Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (40 page)

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

1½ ounces (⅓ cup) almonds, blanched or unblanched

5⅓ ounces (10⅔ tablespoons) sweet butter

2 teaspoons dry powdered (not granular) instant espresso or other powdered instant coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon dark rum, Cognac, or whiskey

4 eggs (graded large or extra-large), separated

2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional: 2 or 3 tablespoons apricot preserves

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a shallow 8-inch square metal baking pan as follows: Invert the pan, cover with a 12-inch square of aluminum foil, turn down the sides and the corners of the foil. Then remove the foil, turn the pan right side up, place the foil in the pan, and press it smoothly into place. Butter the foil using soft or melted butter and a pastry brush or crumpled wax paper. Set the prepared pan aside.

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted; then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

The nuts must be ground to a fine powder. It may be done in a food processor, a nut grinder, or a blender. Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the coffee, vanilla, rum, and the melted chocolate and beat until smooth. Add the egg yolks all at once and beat until smooth. Add the flour and then the almonds and beat until incorporated. Remove from the mixer.

In the small bowl of the electric mixer add the salt to the egg whites and, with clean beaters, beat only until the whites barely hold a firm shape, not until they are stiff or dry.

Gradually, in several additions, small at first, fold the whites into the chocolate mixture.

Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.

Cover with a rack and invert. Remove the pan and foil, cover with another rack and invert again, leaving the cake to cool right side up.(The cake will be a scant 1 inch high.)

OPTIONAL
:
Spread the top of the cooled cake with 2 or 3 tablespoons of warm, melted, and strained apricot preserves. Let stand while you prepare the icing.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER ICING

4 ounces semisweet chocolate (see Note)

2 ounces (½ stick) sweet butter

½ teaspoon dry powdered (not granular) instant espresso or other powdered instant coffee

Place the chocolate and the butter in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted. Then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Stir in the coffee. If the mixture is not smooth, stir it briskly with a small wire whisk. Remove from the hot water and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Then let stand at room temperature or refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until only slightly thickened or thick enough so it will spread without running down the sides.

Place the cake upside down on a small board.

When the icing is ready, stir it well and turn it out onto the cake. With a long, narrow metal spatula spread smoothly.

Let stand until the icing is set (it will not take long).

After the cake is cut into squares they may be served as they are, or each one may be topped with a walnut or pecan half, a whole, toasted blanched hazelnut, or a chocolate coffee bean (candy).

If you plan to leave them plain, when the icing is set use a long, thin, sharp knife to trim the edges and then cut the cake into 16 small squares.

If you are going to decorate the squares use a long knife but only score the cutting lines, first the four sides and then the cutting lines for the squares.

OPTIONAL DECORATION

½ ounce semisweet chocolate

16 walnut or pecan halves, or 16 whole, toasted blanched hazelnuts, or 16 chocolate coffee beans (candy)

Coarsely chop the ½ ounce chocolate, place it in a small cup in a small pan of shallow hot water over low heat. Stir occasionally until melted.

Meanwhile, make a small paper cone (see page 266). Place the melted chocolate in the tip of the cone, cut a tiny bit off the tip to make a small opening, and press out just a small dab of the chocolate on the top (right in the middle) of each square. (The chocolate is only to serve as a paste to hold the nut or coffee bean; it should not show—do not use too much.) Place the nut or coffee bean on the chocolate.

Now trim the edges and cut the cake into squares.

Let stand at room temperature and serve at room temperature.

To store these overnight or to freeze them, pack in a single layer in a box or on a tray. Cover the
squares airtight with plastic wrap. It you have frozen them, thaw before unwrapping.

NOTE
:
If you prefer a less sweet flavor, use 1 ounce of unsweetened and 3 ounces of semisweet for the icing.

Chocolate Éclairs

12 TO 14
D
ESSERT
-S
IZE
É
CLAIRS

Homemade éclairs are not an everyday dessert—they are special. And with all the steps involved I consider them a creative art. Although they are not really difficult, I congratulate you when you make them.

The éclair shells are easy and fun if you can handle a pastry bag and they may be made way ahead of time and frozen (see Note). The filling and icing should be done the day they are served—or the filled and iced éclairs may be frozen. (This filling is unconventional—it is a combination chocolate pastry cream and chocolate bavarian.)

