Chocolate Tartelettes

Tartelettes au Chocolat, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.
These tartelettes will satisfy any chocolate lover, as they have both dark and white chocolate in them. I made them last night and was surprised at just how easy they were to put together.

The buttery crust of pâte brisée goes well with the dark chocolate ganache, and makes for a delicious dessert that is sure to please.

The recipe is posted below:

Chocolate Tartelettes

Makes six 4.4-inch tartelettes.

Pâte brisée:

Recipe adapted from Paulette Buteux's La Cuisine Toute Simple, 1973.

- 200 g flour
- pinch of salt
- 100 g butter
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of cold water
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar*

*I added some sugar to the dough to make it a little sweeter, since it is after all a dessert.

Sift the flour into a bowl, throw in the pinch of salt, and make the flour into a mountain-shaped pile. Preheat the oven to about 400° F.

Cut the butter into small pieces and put them in the center of the flour mound. Add the 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, and knead rapidly (or use an electric mixer). Work the dough just until it is smooth, does not stick, and is firm enough to be rolled out.

Roll the dough out until it is about 1/5th of an inch thick. Drape the dough over your buttered tartelette molds and press into the corners. Gently press the bottom of a measuring cup onto the dough to ensure that it evenly covers each tartelette mold. Use a fork to poke holes in the crusts so that they do not puff up in the oven.

Bake the tartelettes in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the crusts are starting to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the crusts burn!

Dark chocolate ganache:

- 10-12 ounces of dark chocolate (62-70% cocoa content), chopped
- 3/4 cup of heavy cream

Heat the cream in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Add the chocolate and let sit for about 1-2 minutes. After waiting the 1-2 minutes, whisk the chocolate-cream mixture together until smooth.

White chocolate ganache:

- 4 ounces of white chocolate
- 1/4 cup of heavy cream

Follow the same instructions for the dark chocolate ganache above, but let it thicken for about 10 minutes after whisking. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag (or a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off).

Assembly:

Carefully remove the crusts from the tartelette pans. Fill the crusts with dark chocolate ganache until there is about 1/4 of an inch left between the chocolate and the top of the crust. Pipe the white chocolate ganache onto the dark chocolate in your choice of design. Refrigerate the tartelettes until the ganache has become fairly solid.

When ready to serve, remove the tartelettes from the refrigerator and let stand for about 20 minutes at room temperature so that they soften a little.

Thomas Keller Oreos

Thomas Keller Oreos, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Here's a cookie that will knock most peoples' socks off: the Thomas Keller Oreo, or TKO.

Mr. Keller, the world-famous chef who owns the French Laundry restaurant, came up with his own interpretation of the Oreo, and his recipe has made it into the public.

These cookies are really good: the cookie part is actually chocolatey, with a buttery, crumbly, slightly crispy, melt-in-your-mouth texture. The filling really is a white chocolate cream filling, not some artificial concoction.

Easy to make and wonderful to eat, they're worth a try. The recipe is posted below (I got it from http://curiouslyravenous.blogspot.com/, where it was in turn taken from the cookbook The Essence of Chocolate, by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger.

Thomas Keller Oreos (TKO's)

From The Essence of Chocolate
Makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies.

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups plus 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar – *I would use 1.5 more tablespoons*
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
15 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, at room temperature – *I used 1 more tbsp.*

Filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped

1. For the Filling: In a small pan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk to melt the chocolate until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let stand for 6 hours to thicken up.

2. For the Cookies: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter, a piece at a time. The mixture will be dry and sandy at first, but over 2 minutes, will form pebble-size pieces that start to cling together. Stop the mixer and transfer the dough to your board.

3. Preheat oven to 350° F (300° F in our too-hot oven). Separate dough into 2 pieces. Roll each piece of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to 1/8" inch thick. Using a fluted cutter, cut into rounds. Scraps can be pieced together and rolled out again. Place 1/2" apart on baking sheets lined with Silpat liners or parchment paper.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

5. To Assemble: Lightly whip the white chocolate cream to aerate and fluff up. Transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" plain tip. Pipe about 1 1/2 tsp in the center of half the cookies. Top with another cookie to sandwich. Gently press down until the cream comes to the edges.

6. Cookies can be stored in a container for up to 3 days. Loosely cover.

Obtained from:

http://curiouslyravenous.blogspot.com/2007/12/tkos-thomas-keller-oreos.html

Homemade Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

I know it's not ice cream season, but just bear with me... ;)

A while back, a good friend of mine brought back some dark chocolate from France. After experimenting with many different ice cream flavors, including rose and lemon verbena, I decided I needed to make a good and simple chocolate ice cream.

Tasty ice cream can be surprisingly easy to make, and toying with a basic vanilla recipe can yield delicious results. In this case though, the chocolate needed to be melted with hot milk and cream, and then chilled, which added a few hours to the whole process.

Mousse au Chocolat

See recipe below.

A Tasty French Dessert...

I obtained this recipe from an out-of-print French cookbook.

Chocolate Mousse

Preparation: 15 to 18 minutes
Cooking time: 4 to 5 minutes

For 6 people:

-- 200 g very good quality and slightly bitter chocolate (it exists in the trade as special dessert chocolate)
-- 150 grams of powdered sugar
-- 4 eggs + 1 white
-- 1 tablespoon rum
-- ¼-½ cup of very strong coffee

Break chocolate into very small pieces, put it in a large pot (you will need to add the well- beaten egg whites [in French, known as “snowy eggs” because of their white color], it is necessary to provide a pan of sufficient size), add coffee, and put in a bain-marie or in a hot oven to soften the chocolate, and when it is pasty, add the rum, mix well to get a thick and smooth cream.
Break the eggs and separate whites from yellows, add the yolks to the chocolate cream, mix thoroughly.
Beat all the egg whites into a firm, fluffy white snow, gradually incorporating the powdered sugar.
Very delicately add the egg whites to the chocolate cream.
Pour into bowls, and put in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Tip: You can replace the rum with two tablespoons of orange-based liqueur (triple sec) and incorporate into the chocolate mousse chopped orange peel comfit.

Obtained from:

Buteux, Paulette. La cuisine toute simple. Éditions Stock, 1973.