Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Ginger Biscotti

I often get asked how I plan menus for the my clients. Do they request certain things? Do I have an existing list that they choose from? The truth is, no - I just bring what I feel like making and they eat it. It's a pretty ideal situation because it allows me to be creative and also indulge any cravings I might have. Those cravings can come from just something I am in the mood for, from seasonal ingredients, or from trying to recreate a flavor I enjoyed.

Last week on our vacation, Randy bought some macadamia nut and ginger biscotti at a little bakery on Kauai (macadamia nuts - as you might imagine - are everywhere in Hawaii). They were hard as rocks so I didn't have more than a bite, but it got me craving a chocolate ginger biscotti I made years ago. I love chocolate, I love ginger, and the combination here is intoxicating. These are quite crisp - they have no butter - but they have an incredibly rich taste.


A few notes about this recipe. If there is a Trader Joe's near you, buy your crystallized ginger there. It is very soft and easy to chop. I used to buy it in the bulk section of grocery stores and always found it to be stale and fibrous. Make sure to chop the hazelnuts nice and fine - it will facilitate the slicing later. This dough is very sticky, so I recommend keeping your hands moist while you work with it - either by using cooking spray or water. Finally, the recipe calls for drizzling the white chocolate over the finished cookies. I can never get white chocolate to a "drizzling" consistency so I just dunked half in the melted stuff. Can anyone help me out here? What is the white chocolate secret??

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Ginger Biscotti
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes about 25

1 2/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

6 oz. good-quality white chocolate (such as Baker's or Lindt)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift first 5 ingredients into mixing bowl. Add 3 eggs and vanilla; beat until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. nuts, and crystallized ginger (dough will be firm). Sprinkle a little cocoa powder on a work surface and either spray your hands with cooking spray, or run them under the faucet. Turn dough out onto work surface and divide in half. Form each half into a 12-inch log. Transfer logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. (DN: You can also use two separate sheets.) Flatten each to 2 1/2 inch wide log. Whisk remaining egg in small bowl to blend. Brush logs with some of the beaten egg.

Bake until logs are dry looking and firm to the touch, about 30-35 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet(s) 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Transfer logs to cutting board. Using serrated knife, cut logs crosswise into scant 1/2 inch slices. Place slices, cut side down, on large baking sheets. Bake until firm, about 15 minutes. Transfer biscotti to racks and cool completely.

Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. (DN: If you don't have a double boiler, just place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set that over the water. Just be sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.) Remove from over water. Place biscotti on rack over baking sheet. Dip one half of each biscotti in white chocolate. (Can be made up to 2 weeks ahead. Store in an airtight container.)

Ooey and Gooey

We had a kind of impromptu dinner party last night. By "impromptu" I mean I only had 24 hours notice. Usually if we are going to entertain, I like to have lots of time to mull over menus and to plan my time. I also like to have the option to make things in advance so I am not madly cooking when the guests arrive. Does this make me sound like a control freak? I'm really not. Cooking is important to me and I know our friends expect something delicious when they come to eat with us.

And besides, this wasn't really a dinner party per se - just two very good friends coming to dinner. But these guys are so awesome, they have even babysat our two boys so we could go see a movie and have offered to do it again. I knew we could do something more simple for dinner, but they are both dessert lovers and I really wanted to make a special dessert.

Because I didn't have a lot of time, I thought of nothing else but this cake. If you are a chocolate lover, you probably have the ingredients on hand. Here is the gist of it. You make a flourless chocolate cake batter. You hold 2 cups of said batter back and put them in the refrigerator, then you put the rest into a springform pan and bake it until it's just barely cooked through.


You allow the cake to cool, then you spread the uncooked batter on top.


The whole thing goes back into the fridge for at least one hour and up to 2 days, and then, when you are ready for chocolate nirvana, you put the cake in the oven for 10 minutes. What comes out is multi-textured. The bottom part is baked through but the top, oh the top!, is gooey and pudding like.

I have one quibble with this recipe. Each time I make it, I remember that the edges of the cooked part of the cake get a little black in the final baking. (Note to self: Make a note in the actual recipe!) I think dialing the temperature down a bit from 425 to 400 (with perhaps a few extra minutes for the top to bake off a bit) would fix that. Last night I just carefully cut off the offending bits and no one was the wiser.

Double-Baked Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes one 9-inch cake (DN: Serves about 8)

1/2 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
7 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the paper.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the chopped chocolate with the butter over moderately low heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.

3. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 2/3 cup of the sugar until pale and light, about 3 minutes. In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar and beat until the whites are firm and glossy.

4. Fold the chocolate into the egg yolk mixture until barely combined. Fold in the egg whites just until no white streaks remain. Spoon 2 cups of the batter into a medium bowl and refrigerate. Scrape the remaining batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

5. Remove the side from the springform pan and spread the reserved cake batter over the top of the cake, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the cake for 10-15 minutes, or until a thin crust forms on top and the batter is soft and creamy beneath the crust. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve warm.

Make ahead: The cake can be prepared through step 4 and refrigerated, covered, for up to 2 days.

Pre-Op Cupcakes

We had a weird day yesterday. My older son was recently diagnosed with a hernia and his surgery was scheduled for yesterday. He has also had a herniated belly button for two years now and the surgeon figured it would be best to fix it at the same time since it would need fixing eventually anyway.

Before they took him back to the OR, the doctor examined him one more time and was having trouble feeling the hernia. He decided that since he was going to be operating on the belly button anyway, they would send a scope in through the navel to take a look and see if there was, in fact, a hernia. When all was said and done, the surgeon said he was 99% sure there was no hernia and just fixed the belly button.

