How to Make a Chocolate Ganache in the Microwave

Dark and rich chocolate ganache is my favorite frosting to bake with and eat. It sounds so grown up and sophisticated but it is so easy to throw together in under five minutes. And because you simply pour it on, it's quicker to frost with and more forgiving. All you have to do is pour on the beautiful, shiny chocolate coating that basically begs to be eaten.

You can make a ganache using the stove top, but I prefer to use my microwave to save a little time and make things even easier. If you have a mini food processor, you can shave a little more time off the prep by not having to chop up the chocolate by hand. I wouldn't call the use of either appliance cheating because they don't affect the taste of the ganache.

Whatever you don't use to frost, you can save in the fridge for up to a week. Reheat the leftover ganache in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds and give it a little stir. You can use it to frost more baked goods, or drizzle it on ice cream. We just used our leftover ganache as a base for chocolate milkshakes.

Step by Step Chocolate Ganache
You just need 3 ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter,
• 8 ounces (2 bars) of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate.

1) Pour the heavy cream and butter in a glass bowl. Bring to a boil in the microwave by cooking for 1 minute increments until it begins to bubble. Don't let it boil over.

Save time by using a mini food processor instead of  knife.

2) Break the chocolate into chunks and place in a mini food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. If you don't have a food processor, you can do this with a knife.

How will this disgusting looking concoction turn out?

3) Remove the hot heavy cream from the microwave. Pour the chocolate in. Stir with a spatula until chocolate is melted and smooth.

This is the magic of ganache. With just a few stirs, the chocolate melts and your sauce is ready.

4) Spread on cakes, cupcakes, or pies. Cover the leftovers with plastic wrap and save in the fridge for up to a week. To reuse, heat in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds and stir with a spatula.

Spreading my beautiful, shiny ganache on a pie crust to top with caramelized bananas.

Chocolate Ganache
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Ingredients:
8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet fine quality chocolate such as Ghirardelli or Scharffenberger (this just depends on how dark you like your ganache - you could even use milk chocolate to make it kid-friendly. I am selfish, so I don't.)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

1. Pour the heavy cream and butter in a glass bowl. Bring to a boil in the microwave by cooking for 1 minute increments until it begins to bubble. Don't let it boil over.
2. Break the chocolate into chunks and place in a mini food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. If you don't have a food processor, you can do this with a knife.
3. Remove the hot heavy cream from the microwave. Pour the chocolate in. Stir with a spatula until chocolate is melted and smooth.
4. Spread on cakes, cupcakes, or pies. Cover the leftovers with plastic wrap and save in the fridge for up to a week. To reuse, heat in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds and stir with a spatula.

Make Ahead Chocolate Souffles for a Night of Love

We used to go out on Valentine's Day. Big expensive dinners with menus studded with exotic aphrodisiac ingredients that we booked months ahead of time. One year at a fancy French restaurant in New York, the chef decided to do a his and hers menu, with no substitution allowed. I spent the evening coveting Steve's dinner of truffled venison and chocolate cake while I was served feminine portions of sole and passion fruit mousse. My anger grew all evening long and I finally threw a fit over dessert, demanding the "manly" chocolate. I would have marched into the kitchen to personally yell at the sexist chef if that's what it took to get me my chocolate fix.

Our Valentine's feasts now take place at home. No reservation stress, no menu frustration, and most importantly, no misguided chocolate denials. We typically start with a cheese souffle, share a prime aged steak, and finish up with chocolate souffles.

I love this particular souffle recipe because it can be made ahead of time. There's nothing romantic about leaving the table to whip up egg whites. If you make the batter right before cooking it, you'll get a half an inch more height right when the souffle comes out of the oven, but even if you make this a few hours ahead, you'll still get a beautiful, light as air chocolate dessert to finish your romantic meal.

Make Ahead Chocolate Soufflés (Adapted From Gourmet Dec 1998)
Makes 8 individual souffle ramekins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
¼ cup sugar plus additional for coating ramekins
8 ounces fine quality semi-sweet chocolate
4 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

4 large egg yolks
7 large egg whites

1. If you're planning on cooking the souffles immediately, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Butter 6 1-cup ramekins (4x2 inches) and coat with sugar, knocking out excess sugar.
3. Break the chocolate into coarse chunks. In a small saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add chocolate, stirring until smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, let cool for 2 minutes, and stir in yolks.
4. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat whites with a pinch of salt until they just hold stiff peaks. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar, beating until just combined. Stir one fourth whites into chocolate mixture to lighten and fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
5. Divide soufflé mixture among ramekins and smooth tops with a knife. Run tip of knife around edges of soufflés to aid rising. Soufflés may be made up to this point 1 day ahead and kept chilled, loosely wrapped in plastic wrap.
6. Bake soufflés on a baking sheet in lower third of oven until puffed and surfaces are cracked, about 20 minutes.
7. Top soufflés with ice cream or crème vanille and serve immediately. Serves 6.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Nutella and hot milk together in a cup. This is happiness.

