Champagne Truffles to Ring in the New Year

Ring in the New Year with Champagne Truffles. Several great Chocolate Companies make Champagne Truffles. I'm posting early--tomorrow is National Champagne Day--so you have a day or so to find these truffles! The following list is not definitive, but will get you started. Comment below about your favorites. Love to add to the list. Scroll down for an awesome video from Vosges Haute-Chocolate on the making of Champagne Truffles!

Recchiuti Chocolate Champagne Truffles
A version of a classic favorite. Dark chocolate truffle with Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs from Napa Valley and confectioner's sugar.

Seattle Chocolate Company Champagne Truffles. A bubbly truffle featuring a blended milk and dark chocolate center with natural popping candy and a bit of bite. Enrobed in dark chocolate.

Choclatique Bubbly Champagne Truffles. I love these. Have tried them several times. They're light and cream and bubbly!

Moonstruck Champagne Truffle. I love Moonstruck truffles, and these are quite unique. Ivory chocolate ganache, infused with a champagne reduction and enrobed in dark chocolate, then hand-dipped in ivory chocolate. 

Coco Delice Sonoma Brut Truffles. Dark chocolate ganache infused with Gloria Ferrar Sonoma Brut. Coated in a layer of dark chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder and confectioners sugar.

Teuscher Chocolate of Switzerland
House specialty, the famous Champagne Truffle, a blend of cream, butter and chocolate: champagne cream center surrounded by a dark chocolate ganache, covered in milk chocolate and dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Originally created by Adolf Teuscher, Sr. in 1947. Available also in an all dark version which I like even more!

Jacques Torres
Jacques' Taittinger Champagne Truffles are a combination of milk chocolate, fresh cream and Taittinger Brut La Francaise. I love the cork shape of these truffles.

Williams-Sonoma
La Maison du Chocolat selects and roasts its own cacao beans, and all of the chocolate is made from special house blends. Their collection of chocolate truffles are hand made at the La Maison du Chocolat workshop in Paris. Other truffles but includes Champagne truffles: dark chocolate truffles infused with Fine Champagne Cognac, covered with dark chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder.

Payard Truffles
Champagne Truffles

Neuhaus Champagne Truffles
Dark chocolate dusted with a frosting of powdered sugar with soft centers of champagne butter. Not for the superstitious. Neuhaus Champagne Truffles are sold in boxes of 13.

Godiva makes a champagne truffle, but I haven't had one in awhile. I remember it was beautiful and very smooth, but there was more chocolate taste than champagne. Still Godiva truffles are great.

Charbonnel & Walker Milk Chocolate Marc de Champagne Truffles.  Milk Chocolate with Marc de Champagne center.  Also try Charbonnel & Walker Chocolate Pink Champagne Truffles. Tangy & Sweet with a strawberry dusting and Marc de Champagne truffle center. Tangy & sweet.

Paul A. Young Champagne Truffles. Made with real Champagne.

Demarquette Champagne Truffles. These are made with vintage Dom Perignon Champagne. U.K. Brut Champagne (Dom Perignon) blended with our very own recipe of single estate and single origin cocoas from around the world and Cornish and Hampshire creams for the ultimate in pure taste. Each truffle is hand dipped in 71.1% couverture chocolate before being dusted with pure cocoa powder.

The-Chocolate Champagne Truffles. Toscano Black, Amedei and Armand de Brignac. Edible pure 24 carat gold and presented in a Swarovski adorned box. "The most luxurious chocolate experience in the world." Available at Harrod's. If you have to ask the price...well...

Vosges Krug Champagne Truffles. Watch this awesome video on making Champagne Truffles.



Making of Krug® Champagne Truffles from Vosges Haut-Chocolat® on Vimeo.

Jacques Torres on Decorating PEEPS

Yesterday I posted about PEEPS, that ubiquitous U.S. confection connected with Easter (although PEEPS are available all year round). Saw this video of world renowned chocolatier Jacques Torres on Decorating PEEPS on the Today Show and had to share. Enjoy!

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Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies: National Milk Chocolate Day

Photo: Martha Stewart Living-not mine :-()

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day. If you read this blog, you know I'm a bigger fan of dark chocolate, but in the past week, I've used milk chocolate in several recipes. I was going to post a recipe for Milk Chocolate Truffles, but I always seem to have trouble making the ganache work and not turn out too soupy. O.K. I could work hard, but since I prefer dark chocolate, I don't seem to want to take the time.

But with National Milk Chocolate Day, I thought of the perfect recipe. Chocolate Chip Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chips. How easy is that? I've posted lots of chocolate chip cookie recipes, but the following recipe is from Jacques Torres, the King of Chocolate. It's a no brainer. You can't go wrong with this recipe and the resulting delicious cookies. I did substitute milk chocolate chunks, but otherwise, the recipe is the same. It's real name is Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies. The secret I think is in the mix of flours. Of course, you can add dark chocolate chunks or chips.

MILK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet butter
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 pounds milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
2. In bowl of ith the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
3. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Photo: Martha Stewart website for Jaques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

Caribbean Chocolate Soup: Sweet or Savory

The other day I mentioned that there will be a Caribbean Chocolate Soup available for tasting at the Berkeley Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival. Got me thinking of various recipes I've posted for Chocolate Soups (Cocoa Soups). I'm sure the one that's going to be available at the festival will be savory, and below I have a link to a recipe for a savory Caribbean Chocolate Soup.

