Wanted: Chocolate recipes for my birthday tomorrow.

[politicat]

As of tomorrow (actually, due to time changes, 11:20 pm tonight), I will be thirty, and so I'm blowing off the diet tomorrow in favor of things ooey-gooey, rich, complex and wonderful.

The kitchen is clean, I have 3 pounds of really good semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 can of ghiradelli chocolate powder, 1 box of belgian cocoa powder, a jar of homemade vanilla extract, flour, milk, half and half, eggs, baking powder, yeast, baking soda, a couple of bars of cream cheese, coffee, butter.... and a grocery store a mile away if I need something else. Oh, and pretty much every liqueur that goes well with chocolate except khalua (for some reason...)

So gimme some chocolate love....

[NMDemDist2]

1. here's a Happy Birthday kick

and a link to the infamous Max's cookies from the evil Old Lefty

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=12351

[politicat]

7. Thanks!

(Those cookies look incredible, but I'm not sure making them in a small batch is possible....)

[Lugnut]

2. Happy birthday politicat!

:toast: I hope you have a chocolaty one. :)

[Tab]

3. No recipes, but happy birthday!

n/t

[eyesroll]

4. Happy birthday, politicat!

(We're the same age!)

I'd say go for some fondue, if you have a pot or can rig one. We did fondue on New Year's eve -- just heated some milk and a little butter, melted chocolate chips in it, threw in a shot of Frangelico (after determining that the amount of alcohol in less than a third of a shot -- i.e. what the toddler will eat -- will not hurt her) and poured it into the fondue pot. We dipped bananas, strawberries, marshmallows and graham crackers. (Homemade graham crackers are really simple and good, too -- holler if you want the recipe; it's on my home computer so I'll get it tonight.)

[politicat]

8. The recipe would be grand when you get a chance!

Thanks so much!

[eyesroll]

11. I remembered where I found it (on a Washington Post restaurant chat

of all places), so here goes (keep in mind this will produce a more strongly flavored and textured cracker than you're used to from storebought -- the three-year-old who was then two complained the first time I gave 'em to her -- but they're good in their own right, make excellent s'mores, and pretty decent peanut-butter-and-banana vehicles too).

GRAHAM CRACKERS (Makes 12 2 1/2-inch squares)

4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) butter, softened
1 egg, well beaten
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups graham flour plus extra for dusting
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a bowl, and beat until smooth
and creamy. Stir in the honey and blend. Dissolve the baking soda in the
water and add to the butter mixture. Add the salt, graham flour and
all-purpose flour to the mixture, and blend thoroughly. The dough should
hold together and be manageable. If it is too "tacky," add a little more
graham flour.

Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a
thickness of about 1/8 inch. For convenience in handling, cut the rolled
dough into three or four sections that will fit on your cookie sheet.
With a knife score the dough, without cutting through, into 2 1/2-inch
squares. Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork. Using a
spatula, place the sections of scored cracker dough on an ungreased
cookie sheet. Bake on the first side for 8 minutes at 350 degrees, then
turn the crackers over and bake for another 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from
the oven and cool on racks.

To make cinnamon graham crackers, substitute 4 tablespoons sugar
for the honey, and add 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

5. happy birthday!

Some of my favorites. I don't know if you have all the ingredients, but I'll post them anyhow.

WARM SOFT CHOCOLATE CAKE

8 tbs butter, plus extra for molds
2 teasp flour, plus a little for dusting
4 squares (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 450. Butter & lightly flour 4 4-oz molds. Tap out excess flour. In a double boiler, gently heat butter & chocolate until almost melted. Beat eggs, yolks & sugar until light & thick.
Beat melted chocolate, butter together. While still warm, pour into egg mixture. then quickly beat in flour until combined.
Divide batter among molds. (At this point, it can be refrigerated for several hours. Bring to room temp before cooking)
Bake molds on a baking sheet for 12 minutes' the centers will still be quite soft, but the sides will be set.
Invert each onto a plate & let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner; cake will fall out onto plate.

Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake

Must be made the day before.

1 lb semisweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
9 eggs, separated
½ cup plus 1 tsp sugar
3 tbs cocoa powder
3 tbs confectioners sugar
½ pint heavy cream, whipped

Preheat oven to 300. Butter & flour a 9 inch springform pan. Line the bottom w/parchment paper. Then butter & flour the lining.

Melt chocolate & butter in a double boiler over low heat, stirring to blend. Remove from heat & set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks w/ ½ cup of sugar until the mixture forms a ribbon. In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites w/ 1 tsp sugar & beat until the mixture forms soft peaks. Set aside.

In a separate bowl fold together one-third of the chocolate mixture with one-third of the egg whites. Repeat until the three mixtures are incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan & bake for 30 minutes. (Do not overbake-the center of the cake should still be soft.) Remove from the oven & place on wire rack to cool for 3 hours.

Dust the top of the cake w/ 1 tbs of cocoa, sifted. Then dust w/1 tbs confectioners sugar, sifted. Then repeat. Refrigerate the cake overnight in the pan. Before serving, let the cake stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Dust it again with the remaining 1 tbs each of cocoa & confectioners sugar & remove cake from pan..

