Supper Club Desert - Grown Up Milk & Cookies
Here are the recipes for the desert of the Supper Club meal we hosted on 2/21. Admittedly, after our incredibly rich and filling third course it was hard to find room for desert, but that's the kind of tough job a man has to do some time.
Grown Up Milk & Cookies
Makes 8 Servings
Ganache
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Ground Coffee (we actually just got about a 1/2 cup of plain, already brewed, Starbucks coffee)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softeneed
Cookie Batter
1/3 cup almond meal/flour
3 large eggs separated
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/3 cup uncooked Cream of Wheat (we used Cream of Rice, due to me being illiterate)
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted cocoa nibs (beans broken into small pieces, we used cocoa powder)
Milk Eau-De-Vie
2 cups whole milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split
2 tbsp eau-de-vie or grappa
sugared cocoa nibs (again, we used cocoa powder)
[1] To make ganache: In a small saucepan, combine cream, 1/4 cup water, and coffee. Heat over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat, let stand 15 minutes. Strain cream mixture through a fine sieve into a clean 2 quart saucepan. Heat cream mixture over medium heat and bring just to a boil; remove from heat.
[2] Meanwhile, in a food processor with metal blade attached, finely chop chocolate. With motor running, pour hot cream mixture through feed cylinder. Add butter, and process until chocolate and butter are melted. Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, letting foil extend at 2 sides. Pour ganache into pan. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
[3] To make cookie batter: Spray eight 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 inch ramekins with cooking spray. Line bottoms with parchment circles and spray again.
NOTE:
We don't own ramekins, so we used a regular muffin tin and cupcake liners. This meant smaller portions, but it worked pretty well.
[4] In a medium skillet, over medium heat, cook almond meal until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring frequently, about five minutes. Turn meal onto a plate to cool.
[5] In a medium bowl, beat egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Shift mixer to high and gradually beat in sugar until whites stiffen.
[6] In a large bowl, combine almond meal, egg yolks, melted butter, melted chocolate, Cream of Wheat and cocoa nibs; stir until blended. Fold in egg whites. Spoon mixture into a large food storage bag (aka, a ziploc bag) and snip a large hole in one corner. Pipe mixture into bottom of ramekins to cover, about 1/2 inch thick.
[7] Remove ganache from freezer; lift from pan using foil ends. Cut out into circles the size of the ramekins, about 2 1/4 inches. Place a circle in the center of each ramekin. Pipe remaining batter over and around ganache to cover. Smooth tops. Freeze until firm, about one hour.
[8] To make milk eau-de-vie: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring just to a boil, lower heat and simmer until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes. Discard vanilla bean, pour milk into a bowl, and refigerate until cold.
[9] Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until tops feel firm, 21 to 23 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet 10 minutes.
[10] Place remaining ganache in saucepan and melt over low heat. To serve, run a knife carefully around the insides of the ramekins and invert cookies onto a plate. Remove paper. Drizzle with warm ganache and sugared cocoa nibs. Pour eau-de-vie and milk into shot glasses. Serve with cookies.
Man, I got tired just reading that. It's quite possible that xhollydayx made the most complicated single item thus far in Supper Club history. It's certainly more complicated than cream puffs, and I whine about how hard those are every time I make them.
Heck, just acquiring the ingredients was a challenge. xhollydayx sweet talked the Starbucks staff into giving us a cup of plain coffee, which they were very cool about, but the grappa was a challenge. It's basically grape brandy, which mean it's high enough proof that only a liquor store can sell it. We ended up at Rozi's Wine House in Rocky River because the Lakewood branch can't sell the hard stuff. They told us that they only sell 2 to 3 bottles of grappa a month; and no wonder, the stuff is liquid fire. Our bottle had dust on the top of it :-) Given the relatively lopsided price/usage ratio we chose to omit this one from the budget. Almond meal was another challenge. The the Mediterranean Imported Foods Stand didn't have it that day, but they did have plain white blanched almonds, which they agreed to grind for me. Admittedly, the Cream of Wheat shouldn't have been a challenge, but I screwed up and grabbed the Cream of Rice instead. Oops. That just means that the desert was gluten-free. It didn't seem to have a negative effect on the taste or texture. Finally, we had to use a mixture of bittersweet and dark chocolate because the grocery store did not have enough bittersweet chocolate and I really didn't feel any desire to go elsewhere to track it down.
In any event, after we acquired the ingredients xhollydayx made a double-batch. It was delicious. The cookie was very rich and creamy, and the ganache induced indy_was_here into licking the plate again. 10 out of 10!
xhollydayx found this gem in The Oprah Magazine Cookbook. It was created by Michelle Myers. Most of the recipes in this cookbook are not nearly as complicated as this one. Really.
The only problem was cleanup. The milk boiled over and hit the stove, and by the time we could clean it up it had hardened into a solid burned mass. Fortunately, the stove top is removable so I've been able to soak it it, but even with a week's worth of soaking and scrubbing most of it hasn't move very far. In addition, a little bit got burned on to the bottom of the saucepan and we've got the same problem there. Can anyone suggest a more effective way of getting this off without wrecking the pan and the stove top?