Snow goes hand in hand with hot chocolate. That goes without saying. When the kids come trooping back into the house, peeling off their snow-covered clothes, they expect me to greet them with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. And while it would be easier to just use the instant, just add water stuff, or reach for the can of Nesquik, I sometimes whip up a batch of homemade Nutella hot chocolate. The extra effort is well worth their red-cheeked thank yous.

Nutella hot chocolate is as good as it sounds: rich, creamy chocolate taste with just a hint of hazelnuts. It's also very easy to whip up. Not as easy as ripping open a pouch of Swiss Miss and adding hot water, but pretty close to it. Just heat up some milk, throw in three ingredients and wait for the standing ovation. They might even be grateful enough to pick up their own snow clothes without nagging.

I've even seen some recipes that call for mixing just Nutella and and hot milk, but I like adding a little cocoa to boost the chocolate flavor and a little sugar to round out the flavor. Hot chocolate should be a rich treat, and this little dessert in a cup is a snack you won't soon forget.

Nutella Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
1 Cup of 1% or 2% Milk
3 tablespoons of Nutella
1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1. Heat the milk in a medium saucepan on medium heat.
2. Add the cocoa and brown sugar. Stir until blended.
3. Spoon in the Nutella, one tablespoon at a time, resisting the urge to feed yourself a spoonful in between. You may need a second spoon to scrape the Nutella off. 
4. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture just begins to boil and the Nutella is fully disolved.
5. Serve immediately with a big fluffy marshmallow on top. As it cools, the Nutella taste will become more pronounced.

Happy World Nutella Day! The lovely Ms Adventures in Italy and
Bleeding Espresso have compiled recipes from around the world, all celebrating our love of Nutella. Head on over to drool, without gaining any weight.

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Skor Chunks

I've been using the same delicious brownie recipe for 20 years. I know that statement makes me sound like an old crone, so I should clarify that I started making homemade brownies as a pimply teenager, shedding tears over mean middle school boys while being hypnotized by the sensuous beauty of chocolate slowly melting into butter. Those brownies were rich, fudgy and decadent, and although I tried other recipes over the years, I never found one worthy of replacing our family brownie recipe, until this week, when I got the latest issue of Bon Appetit.

The brownies were right on the cover, in a mouth-watering tower. Only the chunky walnuts marred their perfection. I actually did a quick Twitter poll, asking how people feel about nuts in brownies. The answer was almost unanimous. Most people think adding nuts to brownies are a crime. I completely agree, crunchy nuts just take away from the chocolate.

Caught this brownie thief red-handed.

The recipe is easy to whip up. You can have a warm pan of brownies on the table in 35 minutes.

The brownies are rich and intensely fudgy, perfect to cut into tiny bites of chocolate bliss. Unlike my original brownie recipe, this one uses cocoa powder instead of melting chocolate as the base, but it still sends tendrils of chocolate smells up throughout the house, combined with the betwitching aroma of browned butter. This recipe makes a very small batch, and I had to make it twice to have enough to bring to my book club and have a few leftover for the kids and these pictures.

After making the recipe plain a few times, I had the urge to experiment by adding bits of Skor candy bars. They melted but gave the brownies a hint of toffee and sweet almonds. Seems like a nice compromise to put to bed that whole nuts in brownies debate.

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Skor Chunks (Adapted from Bon Appetit Feb 2011)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 to 30 minutes
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger - this is worth experimenting with as each cocoa tastes so different)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
3 Skor Candy Bars, smashed into tiny chunks
2 teaspoons of water
1/4 teaspoons of salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line an 8x8x2 baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Spray the foil with a non-stick cooking spray or rub with butter. (This foil trick is so neat. No more messy looking brownies stuck in the pan. Revolutionary.)
3. Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form on the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. Watch it closely. You do not want the browned bits to burn. Use your nose and smell the butter. You want it to smell a little nutty, not burnt.
4. Remove from heat and add sugar, water, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. Stir until blended then leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add eggs to mixture one at a time, stirring vigorously with a rubber spatula after each addition until shiny and smooth. 
6. Now add the flour and stir until blended. 
7. Stir in the Skor chunks. 
8. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Begin checking at 20 minutes. Note that the Skor candy chunks added 10 minutes of cooking time to these brownies. If you're leaving them out, the brownies will be done pretty close to 20 minutes.
9. Cool on rack then remove by pulling out the foil. Enjoy! These stay moist and delicious in an airtight container for up to a week.