But... I really like sweet soups. This recipe for Chocolate Soup With Caramelized Bananas is by chef Jacques Torres (posted on FabFood). He developed it for Le Cirque 2000. The chocolate and bananas fit the bill for Chocolate Caribbean Soup! This dessert consists of a hot chocolate soup over caramelized bananas and topped with a spectacular meringue crown. What could be better?!! It's not that difficult, looks fabulous and tastes divine. Definitely more elegant than a chocolate covered banana on a stick!

FROM JACQUES TORRES ABOUT THE RECIPE:

The clients at Le Cirque love chocolate desserts, so I am always trying to come up with new ones. One year, Kris and I went to Disney World. She insisted I try a frozen chocolate covered banana and, quite frankly, I questioned the concept. Well, I loved it! I didn't think Sirio would be too pleased if I served bananas on a stick at his restaurant, so here is the version I adapted for the dessert menu.

JACQUES TORRES' CHOCOLATE SOUP WITH CARMELIZED BANANAS

Ingredients

• For the Caramelized Bananas:
• 4 large bananas, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• For the Soup:
• 4 cups whole milk
• 10 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• To finish the Soup:
• 7 large egg whites
• 1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar

Directions

1. Prepare the caramelized bananas:
2. Heat heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat. If it starts to smoke, it is too hot and you need to run it under cool water, dry it, and start again. When it is warm, sprinkle tsugar into pan. Try to keep  sugar in  even layer to allow all to caramelize at same time. As soon as sugar begins to melt, start moving pan over the burner to keep sugar from burning. Tilt pan from side to side so melted sugar runs over unmelted sugar. Cook until all of sugar is a light golden brown. Chef Torres usually adds a tablespoon of butter at this stage because it makes the caramel smoother. Add bananas and rum and spread evenly in pan. When cooking with alcohol, there is always the chance of it catching on fire, so be very careful when adding rum. Continue to cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated and bananas are soft but not mushy; they should still hold their shape. Remove from theat and pour caramelized bananas onto plate. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool for about 20 minutes. Covering hot bananas with plastic wrap keeps the caramel from drying as it cools.
3. Prepare Chocolate Soup: Pour milk into 2 quart heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Add chopped chocolate and stir until well combined and Chocolate has melted. Bring mixture to boil again, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat and set aside while you prepare soup bowls.
4. The bowls Chef Torres uses hold 4 1/2 ounces. Use any oven-safe bowls. Place one large spoonful of caramelized bananas in bottom of each soup bowl. Bananas will give texture to soup, so be generous. Cover bananas with hot soup, filling each bowl three-quarters full. Set soup bowls on baking sheet and place in refrigerator until chilled, about 2 hours. Soup will set and thicken, allowing it to support the meringue; chill well before topping it.
5. To Finish Soup: Place egg whites in medium-size mixing bowl and whip with electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and make French meringue by adding the powered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and whipping whites to stiff but not dry peaks.
6. Place meringue in large pastry bag fitted with a 3/4-inch star tip. Remove soup from refrigerator and pipe tmeringue onto tops in a decorative pattern. Place soup bowls in deep roasting pan or baking dish and fill with warm water to come one third of way up side of bowls. Let stand for about 30 minutes to warm soup. If you do this before you serve dinner, the soup should be ready to be browned by the time you have finished eating.
7. Preheat oven to 450°F. Remove soup bowls from warm water bath and place them on  baking sheet. Place in oven just until meringue begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Soup should not get hot. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
8. Great Tip: When you cut Chocolate, start at one corner and always cut on an angle. Don't try to cut big pieces, because it is too difficult. If you cut on an angle, it will be easier and safer. This way, you do not have to cut so much surface at one time.
9. Place diced bananas in medium-sized mixing bowl with rum and toss to coat. Set aside to let macerate at room temperature while you prepare the caramel. Chef Torres tops the warm soup with meringue to add another layer of texture and enhance visual appeal. You can skip this step if you prefer.

I tend to think, though, that the recipe for Caribbean Chocolate Soup that will be served at next week's Chocolate and Chalk Art event in Berkeley will be more like this recipe from Maricel Presilla on Gourmet Sleuth. 

CARIBBEAN CHOCOLATE SOUP

Ingredients

1 ounce cacao nibs
1 chile guajillo
4 plum tomatoes (about 10 ounces), stemmed
1/2 white onion (about 3 1/2 ounces)
4 garlic cloves
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon aniseed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon brown loaf sugar (preferably Colombian panela or Mexican piloncillo), grated or demerara natural brown cane sugar
2 pounds calabaza (or Caribbean pumpkin, acorn, or hubbard squash) peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
8 cups well-flavored chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce dark chocolate (preferably 58.5 percent or 60 percent cacao content)

For Garnish:
1 cup Mexican cream or creme fraiche
1 cup cubed Manchego cheese
Kekchi Cacao-Chile Balls, recipe follows

For Directions on how to make this Caribbean Chocolate Soup, go here. 
Also directions for making Kekchi Cacao-Chile Balls!

Chocolate Handbags and Platform Shoes

Perfect Gifts for Mother's Day!  Jacques Torres Chocolate offers these sensational chocolate platform sandals. Pick up a couple for Mom for a sweet time! I love that they come in pairs! Available at Jacques Torres stores.

Jacques Torres Chocolate also offers matching handbags that resemble the classic Chanel bag. They're molded in chocolate and handpainted. Available at all Jacques Torres stores. Not available to be shipped.

Neiman Marcus has a Zebra-Striped Handbag Cake.
Inside: Chocolate cake layered with caramel toffee and chocolate buttercream.
Outside Chocolate.

Or you could pick up some more traditional chocolate shoes and purses from Frances Cooley at Clifton Cakes (Bristol, UK)