If you only know trifle as a way to use up dry cake or as a quaint dish from the Great British Bake Off, you're in for a surprise. This chocolate strawberry brownie trifle is a scrumptious and special dessert to whip up for Valentine's Day, a romantic date night at home, or any time you need a sweet chocolatey treat.
One of the most alluring and easy desserts to make is chocolate pot de crème, a fancy French name for chocolate pudding and even though there are few ingredients, and the prep is easy, it is best to pay attention as to how to make this dessert served to royal families as far back as the 17th century. To get that creamy texture and dense, decadent taste, use the best chocolate you can find.
I have more than a few things in common with Julia Child. For one, I love food and, more specifically, I have a fondness for French cuisine (don't we all?). I also shop at the same butcher ( Savenor's Butchery in Cambridge, Massachusetts), am a cookbook author, and have a longtime love of Scharffen Berger chocolate. The brand debuted in the late '90s, and it wouldn't be long before I'd discover it in a tiny, specialty market in Maine.
British classics Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be referred to as chocolate after the latest changes made to their recipe. In the UK, in order to be called milk chocolate, a product must be made up of at least 20% milk solids and 20% chocolate solids. But both products have fallen below this level since Nestle changed their recipes to include a higher amount of cheaper vegetable fat, instead of more expensive cocoa and butter.
The warmed apple chunks, spiced notes, and buttery crust of an apple pie make it a comforting dessert to eat all year long. It feels humble and soothing, but it tastes delicious and isn't too difficult to whip up, which makes it an approachable treat to bake no matter what season. It's a familiar favorite pie (especially if you're working with a recipe passed down from generations prior), but you can also find ways to make it feel fun and fresh.
For his chocola"tea" mousse, Young makes a "very strong tea syrup by bringing tea leaves and water to the boil". He then strains this and lets it infuse for five minutes before incorporating it into a sugar syrup. The chocolatier explained, "tea and chocolate make a wonderful pairing as they both have tannins in common in their tasting notes". Tannins give foods like tea and chocolate their signature bitter tang and also appear in coffee and wine.
Melted chocolate can seize and separate into grainy clumps for various reasons, including exposure to excess moisture, cold ingredients, or overly harsh or rapid heating. This separates chocolate's emulsion, or the combined structure of fat, liquids, sugar, and cocoa solids made by tempering the chocolate over gentle and controlled heat. Unfortunately, chocolate can seize in what seems like an instant - and it is incredibly frustrating.
Use your overripe bananas to make this chocolate chunk banana bread with a kick - its star ingredient is the Korean chile paste gochujang, which melds with the bananas, brown sugar, vanilla, white miso, maple syrup, cinnamon and olive oil. Spicy-tangy gochujang gives this banana bread a warming heat that gently builds and plays off the other sweet, fermented flavors.
Chocolate will always be a top-tier dessert ingredient. We've been adding this universally-loved creation to sweet treats for over 300 years, and it's clear to see why. Chocolate brings richness, sweetness, and indulgence. Put simply, it makes everything better. So it's no wonder that there are a seemingly endless array of chocolate-based desserts made in all corners of the world.
If you're looking for a dessert that's equal parts comfort food and showstopping, Reese Witherspoon's mud pie trifle is exactly that. In her cookbook Whiskey in a Teacup, she describes it as a "high-low hack" - a semi-homemade twist on the classic Mississippi mud pie that layers Oreos, chocolate pudding, chocolate cake, and Cool Whip layered up in a glamorous trifle dish. Think of it as a potluck favorite dressed up for a dinner party.
When it was first introduced to the market, it cost just a penny. But Ms Wadin, 74, said her dad was disgusted with how small it is now and how much they charge for it, adding: "He'd roll over in his grave if he could see it now; he'd be disgusted. It was a penny chocolate."
Join us for the Chocolate & Wine CRUISE on San Francisco Bay, and wear your best Off-White outfit! The day's adventure takes place onboard a luxury yacht, where you will taste wines from a local winemaker, along with samples from a curated selection of local chocolate, confections, and wine.
