Taza Chocolate And Batch Ice Cream Bonbons

As you know from yesterday's post, I headed home from the Taza chocolate and batch ice cream party with a bag of goodies to use to create something in my own kitchen. As I was trying to decide what to make, Jeff suggested bonbons. I was up for the challenge (I mean, I did just become a truffle-making pro).

This recipe will make about eight bonbons, which is a good number because you'll want to eat them all right away. You can use any kind of ice cream you like, but I chose to make half of mine with batch salted caramel ice cream and the other half with batch coffee ice cream because those are the flavors I got at the ice cream party.

And both salted caramel and coffee go really well with chocolate in my opinion.

Salted Caramel And Coffee Ice Cream Bonbons

Ingredients

About 1/3 cup batch salted caramel ice cream
About 1/3 cup batch coffee ice cream
3-ounce bar Taza 80% chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Preparation

Line a plate or sheet pan with wax paper. Using a small cookie scoop, portion out four scoops of salted caramel ice cream and four scoops of coffee ice cream, and place them on the wax paper. Do this as quickly as possible, and put the plate or sheet pan in the freezer as soon as you are done. Freeze the ice cream scoops for at least 30 minutes (keeping in mind that the longer you freeze them the better they will hold up when you dip them).

I originally planned to make 10 bonbons, but there was only enough chocolate for eight.

About 10 minutes before you plan to coat the ice cream scoops, make the chocolate for dipping. Place the chopped chocolate and shortening in a small microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave for 30 seconds, and then remove from microwave and stir. Microwave for another 15 seconds, and stir until smooth and completely melted. (If chocolate is not getting smooth, continue microwaving in 10-second intervals.)

Line a clean plate or sheet pan with wax paper. Have this pan, two forks, and your chocolate ready. Remove the plate or sheet pan of ice cream scoops from the freezer.

Using the forks, pick up one scoop at a time, roll it around in the chocolate, and place it on the clean plate or sheet pan.

Continue until you have coated all of the ice cream scoops with chocolate. The chocolate should start firming up right away. Pop the bonbons in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before serving.

These were so much better than those bonbons you get in tubs in the freezer section. The chocolate coating had that nice, grainy texture Taza chocolate is known for, and the batch ice cream middles were so rich and creamy! You could really taste the caramel and coffee.

What flavor bonbons would you make?

Raspberry, Blood Orange, And Prosecco Sorbet

Since we planned on cheese fondue for our New Year's Eve dinner, I knew we'd want a light dessert, but I still wanted something that felt fancy and celebration-worthy. After flipping through some cookbooks looking for ideas, I landed on some sorbet recipes in The Craft of Baking and thought sorbet would be a refreshing after-dinner treat. I was torn between the recipe for blood orange sorbet and one for raspberry prosecco sorbet. When I asked Jeff which he would prefer, he suggested combining them. We ended up with a citrusy, berry sorbet flavored with bubbly prosecco.

Raspberry, Blood Orange, And Prosecco Sorbet (adapted from The Craft of Baking)

Ingredients

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
6-ounce package fresh raspberries
3 or 4 blood oranges
1 1/2 cups prosecco

Preparation

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of sugar with 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Transfer the simple syrup to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

In a small bowl, mash raspberries with the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

Juice the blood oranges, and measure out 1/2 cup of juice. Cover and refrigerate.

Scrape the raspberries and their juices into bowl of food processor, add 1 cup of water, and process until smooth.

Strain puree through fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Discard the seeds.

Stir the simple syrup, blood orange juice, and prosecco into the raspberry puree.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. The mixture will still be slushy when it's done because of the alcohol.

Transfer sorbet to an airtight container, press plastic wrap against the surface, cover, and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

The sorbet will keep for up to 5 days.

I got my light, refreshing dessert made elegant and effervescent with the addition of prosecco.

---

Do you like sorbet? What's your favorite flavor?

Pumpkin Ice Cream Sundaes With Spiced Caramel Sauce And Gingerbread Croutons

I know many of you have been waiting for this recipe, and I don't blame you. Everyone who tried this dessert loved it. It's definitely perfect for fall. While ice cream isn't a typical fall treat, pumpkin ice cream paired with a warm, spicy caramel sauce can fit in that category pretty easily. The gingerbread croutons just put this over the top.

The idea for this sundae comes straight out of The Craft of Baking. This is one of my favorite baking books. The recipes are approachable, and until now, they have always worked out perfectly for me. That said, the recipes for all three components of this sundae were a bit troublesome. Luckily, for you, I've already tested and made all of them, and now I can give you better instructions.

