SHF #27: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Toffee Hazelnut Sauce

This month's Sugar High Friday caught my eye. How could it not? It's all about chocolate!! And I love me some chocolate - the more chocolate, the better is what I say.

It wasn't easy choosing one recipe. I rifled through cookbooks and websites, I viewed and reviewed my pantry, and I thought long and hard about chocolate.

Oh what a difficult, tragic life I lead.




I wound up mixing a few ideas together - like I usually do - and came up with something sure to fit any craving: chocolate, nuts, salt, and rich caramelly toffee. Okay, I suppose this wouldn't satisfy a fruit craving, but I suppose you could chuck some raspberries on there.

As to the brand of chocolate, I went with my current favorite "almost as good as Scharffen Berger" high cacao choice: Nestle Chocolatier bittersweet chocolate. This is an affordable option when you want rich, smooth, true chocolate taste without having to go to a specialty store and spend a bit more than you intended. Let's face it: just about everyone is on a budget and you can't always manage highest-quality. You won't sacrifice taste using Nestle Chocolatier, especially in baked products.
Not only did I use Nestle's chocolate, but I also used their Molten Chocolate Cake recipe to make the cupcakes.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsalted butter
8oz Nestle Chocolatier bittersweet chocolate (either morsels, or chopped bar form)
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 1 T sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 T AP flour

Preheat oven to 425*. Grease a muffin tin liberally with Crisco.

Place eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed with the whisk attachment until fluffy and light yellow, about 8 minutes. The mixture will drizzle into the bowl in a slowly-dissolving ribbon when it's been mixed enough.

While the eggs are being mixed: In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the chocolate and stir constantly, until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.

Switch to the paddle attachment (or, if not using a stand mixer, a sturdy spatula).
Slowly add 1/3 of the chocolate to the egg mixture, stirring slowly. Once the chocolate is incorporated, add the rest of the chocolate and the flour. Mix on low speed until a somewhat thin batter is formed.

Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set around the edges and slightly jiggly in the center. Place pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
Gently run a knife around the edge of each muffin and turn out onto a rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

Serve warm with Salted Toffee Hazelnut Sauce, ice cream, or whipped cream.

(note: this recipe can also be made in 6 6-oz ramekins and will have a "molten" liquid center)

Salted Toffee Hazelnut Sauce

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
1 t vanilla
1 t kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, stir until the butter and sugar melt.


Continue stirring occasionally until the mixture comes to a full boil - 5-7 minutes. Once it reaches a boil, let it boil without stirring for 1 minute.

Remove sauce from the heat and let cool about 10 minutes.

Spoon over cupcakes.

Technorati: chocolate : dessert : sugar high friday : The Bizarre Kitchen Incident

A Truffle-licious Christmas

Truffles seem to be the rage this holiday season, don't they? Everywhere I look, someone is making a batch to give as gifts or to bring to a party - and everywhere I look these people are posting pictures and oh my GAWD does it all look good!

When I asked our Christmas Eve dinner hosts if I could bring something and was asked in return what I'd like to bring, truffles were still on my mind. I offered to bring dessert (along with an appetizer and my Infamous Mashed Taters) with the idea to make some ostentatiously delicious truffles.

While I was at it, I decided to make some extras to bag up in these cute li'l cello bags with Santa on them to use as small thank-you gifts to some local businesses we frequent. Living in a small town like we do, one gets to know those they do business with on a regular basis.

I firmly believe you just can't go wrong when you turn to Jacques Torres for confectionery goodness.

Truffles by Jacques Torres
from Dessert Circus at Home
makes about 180 small truffles

18oz heavy cream
21oz bittersweet or dark chocolate, good quality (note: that new Nestle Chocolatier stuff? Yeah, thassgood.)

Chop chocolate into small bits with a large serrated knife. Place in a large bowl.
Over medium heat, gently warm the cream until small bubbles form around the edge
Pour half the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Using a whisk, stir until the chocolate begins to melt. Add the rest of the cream gradually, whisking to incorporate.

If you wish to flavor all or part of your ganache, do so now. You can use liqueurs or spirits like Grand Marnier, or you can use flavoring extracts like coconut or mint. Add the flavoring gradually to taste.

White Chocolate Truffles

6oz heavy cream
16oz white chocolate, chopped fine

Repeat above process to make the white chocolate ganache.


Pour warm ganache into a half sheet pan, a 13x9 baking pan, or other relatively flat container. Chill in the refrigerator about 1 hour, or until firm.

Meanwhile, prepare baking sheets or half sheet pans by lining with parchment paper, wax paper, or silicone baking mats.

When the ganache is firm, use a melon baller or a teaspoon to portion the chocolate onto the prepared pans. Don't worry about making them look pretty; you can do that later.
Alternately, you can pull the ganache a little sooner, when it's of toothpaste consistency, and use a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (Wilton 1A or 2A). Pipe small dollops onto prepared pans.
Chill ganache again for at least 1 hour, or until the chocolate lumps are firm.

Once the chocolate is firm again, quickly roll each into a ball using your hands and then roll in your desired coating.

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, though they won't last that long.

Possible coatings

About the only limit is your imagination! You can use:
Cocoa powder
Confectioner's sugar
Finely chopped nuts
Coconut - toasted or untoasted
Crushed hard candies
Ground spices ("mellow" them out with confectioner's sugar or cornstarch)

---

I made two recipes of the plain chocolate and 1/2 recipe of the white chocolate and turned them all into 6 different types of truffle.

Bittersweet chocolate coated in cocoa powder
Bittersweet chocolate flavored with coconut, coated in crushed macadamia nuts
Bittersweet chocolate coated in toasted crushed almonds
White chocolate coated in crushed candy canes
Bittersweet chocolate coated in honey dust
Bittersweet chocolate half-coated in crushed toasted almonds and half dipped in white chocolate, with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.

The only brownie recipe you'll ever need

Attn dieters: STAY FAR AWAY!!!

Much like the Infamous Mashed Taters, these brownies are a special occasion food.

This is a slightly modified version of Alton Brown's brownie recipe (all hail Alton!). In my eyes, Mr. Brown can do no wrong, but sometimes my personal tastes dictate some minor deviation from his gospel of food.
Not only are these amazingly delicious, but you probably have everything you need to make them in your kitchen right now.

Rich Fudgy Brownies

8 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1lb butter, melted
2 1/2 cups cocoa powder (like Hershey's)
1 1/2 T pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
2 t kosher salt
1 T cinnamon

Dark chocolate chips (like Hershey's Special Dark or Ghirardelli Dark)
Chopped nuts - optional

Butter and flour a 13x9 pan. Preheat oven to 300*.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and cinnamon.
Whip the eggs until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars and beat until creamy.
Add the melted butter, salt, and vanilla and blend well.
Add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing well between each addition. When all the dry ingredients have been added, continue to mix for a minute or two until the batter is smooth and thick.

Pour batter into the prepared baking pan. Liberally sprinkle chocolate chips over the entire top of the batter to cover.
If using nuts, sprinkle the chopped nut of your choice on with the chocolate chips.

Bake at 300* for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs sticking to it. Watch carefully, as you don't want these to overbake - and they're overbaked if your toothpick comes out clean

Let cool 30 minutes or so before you try to cut them.


If you like a no muss, no fuss brownie that's moist, dense, rich, and incredibly chocolatey, then this is the brownie for you. The flour is almost an afterthought, just enough there to hold things together. There's nothing extraneous here - just chocolate with a hint of cinnamon to deepen the flavor.

Technorati: brownies : chocolate : dessert : The Bizarre Kitchen Incident