To serve: Slice cake w/ hot knife & serve w/ whipped cream


Tiger Tea Cakes
6 large egg whites, room temp
235 grams ground blanched almonds
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 ½ tbs light corn syrup
1 stick plus 7 tbs butter
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
bittersweet chocolate ganache

Whisk egg whites just to break them up. Add almonds, sugar, flour & corn syrup & stir until batter is smooth. Cover bowl tightly w/plastic wrap & refrigerate 2 hours or as long as overnight.

Position rack to divide oven into thirds & preheat to 350. Butter enough muffin molds to make 16 large tigres. Molds that hold 1/3 cup equals 16 cakes. Mini-muffin molds that hold 2 tbs will make 48 cakes. Remove batter from refrigerator
Put the butter in a small sauce pan & bring to boil over medium heat. Remove from heat & stir into batter. When batter is no longer warm, stir in the chocolate

Spoon 3 tbs into regular muffin mold or 1 tbs in mini muffin mold. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until puffed & golden. Knife should come out clean. Let cool 2 to 3 minutes then turn out onto racks to cool to room temp.

Top w/ ganache. Can also be filled.

Tigres will keep in covered container at room temp for 3 days. Ganache topped tigres are best eaten the day they are made. Packed airtight, cakes can be frozen for up to one month.


Ganache
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped.
1 cup heavy cream.
4 oz butter, cut into 4 pieces, room temp

Heat cream in small saucepan, bring to full boil, pour over chocolate & let stand for 30 seconds. Using a whisk, very gently sir until chocolate is melted, then whisk in the butter until melted

Kate's Famous Brownies
Makes 1 (8-by-8-inch) pan
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a heavy saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and butter. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Quickly stir in walnuts, flour, and salt.
Spread batter in a well-greased 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Remove pan to a rack to cool.
(From Katharine Hepburn.)

[politicat]

9. Yum and Thanks!

I could get really fat and happy on those!

[Dora]

6. Happy Birthday!!!

No recipes. Just some DU birthday love.

:party: :hug:

[politicat]

10. Thank you!

I love this group!

[kestrel91316]

12. Why bother with baking? Just open the chocolate chips up and

start eating.

[spindrifter]

13. Can't fudge on this...

Happy Birthday!

[ernstbass]

14. Happy birthday

I just started a diet so I'm trying not to think chocolate but a rich chocolate ganache would be great - enjoy!!!

[babylonsister]

15. I hope you had a grand birthday, politicat! nt

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Pour vous ...........

http://www.eilenbergerbakery.com.nyud.net:8090/images/ChocBirthWeb.jpg

[politicat]

17. What was the picture?

It didn't come up at all for me. (Sigh.)

Thanks!

[NMDemDist2]

18. right click the image icon and chose "view"

cuz it's bootiful!

[politicat]

20. The icon never came up.

[housewolf]

19. Belatedly...

Happy Birthday, Policat!

What wonderful chocolate delicacy did you decide on? Was it as wonderful as you wanted?

[politicat]

21. I didn't.... It was kind of a hell day.

All hell broke loose financially - our bank lost a payment to the credit card company (well, actually, the CC company didn't record the payment; thank dog I had proof they got it electronically... ) so I spent several hours straightening that out. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the housefire in December, so that's just a joy and a half (not), and I got the wrong birthday present from DH (he bought me pearls, but not ones I would normally wear - they're a multi-colored strand of dyed cultured, and while I like pink, black and cream pearls, in the same strand, they look funky. ) So it wasn't a great day to get in the kitchen and do anything - I was so stressed and frustrated I would have just broken something.

So DH bought me Pad Si Yew from the Thai place on the way home, and picked up a strawberry cheese cake and Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie ice cream (both things I like) and turned on the new CD he bought me (the soundtrack for the tv show, Firefly, which has some incredible instrumentation and really good composition for pieces that were supposed to be very short...)

And today was no better. Tomorrow's not looking up, either. Grr. Argh.

[housewolf]

22. Bummer Birthday!

Oh Pollicat, I'm SOOoo sorry your birthday turned out to be such a horrible day!

Let me offer you this, it's a Black Forest Cake, a quite exceptional one, I think. Maybe it will at least give you a smile and a bit of a chocolatey-warm feeling.








What we have here is (bottom to top): dark, soft-crumbed cocoa cake soaked deeply with a kirsch syrup; kirsch-flavored whipped cream, studded with spice-and-port-soaked sour cherries; another layer of dark cocoa cake; thick chcolate whipped cream; another layer of dark cocoa cake; topped with another layer of chocolate whipped cream covered all over with a thin layer of lightly sweetened whipped cream and a crown of dark chocolate curls.

Well if you're not a Black Forest fan, how about this one?



It's a "Pave" (pa-vay) cake - dark cocoa cake soaked with caramel syrup, layer of ganache topped with plummped apricots, layer of dark cocoa cake soaked with caramel syrup, layer of ganache topped with plummped apricots, top layer of dark cocoa cake soaked with caramel syrup, covered all over with ganache. Maybe that will tickle your fancy?



I hope that you get through this nasty-phase quickly and without breaking anything. Please take care of yourself and treat yourself very well. I hope the rest of this year is filled with joyous surprises for you and your family,