a bit before putting it into the fridge to chill.

 9) Best to cool it over night or 5-6 hours before churning. The mixture will thicken as it cools, which is great.

10) Follow the instruction on whatever ice cream machine you have. I love mine, it makes ice cream way too easy !!

11) After churning the ice cream, I stored it in the freezer to serve later that evening.

Here's how happy Rex was with his ice cream.

Look at the cute cookies Margaret made us for our 27th wedding anniversary.

Jean's No Flour Chocolate cake

This dense delicious chocolate cake was first made for me by my dear friend Jean. She along with two other women and myself have been getting together almost every month since our kids were in pre-school together, 20 years I believe !!
We rotate homes and whoever hosts makes dessert and there have been some very memorable desserts.

I forgot to take a photo when I cut this cake recently, and as you can imagine it didn't last long.

Jean's No Flour Chocolate cake

Ingredients

16 oz. semisweet chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter

9 eggs separated

1 cup sugar

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" spring form pan, dust with flour.
2) Chop the chocolate into smaller chunks.

3) Slowly melt butter and chocolate together in a heavy saucepan over low heat, set aside to cool.

.

4) Separate the eggs into two large bowls. 

5) Beat the yolks for about 1 minute, slowly add sugar and continue beating until thick and lemon colored.

6) Beat the whites until they just begin to peak.

7) Add cooled chocolate mixture to yolks and blend thoroughly.

8) Pour this mixture into egg whites and fold in gently until completely blended. 

9) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. 

10) Cool 1/2 hour or longer before turning out onto a serving plate.The cake will rise and then fall as it cools.

11) May be served with whipped cream, ice cream, garnish with fresh strawberries and slivered almonds.

Enjoy.

Molten Chocolate Cakes or Lava Cakes

Several weeks ago some friends came to stay with us for the weekend. Rex is a true chocoholic so I knew this would be the perfect time to try this dessert. Bob and I shared one our last night in Melbourne and I have been wanting an excuse ever since. I know molten chocolate cakes have been around for a while, I found this recipe on the New York Times website...they do make an impressive dessert to serve for guests.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup  butter, plus more to butter the molds
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona or some other high quality dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons flour, plus more for dusting

They carry Valrhona at Trader Joe's !!

1) If you are going to bake them right away, preheat the oven to 450 F. They can prepared in advanced but should be baked right before serving.
2) Prepare four ramekins or custard cups, buttering them and then dusting them with flour.

3) In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is almost completely melted.

4) While that's heating, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar with a whisk or electric beater until light and thick.

Here's Rex beating the eggs and sugar. That is one happy guy !!

 5) Beat together the melted chocolate and butter; it should be quite warm.

 6) Pour the egg mixture into the melted chocolate and butter.

 7) Then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined.

8) Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate the desserts until you are ready to eat, for up to several hours; bring them back to room temperature before baking.) Place the ramekins on a baking sheet.

9) Bake the molds for 5 to 6 minutes; the center will still be quite soft, but the sides will be set. And trust me they only need to bake for that long !!

10)  Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately.

11) We served ours with a decadent array of ice cream choices, whipped cream would be good as well.

Rex picked out four flavors: chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel gelato and coconut bliss.

I found that I would have preferred splitting one of these very rich little gems.
A whole one was too much for me, I ate it anyway ;-)
And we were surprised to find that they are great the next day cold, they turn into a fudgy brownie-like cake !!