My Favorite Recipe 9/15/11

My Favorite Recipe

I love doing food stuff with people who have more experience than I. Judging the Melt in Your Mouth Chocolate contest at the Palouse Empire Fair is one of those opportunities I have to learn new things while eating.

This year my co-judges were Beth Moxely and Cheryl Brock, both of Colfax and both with more culinary know-how.

“People work so hard,” Cheryl said as she admired the rows of entries submitted for the contest. During the judging, Cheryl said she really noticed the importance of unsalted or salted butter. One of the entries in particular tasted just a little bit salty and the two judges with the most experience believed it had to do with using salted butter and then putting salt in the recipe. Would that concept have ever occurred to me? Not a chance.

There was a good turn out for the contest with entries ranging from basic to sublime. One of the youth entries was for basic fudge with the recipe taken from the Carnation Evaporate Milk label—it is about as simple and basic as you can get, but I am so happy to see a young chef starting out and stepping into the ring. I hope as the years go by this and other youths grow in the culinary skills to match the top winners.

Not all the youth entries were as simple. A couple looked like they had come from a bakery, professionally done.

That included the youth winner, Kierstyn York of Colfax with her Triple Chocolate Millionaire’s Shortbread. The top layer of this chocolate and toffee tingling taste teaser used semisweet, milk and white chocolate. The recipe called for dragging a toothpick through the chocolates to create a marble effect and Kierstyn did it like a pro.

“It’s not melt in your mouth, but it’s darn good,” Beth said of the chocolate shortbread. For a shortbread recipe we expected it to be drier, but even the lady serving us the entries commented it was surprisingly easy to cut. The toffee was also well done, making all three layers delicious so it came together well.

They say you eat with your eyes first—any culinary entertainer will tell you presentation is highly important. This year’s top entries were not only knock-out chocolate, but drew the eye as well, begging to be eaten.

Valerie Wall of Colfax gave the judges’ taste buds the old one-two as her entries happened to be brought to us back-to-back.

First came the Reine De Saba, a chocolate hazelnut torte.

“This is chocolate,” Beth said after just reading the recipe. Then we tasted it.

“That’s divine,” Cheryl said. Although we were already half-way through the judging, it was the first time Beth and Cheryl asked for a second helping of the entries.

Throughout I was the stickler, never wanting to give out a perfect score in any category, always holding out just in case something came along that knocked my socks off.

When Wall’s next entry came out, the socks came off. It was Narsai’s Chocolate Decadence with Raspberry Sauce. The entry included a small tub of raspberry sauce which was first drizzled on the plate and a slice of the decadence placed on top. Appealing and truly melt in the mouth chocolate that forced us to take a break afterward rather than have biased palates for the next entry.

As good as Wall’s combo was, the winning entry was Mississippi Mud Cake made by Carolyn Parsey of Pullman. She cleverly used toothpicks to keep the bag the cake was in from pressing down on the conglomeration of marshmallows, nuts and chocolate on top. The mud cake had something for everyone in it, an array of tastes and textures brought together by chocolatey goodness.

There were many other noteworthy recipes for uniqueness and taste. We had two Hersey’s Chewy Chocolate Cookie entries, both very well done.

“It would be a ‘grabber’,” Cheryl said about the cookies, noting this would defiantly be something people would keep grabbing off the snack table.

My only regret is there is not enough room to print all the recipes because there wasn’t a sour one in the bunch. One entry did not include the recipe—while not disqualified, the entry was docked 15 percent on the score.

Recipes:

Mississippi Mud Cake

Carolyn Parsey, Pullman

Cake:

2 cup unbleached all-purpose white flour

2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 lb. unsalted butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

1/2 cup. buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. marshmallows

Frosting:

1/4 lb. unsalted butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup buttermilk

16 oz. confectioners sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch cake pan.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.

Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Once melted, add cocoa powder and water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add boiling cocoa mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean in center. Transfer to cooling rack and sprinkle marshmallows evenly over the top of hot cake.