I started by making the gingerbread. The batter was easy enough, and the recipe instructed to pour it into an 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. I poured the batter in, noticed it went nearly all the way to the top of the loaf pan and thought to myself that it looked like way too much batter for the pan. 

I double-checked the recipe, and I had done exactly as it said, so I figured maybe the loaf didn't rise all that much. I stuck the loaf in the oven, set the timer, and didn't think of it again until I smelled something burning. I opened the oven to find gingerbread batter dripping everywhere and realized I should have followed my instinct. Jeff and I spent the next 5 to 10 minutes cleaning up the oven, and I slipped a pan under the gingerbread so I could finish baking it. My advice to you: Divide the batter between two loaf pans if you don't want to end up with this!

I was so relieved that I was merely cutting this loaf into cubes rather than trying to serve it as a whole. It was entirely unpresentable by the time I cut away the excess and coaxed it out of the pan.

Next, I made the caramel sauce. Now, this is partly the recipe's fault and party my own, but I didn't let the caramel darken enough and ended up with a very white caramel sauce. The recipe said to cook the sauce until it was a deep caramel color, about 8 minutes. Well, I cooked my sauce for about 18 minutes and still only saw the vaguest hint of amber color. The caramel was getting thicker and it was already at softball stage. I didn't want to take it farther and risk it hardening up on me. In retrospect, I probably could have kept cooking it because there seemed to be enough butter, cream, and creme fraiche added in to prevent the sauce from hardening. Instead I took the sauce off the heat at softball stage, still pale in color, and added in the remaining ingredients. I let the sauce cool and steep in the fridge overnight, and in the morning I reheated the sauce and made a small batch of caramel. When the caramel got to a deep amber color, I poured my light caramel sauce into it, and got the whole thing a few shades darker. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but it was still frustrating. My advice to you: Cook the caramel as long as you need to in order to get a deep caramel color. Pay no attention to that 8 minute suggestion.

On Saturday night, I made the custard for the pumpkin ice cream. This was the most bizarre custard recipe I've ever seen. After heating up the milk and tempering it into the egg yolks and sugar, I was instructed to put the custard in the fridge overnight. I've never made an ice cream custard that didn't need to be returned to the stove to cook. The next morning, I pulled out the bowl of custard, and it had completely separated and curdled. I whisked it back together, whisked in the pumpkin puree, and strained it. It seemed fine, and I churned it in the ice cream maker. The final product came out okay, but I was nervous about it the whole time. My advice to you: Use David Lebovitz's version of this recipe instead. His method makes much more sense to me.

Gingerbread Croutons (adapted from The Craft of Baking)

Ingredients

3/4 cup stout beer (I used Guinness)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brewed coffee

3/4 cup dark molasses (I used Grandma's)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil

3 tablespoons Demerara sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger

1 egg

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line the bottoms of two loaf pans with parchment paper and butter the pans.

Whisk together beer, coffee, and molasses in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and carefully whisk in baking soda. The mixture will bubble. Let cool for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, Demerara sugar, and grated fresh ginger. Whisk in the egg.

In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt. 

Add one-third of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Whisk to combine. Then add one-third of the beer mixture to the sugar mixture, and whisk to combine. Continue alternately adding the flour and beer mixtures, whisking after each addition, until smooth.

Divide the batter between the two loaf pans, and bake for 40 minutes to an hour, rotating pans halfway through.

Place pans on wire rack and allow to cool completely. Remove loaves from pans. The loaves can be wrapped and stored overnight at this point.

When ready to bake the croutons, preheat oven to 300 F. Cut the loaves into cubes. Spread the cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and allow cubes to cool completely. The croutons can be stored in an airtight container at room temp. for up to two weeks.

Spiced Caramel Sauce (adapted from The Craft of Baking)

Ingredients

8 cinnamon sticks

3 star anise

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped, seeds and bean reserved

Zest of 1 orange, removed in strips

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup creme fraiche

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, toast the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and black peppercorns until fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla bean and seeds, orange zest, and 1/2 cup water. Whisk gently to wet all of the sugar but avoid sloshing any up on the sides of the pan.

Cook over high heat until the mixture turns a deep caramel color. This could take anywhere from 8 to 20 minutes (at least in my experience -- let me know how it goes for you). 

It helps to keep a white plate next to the stove and drizzle some of the caramel on it every so often to check the color. Get your cream, butter, and creme fraiche ready to add in while the caramel cooks.

