Xocolate Bar!

Oh hi there. It looks like it's been almost exactly 1 year since my last post... oops? I didn't mean to abandon my little corner of the internet, so let's pretend that I just hibernated for an exceedingly long winter and now I'm back :)  I actually didn't come here with a recipe for you (yet), but instead to tell you about an awesome time I had tonight taking a chocolate-making class!

My mom and I got LivingSocial vouchers to go to a chocolate-making class taught by Clive at The Xocolate Bar, in Albany, and oh man it was DELICIOUS! We learned how to temper chocolate, make fillings, use molds, and really work a bench scraper. I really wanted to post about it tonight because otherwise I'll forget all about it, and I don't want to forget about this deliciousness!

Tempering machine... so neat!

Above is the tempering machine. You put a bunch of chocolate in it, and it heats it up to about 120 degrees, and then you add some "seed" chocolate (or just more chocolate pieces) and it lowers the temperature to a controlled 87-90 degrees. Then it's tempered! Home chefs would do this using a double boiler (bain marie) and a candy thermometer, but it requires a lot more effort.

Mmm ganache fillings!

We made several types of fillings: a salted chili (which was surprisingly delicious!!), a coffee cream, and a whiskey filling. The fillings are pictured above, and oooh it was hard not to just eat it straight from the bowl! But patience...we have bonbons to make!

Filling the molds

We first took melted dark chocolate (about 68 percent) and poured it into the poly-carbonate bonbon molds. These molds are serious business... they are like badass ice cube trays (because you can fill them with chocolate and whiskey ) Then we let the molds sit for about 15 minutes until the chocolate hardened around the edges, but was still liquid in the middle. Then you dump out the middle, so that the chocolate is only on the edges, like so:

Chocolate cups - almost ready to be filled!

 Once the middle is dumped out, it's time to scrape off the excess from the mold, to have a nice clean surface. To do that, you take a bench scraper and give it a good scrape!

All scraped clean!

Mom shows off her excellent bench scraping skills

Now we're ready to fill the bonbons! Put your filling in a pastry bag, and pipe away! Into the bonbon shells...not your mouth! (I had to remind myself of this)

Piping in some whiskey ganache

While we waited for the ganache to set in the fridge... we made THESE! Well, the caramels were pre-made by our teacher earlier in the day, but we got to dip them in chocolate!

Caramels ready to be dipped!

 We just dropped the caramels into the tempered chocolate, shook 'em off, and put them on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Chocolate coated caramel...mmmmm

 After we put them on the cookie sheet, we sprinkled a generous pinch of good sea salt on top. Some of the caramels got fancy and had a cocoa butter transfer put on top. Those are pretty!

Caramels. Salted + Dressed up!

 After the chocolate filling had time to set in the fridge, it was time to take the bonbons out of their trays! We gave them a good smack onto some cutting boards, and bam! Delicious bonbons appeared!

Bonbons banged out of their molds!

 Here's a close up of the salted chili bonbons. These were GOOD!

Salted Chili bonbons

 And here is the smorgasbord of bonbons we made. I will try to name them all (clockwise from top left): Hazelnut (gianduja), milk and honey (these were shaped like boobies!), coffee cream, tamarind (these were shaped like buddha!), Aztec chili, salted chili, whiskey, and orange cream. Not pictured: coconut flake, and bali vanilla.  Yes, we made a LOT of bonbons!!

Bonbon smorgasbord!

 Here are the coconut bonbons.

Coconut bonbons

 At the end, we dusted some of the bonbons with lustre dust, to make them fancy :) Here, the Aztec chili got a bit of shiny pink!

Aztec Chili bonbons

 And here, the tamarind buddhas get a dusting of gold!

Tamarind Buddha bonbons

The class was so much fun! My only regret is that Clive (the chocolatier) gave us a very tiny box to fill up with chocolate to take home. So I ate as many as possible while we were there, and filled my box to capacity (luckily I had a rubber band to keep it closed!). Next time, I'm bringing tupperware ;)  My favorite chocolates were the salted chili, and the chocolate-covered caramels. I totally recommend the class!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

On the day after Halloween, Starbucks started using its signature red holiday cups.  It got rid of pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin scones, and introduced peppermint mochas and holiday blend teas.  Did I miss something?  How can they skip fall and Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas?? It's not time for peppermint yet! It's still pumpkin season!  And you should expect several more pumpkin recipes as we approach Thanksgiving :)

This cheesecake was a request from one of my coworkers.  He asked for pumpkin cheesecake, but I decided to keep with a traditional cheesecake base, and swirl pumpkin into it.  It turned out so well! This cheesecake is seriously yummy, and not overly-pumpkiny (can there even be such a thing as too much pumpkin?) so it's a nice compromise for cheesecake lovers and pumpkin lovers and before you know it, the whole pan is gone!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
adapted from Elegant Made Easy and Gingerbread Bagels

Ingredients
Crust

• 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker
• 3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
• ½ cup melted butter

Cheesecake

• 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 3 eggs
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla

Pumpkin Swirl

• 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree
• 2 Tablespoons of flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Add cookies and sugar in a food processor; pulse until ground. Add in butter and pulse.
2. Press mixture into a 13×9 buttered or parchment lined pan.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
4. For the cheesecake, cream the sugar, cream cheese, and flour with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.
5. On medium low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.
6. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until just combined, then set cheesecake mixture aside.
7. In a separate bowl, combine the ingredients for the pumpkin swirl (pumpkin puree, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger).
8. Add 1 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin swirl mixture, and stir until combined and smooth.
9. Pour the plain cheesecake mixture over crust and evenly smooth out.
10. Add dollops of approximately 1 teaspoon of pumpkin-cheesecake mixture every few inches. Take a wooden skewer and run it gently through the pumpkin mixture and cheesecake mixture to make swirls.
11. Bake for approximately 35 – 40 minutes or until set.
12. Let cool and then chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hrs before slicing.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I first learned about making your own vanilla extract last summer, and ever since then, I've slowly been accumulating empty jars so I can make it!  It is totally easy, and I'm excited about packaging up my homemade vanilla to give at Christmastime.

First: get yourself some cheap liquor.  At least 80 proof, and plastic bottles are preferred :)  (but seriously...don't waste good alcohol on extract. Save it for cocktails!)  I got some "Early Times" bourbon and some "Kavlana" vodka.  Never heard of those?  Good.  You should never actually drink them.  They come in big, plastic bottles, and are cheap cheap cheap.

Next: get yourself some empty jars.  I saved my pasta jars for the past several months.  Anything that seals well will do.

Finally: get yourself some vanilla beans.  I ordered these beans from online. You can order as much or little as you want. In retrospect, I should have ordered 1/4 lb (or even less...) because I have a LOT of beans left over... but that's ok because they keep forever!  More vanilla extract for all!

To assemble: take a sharp paring knife and slit the vanilla beans all the way down, leaving about 1 inch at the top, to hold the bean together.  Then put the split beans into a jar and pour alcohol over them.  The rule is: 3 beans per 1 cup (8 oz.) of alcohol.  I put 2-3 cups in each jar, so 6-9 beans per jar!

Seal the jars, and place in a cool, dark spot for about 2 months.  Shake them periodically to distribute the vanilla, and in 2 months, you will be ready to package up the vanilla to give away, or use in your favorite chocolate chip cookies :)

Recipe Source: Joy the Baker