For frosting, melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. When melted, add cocoa powder and buttermilk and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add confectioners sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir until smooth. Pour hot “frosting” over the top of the marshmallows and cake. Sprinkle with nuts. All to cool until lukewarm before serving.

Triple Chocolate Millionaire’s Shortbread

Kierstyn York, Colfax

Bottom Layer: Chocolate Shortbread

1 stick butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup, 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

Preheat over to 325 degrees. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the flour and salt over the cocoa powder. Carefully mix together and then beat until well combined.

Press into an 8 x 8 pan. Prick all over with a fork and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or longer. Allow this to cool.

Middle layer: Toffee filling

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 Tbsp. corn syrup

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

Put the butter, sugar, syrup and condensed milk in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolved. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a gentle boil, stirring all the time, and simmer gently for about 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened and is a creamy fudge color. Pour over shortbread and allow it to cool.

Top layer: Chocolate topping

3 oz. semisweet chocolate

3 oz. milk chocolate

3 oz. white chocolate

In three separate bowls melt all three chocolates in the microwave. Place alternate teaspoons of the melted chocolate on top of the toffee. When the entire top is covered in chocolate, take a toothpick and drag through the chocolates to create a marble effect. Let it cool.

Narsai’s Chocolate Decadence with Raspberry Sauce

Valerie Wall, Colfax

Position a rack in the middle of the over and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter insides and bottom of a 9-inch layer cakes pan or springform pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper or waxed paper to fit bottom of pan precisely. Butter the paper and dust with flour; tap out any excess.

1 lb. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, chopped, scant 3 cups (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate)

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

4 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. all-purpose (plain) flour

Topping:

3 cups raspberry sauce

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl or the top pan of double boiler. Set over a pan of gently simmering water but not touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted and combine completely. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Using electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light, fluffy and tripled in volume (5 - 10 minutes). Reduce speed to low and beat in the flour. Using a rubber spatula fold on-third of egg mixture into the chocolate to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg mixture, taking care not to deflate the batter. Pour and scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for exactly 15 minutes. Let cool completely to room temperature. Do not refrigerate or the cake will stick to the pan. Invert onto a flat serving plate and peel off the paper. Cut into small wedges and serve each wedge atop the raspberry sauce. Top with whipped cream.

Raspberry sauce:

2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries or thawed, frozen unsweetened raspberries

1/2 cup superfine (castor or baker’s) sugar

1/4 cup framboise or other raspberry-flavored liqueur, optional

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor fitted with metal blade. Puree until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine mesh sieve. Makes about 3 cups.

Reine De Saba

(Chocolate Hazelnut Torte)

Valerie Wall, Colfax

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven (not the bottom) and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan with 3 inch sides. Line the pan bottom with a circle of parchment paper or waxed paper cut to fit precisely. Butter the paper, then dust with flour, tapping out the excess flour.

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate)

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

6 extra large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 1/2 cup ground nuts (I used hazelnuts, but walnuts or almonds may be substituted, processed to extra fine)

3 cups chocolate ganache for topping

Place chocolate in a small heatproof bowl or the top pan of a double boiler. Set over simmering water but not touching the water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Place butter and sugar in a bowl. Using a whisk or electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light and fluffy, 8-10 minutes with a whisk or 3-5 minutes with a mixer. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in cooled chocolate and ground nuts.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and glossy, but not dry. Using a rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan; smooth the top.

Bake until the top puffs and forms a crust, about 50 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. Cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Peel off the paper. Transfer to a plate and spread the warm chocolate ganache over the top and sides.

Ganache:

1 cup heavy (double) cream

10 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (2 cups)

Gently warm the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles begin to appear at the edges. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until mixture is smooth and chocolate has melted.

Alternately you can place the chocolate in a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender. Pout the hot cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for 15 seconds. With the pusher or lid in place to prevent splattering, process or blend until smooth. If there are any visible lumps, strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.