Remove the pot from the heat, and whisk in the butter, cream, and creme fraiche. Then whisk in the ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt.

Refrigerate the sauce with all of the spices for at least several hours (and up to 2 weeks) in an airtight container. 

Before serving, rewarm the sauce over low heat. 

Strain it into a bowl. (Look at all those spices!)

And serve warm!

Pumpkin Ice Cream -- follow David Lebovitz's recipe.

When all of the components are ready, assemble your sundaes! 

I hope you enjoy this spicy fall treat!

Sunday Potluck With Friends

A while ago, Michelle, Alicia, Daisy, Meghan, and I decided it would be really fun to have a sort of potluck or cooking party. So often we read about each other's meals and recipes, but rarely do we get to try each other's dishes. We thought of this gathering as a chance to share that thing we all love so much -- food.

We each agreed to make two dishes and to meet at my place on Sunday afternoon to cook, eat, and, of course, sip some bubbly (although I only had a sip here and there since I'm still pretty under the weather). Everyone had their dishes prepped ahead of time, and the cooking was done here, so unlike with other potlucks, we could actually have our hot foods hot.

I decided to make a dessert (it's kind of expected from the baker in the group), and then I thought it would be nice to have some sort of appetizer for everyone to munch on when they arrived and while they were cooking.

A while back I had seen a feta tart in the Greece issue of Saveur. I had been dying to have company over so I could make this tart. It's unlike other tarts in that you pour a batter into a hot pan of oil, and that forms the bottom of the tart. Then you sprinkle feta and butter on top and bake the whole thing until it is golden brown and crispy (recipe coming soon). I timed the tart perfectly and was just pulling it out of the oven within minutes after Meghan's arrival. About 5 minutes later, Alicia, Michelle, and Daisy came in, and the tart was cool enough to be cut and served.

We ate the tart along with a white bean dip with truffle oil that Meghan brought and walnut and mushroom vegetarian pate and muhammara (a red pepper walnut dip) from Alicia.

This was the perfect snack to hold us over until Daisy served us bowls of creamy parsnip soup with leeks. Some apples blended in the soup gave it just a hint of tanginess.

As we enjoyed our soup, Meghan set out her tortilla Espanola. This was a lovely dish with perfectly cooked layers of potatoes and eggs. She also made some sriracha aioli to pair with the tortilla. While the brave ones in the group ladled the aioli on their plates, I took a small dap to add just a hint of heat to my piece.

Next, Michelle mixed us up some cold curry peanut noodles. The noodles had a little kick to them, which really helped my cold! I'm so happy there are some leftovers in my fridge right now.

At this point, we decided to consider that the first course, and we all retreated to the couches to chat, play with Gunner, and flip through wedding magazines (I have at least a dozen of them now!).

When we worked up an appetite again, Michelle, Alicia, and Daisy returned to the kitchen to prepare their next dishes.

Michelle set to work frying and steaming some Mama Chang's dumplings, which she learned to make at a class at Myers + Chang.

Alicia reheated a pot of grits and cooked up a jambalaya chock-full of turkey andouille sausage and shrimp.

And Daisy made a warm brussels sprout salad with apples and goat cheese. (Have I mentioned how much I love brussels sprouts?!).

Let me tell you... these ladies all know how to cook! I think the only reason we were able to keep eating (and eating) was that everything was so good, and all the dishes were so varied and interesting.

Everyone had anticipated leaving with less food than they brought, but instead we filled containers with each other's food and saved leftovers for the next day's lunch or to share with our significant others. (Jeff was happy to see I saved him some dumplings. He was nice enough to spend the day watching football at a friend's house so my friends and I could take over the place for the afternoon, so it was the least I could do!)

After all of that eating, you wouldn't think we'd have any room for dessert, but it really is true that there's always room for dessert.

I reheated the spiced caramel sauce I had made the day before and strained all the spices out of it.

And then I set out the pumpkin ice cream I churned that morning and some gingerbread croutons also made the day before.

Armed with mini trifle dishes, everyone set to work dishing up their own sundaes. The caramel sauce was so good, I added more to my dish after I had eaten half of my sundae!

It was really a wonderful afternoon filled with lots of great food and great company! (Gunner definitely loved all the company too!)

I'll have recipes for all of my dishes up soon, and I'm sure Michelle, Meghan, Daisy, and Alicia will post theirs soon as well.

What did you cook this weekend? Do you ever have potlucks with friends?