CREAM-PUFF PASTRY(PâTE à CHOUX)

This mixture may be shaped and baked as soon as it is prepared, or it may be covered and may stand either at room temperature or in the refrigerator for an hour before using.

For shaping the éclairs you will need a 10- to 16-inch pastry bag and a #8 plain, round tube which has a
-inch opening.

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter, at room temperature

1 cup boiling water

Pinch of salt

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

4 eggs (graded large—no larger or smaller)

Adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 12 × 15-inch or larger cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place the cookie sheet on another, unlined one of the same size—the double sheets will prevent the bottoms of the éclairs from browning too much. (They will be a beautiful, smooth, shiny, pale golden color.) Set aside.

Place the butter, boiling water, and salt in a heavy 2- or 3-quart saucepan over high heat. Stir with a heavy wooden spatula (cutting the butter as you stir) until the butter is melted and the mixture boils hard. (Do not boil unnecessarily or too much water will evaporate.)

Remove from the heat and immediately add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with the wooden spatula until the mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pan. If that does not happen within about half a minute, stir over low heat for a few seconds.

Turn the mixture into the small bowl of an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time—beating on low-medium speed after each addition until incorporated. After adding the last egg beat for one half minute more, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Fit a 10- to 16-inch pastry bag (large is better than small) with a #8 plain, round tube. Fold down a deep cuff on the outside of the bag. To support the bag, place it in a tall, narrow jar or glass and transfer the warm (or cooled) pastry to the bag. Then unfold the cuff and twist the top of the bag closed.

(It is easier to work with a pastry bag at table height rather than at counter height.) Place the prepared cookie sheet on a table. Hold the pastry bag at an oblique angle to the sheet with the tube almost touching the sheet. Press on the top of the bag to press out 12 to 14 finger-shaped strips 5 inches long
and ¾ to 1 inch wide (keep them narrow). Place them about 1½ inches apart—at the end of each strip retrace your direction with a quick jerk in order to cut off the pastry neatly.

Bake for 20 minutes (at which time the éclairs should have finished rising—the oven door should not be opened until they have finished rising or even a little longer).

Then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes (total baking time is 50 to 55 minutes). The éclairs should be golden brown and crisp all over (including the sides, which are the last part to dry out and become crisp).

About 5 or 10 minutes before they are done reach into the oven and, with a small, sharp knife, cut a few small slits in the top of each éclair to let the steam escape.

If they are underbaked the éclairs will collapse as they cool—but it will not hurt to overbake them a bit.

As soon as they are done, with your fingers peel them carefully from the foil and place them on racks to cool. (If they cool on the foil they might stick.)

When they are cool, use a serrated knife and slice each one horizontally, cutting about one-third from the top, which will leave a deep bottom to hold the filling. Do not mix up the tops and bottoms—keep them in their original pairs.

With your fingers remove any excess soft dough from the inside of each half. Now either package them airtight and freeze, or fill them. Do not let them stand around or they may become limp. (They can wait for the length of time it takes to make the filling.)

CHOCOLATE ÉCLAIR FILLING

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

1 tablespoon (1 envelope) unflavored gelatin

¼ cup cold water

2 tablespoons unsifted flour

1 cup milk

Pinch of salt

⅓ cup granulated sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sweet butter

1 tablespoon strong prepared coffee, rum
,

Cognac, or crème de cacao

1 cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over warm water on low heat; cover and let stand until the chocolate is melted. (If the chocolate melts before you are ready to use it, uncover the pot and remove from the hot water.)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small custard cup and let stand.

Sift or strain the flour into a 1½- or 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add ¼ cup of the milk and stir well with a rubber spatula until smooth—if there are any lumps press against them with the spatula. When smooth, gradually stir in the remaining milk and then the salt and sugar.

Place over moderate heat and cook, stirring and scraping the pan with the rubber spatula, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a thin white sauce and comes to a boil. Let boil, stirring, for one minute.

In a medium-size bowl stir the yolks lightly just to mix. Gradually stir in about half of the hot sauce and then stir the yolks into the remaining sauce.