I feel relieved and also somewhat puzzled. My son has been complaining of pain and I and all the medical people involved thought a hernia made sense. Now that that is not what it is, I wonder and worry about what it is that is causing him pain. But on the bright side, the surgery is over and he was a total trooper. He is a little weepy and sleepy today but seems just fine. Watching him walk back to the OR with the anesthesiologist made me burst into tears - after he had rounded the corner of course.

Cupcakes? Oh yes, the cupcakes. Well, if you or anyone you know has had surgery, you know that you are not allowed to eat or drink after a certain time. You also don't really feel much like eating after the surgery, even if you are allowed to. I knew his last good meal for a while was going to be dinner the night before the operation and I also know that my son LOVES cupcakes. So I made him chocolate chip cupcakes with a chocolate glaze. These little beauties come from a simple little cookbook called Cupcakes! which I kind of scoffed at at first. But I have made quite a few recipes from the book and they all have been delicious. My husband said he liked these best of all. My son was too busy eating to give his opinion.

The cake part of these cupcakes has the flavor of a chocolate chip cookie but the texture of a brownie - nice and dense. I actually made these a few weeks ago, allowed them to cool completely, wrapped them well in foil, and froze them. They didn't suffer one bit from their time in the cold. When I thawed them, I made sure to lay them out so that they didn't stick together. The glaze is quite thin so I just put a little dollop on top and allowed it to harden at room temperature for an hour or so. If you follow the recipe as written, you will have more glaze than you need for the cupcakes, but you can refrigerate any extra for 2 weeks in a covered container and just reheat portions of it as needed.


Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcakes!
Makes 18 regular cupcakes

I didn't have cupcake liners on hand so I just sprayed my muffin tins really well. They came out of the pan just fine. I think if you plan to freeze them, I would skip the liners anyway. If you plan to freeze them, do not glaze them - do it after they have thawed.

2 cups flour
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 18 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, mix the flour, brown sugar, and baking soda to blend them. Add the butter and mix until the butter pieces are the size of peas, about 2 minutes. You will still seem some loose flour. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bow as needed during mixing. Mix in the egg and vanilla. The batter will still look dry. Mix in the sour cream and milk until the batter looks evenly moistened; you may still seem some lumps of butter. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch from the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks.

Carefully turn out the cupcakes on to the wire racks and turn right side up to cool completely. Add the chocolate glaze either by drizzling with a fork or by spooning a bit on top of each cupcake. Allow to sit until glaze is firm. The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Chocolate Glaze
Makes 2 cups

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
9 oz. (1 1/2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, butter, and corn syrup over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles - do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate chips, cover, and let them sit for about 30 seconds to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the sauce until it is smooth and the chocolate has melted. Allow to cool slightly.

Milk vs. Dark

As I have written about here, the year we lived in London, I got to take some great cooking classes. The highlight by far was the chocolate making class at Leith's. We learned how to make hand rolled truffles, how to temper chocolate, and how to make truffles using chocolate molds. We also learned a lot about chocolate itself. One of the first things we did that day was have a tasting where the instructor passed around different chocolates with all different cocoa contents and from different areas of the world. We were told to write down our tasting notes which we then shared at the end of the tasting.

One of the chocolates we tasted was clearly milk chocolate - the rest were semi or (mostly) bittersweet. To me, the milk tasted delicious and was my favorite of the bunch. As we started to share our notes, it became clear that I was, not only the only American in the room, but the only one who liked the milk chocolate. People called it "cloyingly sweet", "tongue coating" and other insulting things. I called it "what chocolate should taste like" but didn't share that with the rest of the class.

So there you have it. I have outed myself. I am a milk chocolate lover. Sometimes it feels like I am in danger of having my foodie license or my chocolate-loving license revoked if I admit that, but now it's out for the world to see. For some reason, you are supposed to like dark chocolate and the darker the better. But if I am going to eat a piece of chocolate (and because I am always watching my weight, this is rare), it is going to be milk.

Needless to say, I felt somewhat vindicated when this February's Food and Wine featured milk chocolate. Apparently there are pastry chefs out there who share my love of the light stuff. I marked every recipe as one to cut out (except the one containing gelatin - did you know gelatin is not vegetarian?) and decided to make this cake first.

Here is the thing. It was a little sweet for me. A little cloying, a little - dare I say - milky. Don't get me wrong. If I was having a chocolate attack and a slice of this cake was put in front of me, I would have no problem eating it. And this recipe has a lot going for it. It's fairly quick and easy, makes a square cake (which I think looks really cool), and would be great for a kid's birthday. But I think for me, when it comes to cake, I'm going back to the dark side.

Milk-Chocolate-Frosted-Layer Cake
Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes one 9-inch layer cake

This cake can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Make sure you bring it to room temperature for about an hour before serving, otherwise the cake will taste dry and the flavor will be muted. You can also freeze it but allow the frosting to harden in the refrigerator first.

1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk
6 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds milk chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preaheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch square baking pans.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, cocoa and baking powder. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the milk over low heat. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the egg yolk and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

3. In a clean bowl, beat the eggw hites with the slat until soft peaks form. Grahually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the whites are stiff and glossy. Fold the beaten whites into the batter until no streaks remain. Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 25 minutes, until the cakes are springy and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and let cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream on top. Let stand for 3 minutes, then whisk until smooth. (DN: If you go to whisk it and there are still large pieces of unmelted chocolate, put the bowl over the still warm burner and let the heat melt it.) Let the frosting stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to spread, about 1 hour.

5. Turn the cakes out of the pans and put one layer on a plate. Top with 1 cup of the frosting, spreading it to the edge. Top with the second layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides. Let the cake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cutting into squares.