# we need a serious talk...about chocolate



## southerncook (Nov 21, 2004)

audeo et al, listen up.  I've spent a fortune one the Scharffen Berger choc.'s  this week. 2lbs of semi (for cherries, misc. fruit) 2 lbs of UNSWEETENED...now, I'm thinking of flourless choc. cake, or something else that the choc. is the star of. So here's the challange.

Best uses for different grades of chocolate.
Best uses for different makes of chocolate
cocoa content = what? especially when you can get 98%/unsweetened..you didn't buy that high quality to add sugar to it. I bought it for a flourless choc. cake. but what would YOU do with it??
on and on... It's a cool dillelma (yea, it's 60 degrees in here so I can set some choc. cherries with this humidity, studpid...yes, running out of time...yes willing to risk hyperthermia...yes...)


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## Audeo (Nov 22, 2004)

Congratulations on being the proud new parent of Scharffen Berger!!!

I can probably wax most poetically about good quality chocolate, and will pick up your challenge, southerncook!

But first...

Yesterday's banana bread is gone and I just received a frantic request from a hungry son for more.  I'm going to print out your quest, make notes while mixing and be back in a flash!

You got a 98% cocoa butter content chocolate???  98 PERCENT???  WOW!


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## choclatechef (Nov 22, 2004)

Wow.  At first I thought.........what in the world have I done now!


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## Audeo (Nov 22, 2004)

choclatechef said:
			
		

> Wow.  At first I thought.........what in the world have I done now!



ROFLMAO, choclatechef!!!!  I never thought of that, but sure see why you'd wonder!!!

Okay... (wringing hands in covetous glee)...

First and foremost, take a knife and chop off a piece of each of the chocolates that you've bought and taste each piece lovingly and slowly...and make a few notes of your findings and opinions, because that is going to go a long way toward helping you know what to do, what might combine well, etc..  Dark chocolate, or bittersweet, is chocolate in its most pure form, no sugar added (which obviously is added to achieve the other forms of semi-sweet, etc.).  I am practically addicted to it!  And every chocolate maker's chocolates have distinctly different tastes and textures.

When it comes to using high grades of chocolate, I always want to use as few distractions that can compete with the chocolate's flavor in a recipe as possible!  Ganache, ganache, ganache, ganache, GANACHE!!!  Generally speaking, to make a glaze or coating, combine 1 part cream to 3 parts chocolate.  For truffles, combine 1 part cream to 2 parts chocolate.  And for a light, whipped filling, combine 1 part cream to 1 part chocolate.

Flourless cake?  Oh yeah!  Truffles?  PLEASE!  Chocolate-dipped fruits?  Especially some juicy, sweet Driscoll strawberries?  Bring 'em on!  Bourbon-soaked cherries?  DUH!  And I would and will make a short ton of cream centers in all kinds of flavors!!! 

This chocolate will give an entirely new meaning to brownies, cakes, PIES, and anything else you can concoct!  And Sharffen Berger has a wealth of wonderful recipes on its website:  www.scharffenberger.com !

Oh...HOT CHOCOLATE TO DIE FOR!!!

And here's one to ponder...

Make a ganache of about 1 part cream to 6 parts chocolate, pour it into a square baking dish from 1/8 to 1/4 inches thick and let it cool and then cut it into ribbons and form spectacular decorations for that flourless cake (or the one I'm about to post in Alix's thread) -- thin ribbons shaped like curly ribbon...wider ribbons, in short segments, folded to make a loop then added one by one to create a stunning bow for a topper, with flat ribbons criss-crossing the diameter of the cake, to look like a wrapped package!

Now.  Tell me about that 98% one you have...how soft is that chocolate?  Does it have any snap at all when you break it?


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## Audeo (Nov 22, 2004)

PS:  Be sure to check out the Chocolate Lovers Unite thread, because dear AllenMI has posted a scrumptuous sounding flourless chocolate cake recipe that will solve any of life's little challenges!!!


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## Alix (Nov 22, 2004)

Thanks for the link Audeo. I am headed over there shortly.


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## merstarr (Nov 22, 2004)

Audeo said:
			
		

> Dark chocolate, or bittersweet, is chocolate in its most pure form, no sugar added (which obviously is added to achieve the other forms of semi-sweet, etc.).



Audeo, 
Dark chocolate, which includes both bittersweet and semi-sweet, DOES have sugar added. Only unsweetened (sometimes called "bitter," but NOT "bittersweet") has no sugar added.


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## Audeo (Nov 22, 2004)

Merstar, you are precisely right (as you know!)!

Thank you very much for that correction!!  

Hmmm...may be time for another nap here...!


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## merstarr (Nov 22, 2004)

Audeo said:
			
		

> Merstar, you are precisely right (as you know!)!
> 
> Thank you very much for that correction!!
> 
> Hmmm...may be time for another nap here...!



No problem, Audeo.


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## southerncook (Nov 24, 2004)

ok guys, I have made brownies, and cookies to die for..they are gone........with the unsweete am makining the ganache for the cheesecakes...with the simi... wish I had some bitter.........


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## southerncook (Nov 24, 2004)

I am sorry... I've really been diving into this choc..thing. all I can say at this point is WOW. thanks audeo, and every one... Tomorrow the sun will shine and 2 lbs of the  best chocolate in north america becomes.......truffles or trash.


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## southerncook (Nov 24, 2004)

Audeo said:
			
		

> Congratulations on being the proud new parent of Scharffen Berger!!!
> 
> I can probably wax most poetically about good quality chocolate, and will pick up your challenge, southerncook!
> 
> ...


10$/bar....


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## Audeo (Nov 24, 2004)

ROFL!  Truffles...or trash!!!!

I'm betting on the truffles!


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## southerncook (Nov 24, 2004)

The semi is 67%, the unsweetened is 99%. There's a surprising bit of snap to the dark, I'd of thought it'd be even grainer...makes a mean hot chocolate.  I'm making marshmallows, and dipping the cherries, the mallows and the apricots. made 1 cheesecake, am going to make the homemade cream of mushroom soup for my deconstructed green bean cassarole...see ya'll in a few.


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