Tomorrow: Incidentals & Conclusions.
EDITED: To fix numerous small things that irritated me.
Grown Up Milk & Cookies
Makes 8 Servings
Ganache
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Ground Coffee (we actually just got about a 1/2 cup of plain, already brewed, Starbucks coffee)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softeneed
Cookie Batter
1/3 cup almond meal/flour
3 large eggs separated
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/3 cup uncooked Cream of Wheat (we used Cream of Rice, due to me being illiterate)
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted cocoa nibs (beans broken into small pieces, we used cocoa powder)
Milk Eau-De-Vie
2 cups whole milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split
2 tbsp eau-de-vie or grappa
sugared cocoa nibs (again, we used cocoa powder)
[1] To make ganache: In a small saucepan, combine cream, 1/4 cup water, and coffee. Heat over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat, let stand 15 minutes. Strain cream mixture through a fine sieve into a clean 2 quart saucepan. Heat cream mixture over medium heat and bring just to a boil; remove from heat.
[2] Meanwhile, in a food processor with metal blade attached, finely chop chocolate. With motor running, pour hot cream mixture through feed cylinder. Add butter, and process until chocolate and butter are melted. Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, letting foil extend at 2 sides. Pour ganache into pan. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
[3] To make cookie batter: Spray eight 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 inch ramekins with cooking spray. Line bottoms with parchment circles and spray again.
NOTE:
We don't own ramekins, so we used a regular muffin tin and cupcake liners. This meant smaller portions, but it worked pretty well.
[4] In a medium skillet, over medium heat, cook almond meal until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring frequently, about five minutes. Turn meal onto a plate to cool.
[5] In a medium bowl, beat egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Shift mixer to high and gradually beat in sugar until whites stiffen.
[6] In a large bowl, combine almond meal, egg yolks, melted butter, melted chocolate, Cream of Wheat and cocoa nibs; stir until blended. Fold in egg whites. Spoon mixture into a large food storage bag (aka, a ziploc bag) and snip a large hole in one corner. Pipe mixture into bottom of ramekins to cover, about 1/2 inch thick.
[7] Remove ganache from freezer; lift from pan using foil ends. Cut out into circles the size of the ramekins, about 2 1/4 inches. Place a circle in the center of each ramekin. Pipe remaining batter over and around ganache to cover. Smooth tops. Freeze until firm, about one hour.
[8] To make milk eau-de-vie: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring just to a boil, lower heat and simmer until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes. Discard vanilla bean, pour milk into a bowl, and refigerate until cold.
[9] Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until tops feel firm, 21 to 23 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet 10 minutes.
[10] Place remaining ganache in saucepan and melt over low heat. To serve, run a knife carefully around the insides of the ramekins and invert cookies onto a plate. Remove paper. Drizzle with warm ganache and sugared cocoa nibs. Pour eau-de-vie and milk into shot glasses. Serve with cookies.
Man, I got tired just reading that. It's quite possible that xhollydayx made the most complicated single item thus far in Supper Club history. It's certainly more complicated than cream puffs, and I whine about how hard those are every time I make them.
Heck, just acquiring the ingredients was a challenge. xhollydayx sweet talked the Starbucks staff into giving us a cup of plain coffee, which they were very cool about, but the grappa was a challenge. It's basically grape brandy, which mean it's high enough proof that only a liquor store can sell it. We ended up at Rozi's Wine House in Rocky River because the Lakewood branch can't sell the hard stuff. They told us that they only sell 2 to 3 bottles of grappa a month; and no wonder, the stuff is liquid fire. Our bottle had dust on the top of it :-) Given the relatively lopsided price/usage ratio we chose to omit this one from the budget. Almond meal was another challenge. The the Mediterranean Imported Foods Stand didn't have it that day, but they did have plain white blanched almonds, which they agreed to grind for me. Admittedly, the Cream of Wheat shouldn't have been a challenge, but I screwed up and grabbed the Cream of Rice instead. Oops. That just means that the desert was gluten-free. It didn't seem to have a negative effect on the taste or texture. Finally, we had to use a mixture of bittersweet and dark chocolate because the grocery store did not have enough bittersweet chocolate and I really didn't feel any desire to go elsewhere to track it down.
In any event, after we acquired the ingredients xhollydayx made a double-batch. It was delicious. The cookie was very rich and creamy, and the ganache induced indy_was_here into licking the plate again. 10 out of 10!
xhollydayx found this gem in The Oprah Magazine Cookbook. It was created by Michelle Myers. Most of the recipes in this cookbook are not nearly as complicated as this one. Really.
The only problem was cleanup. The milk boiled over and hit the stove, and by the time we could clean it up it had hardened into a solid burned mass. Fortunately, the stove top is removable so I've been able to soak it it, but even with a week's worth of soaking and scrubbing most of it hasn't move very far. In addition, a little bit got burned on to the bottom of the saucepan and we've got the same problem there. Can anyone suggest a more effective way of getting this off without wrecking the pan and the stove top?
Tomorrow: Incidentals & Conclusions.
EDITED: To fix numerous small things that irritated me.