Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

I didn't know what came over me to want to give this ice-cream recipe a try. I do not have an ice-cream maker to begin with. But sometimes, there are certain recipes that just caught my attention and I can't stop thinking about them until I gave them a try. And no, I didn't rush out to get an ice-cream maker either. Refer to the note at the end of the post to learn how to make ice-cream without a machine. 

To be honest, I didn't think there would be much success on this first attempt. There was a floating layer of fats (I think) after I had melted the chocolate and the cream together. And the final product turned out a bit too hard compared to store-bought. I didn't know if there is any relation to that layer of fats that I decided to omit when doing the final mix. But I was glad that the overall taste was good. So much richer and more chocolate-ty than store-bought.

Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup of sugar

Directions :

1) Put the chocolate in a 2-quart liquid measuring cup or a large heatproof bowl. Bring 3/4 of the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit a minute, then, using a rubber spatula, and starting in the center of the mixture, slowly stir the cream into the chocolate in ever-widening concentric circles. When the ganache is smooth, set it aside.

2) Bring the milk and the remaining 3/4 cream to a boil in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.

3) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle, Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon: if you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on an instant-read thermometer (this took about 8-10 minutes on my stove.) Immediately remove the pan from the heat and slowly and gently stir the custard into the ganache. 

Note : If you do not have an ice-cream maker, refer to this article by David Lebovitz. Thanks to him, everyone can enjoy home-made ice-cream even though you don't have the machine.  :)

Dark and white chocolate cookies

I know what you are thinking, "where on earth is the white chocolate?". Before I reveal the answer, I need to show you what I had envisioned when I decided to make this cookie - here it is.

Looks fabulous, right? Ok, ok... stop comparing that picture with mine here, I know both are completely worlds apart. I was not too sure what kind of white chocolate to use, so I got the Cadbury white chocolate. But after baking, the white chocolate was 'burnt'.

I guess I should have gotten the white chocolate for baking and not the normal one. But luckily, they didn't taste that bad, just a little on the sweet side. So for the following batches, I stuck the white chocolates in between the cookies.

Since there was a family gathering over the weekend, I brought all the cookies over and let them try. My uncle was quite the supporter, and even gave them another name, 牛粪饼 = cow dung biscuits. Though it might sound disgusting, there was somehow a sense of "rightness" to it when my uncle said it in Teochew. Haha.

Dark and white chocolate chunk cookies

Ingredients :

- 2 2/3 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks, divided
- ¼ cup (½ stick/57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (88g) packed golden brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (105g) self-rising flour
- 3 ½ oz (98g) high-quality white chocolate, very coarsely chopped

Directions :

1) Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) Stir 2 cups chocolate chunks with butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth; cool 10 minutes.

3) Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until well blended. In low speed, beat in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla, then flour. Stir in remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips; let stand 10 minutes – this is a very important step, since the dough is fluid and won’t set until the chocolate cools.

4) Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches (5cm) apart. Press white chocolate pieces into top of cookies, dividing equally.

5) Bake until cookies look puffed and slightly dry on top, about 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets, then carefully peel them off the paper using a wide metal spatula.

Cocoa Powder Brownies

A few months after getting the can of half-used cocoa powder and half a bottle of vanilla essence from Qing, I finally found a recipe that can put both to good use.

I have been wanting to try brownies for a while now but all recipes I saw yield quite a large amount and instead of using cocoa powder, they need to melt chocolates from scratch. So imagine my delight when I finally found this particular recipe, which not only includes ingredients I already have on hand, but also do not produce too much, just in case it doesn't turn out right and I had to dump them.

The only thing that didn't come out really right was the size of the baking tray I used. As mine was an oven-toaster, I didn't specifically buy any other sizes of baking tray. So what I had was a little bigger than what was suggested in the recipe and thus, my brownies turned out to be a little thinner than usual. But other than that, all was well. :)

Mom's Cocoa Powder Brownies (recipe from : Recipezaar)

Ingredients :

- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions :

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

2. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit (about 175 degrees Celsius) for 25 to 30 minutes in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

3. Allow to cool before cutting.

Easy-to-make chocolate truffles

Decided to try my hand at the easy chocolate truffles again. Since tuition had been changed from Thursday to Friday, might as well go home after work and do something "productive". Heh.

Anyway, forgot what was the brand of chocolate-coated biscuits I bought last time. But this time, I bought Tim Tam chocolate-coated biscuits. It turned out that the amount of crushed biscuits this time was much more than the previous one, which meant that the "balls" didn't taste as cheesy as it did the last time.

So, my "guinea pigs" for this round felt that these "balls" tasted good! Yeah! Sam was my biggest supporter so far... automatically requested for the rest of the "balls" that I had brought to school. :)

Even my auntie, Huiqi and Kenny who don't like cheese, didn't realised that they contained cheese at all!

Easy Chocolate Biscuit Truffles (from : Nigella)

Ingredients :
- 2 pkts of your favourite chocolate coated biscuits
- 250gm pkt of philidelphia cream cheese
- coconut, chocolate sprinkles, or crushed nuts to roll them in

Directions :
1. Process the biscuits into fine crumbs in your food processor. Add in the cream cheese and whizz together till well combined. Chill in the fridge for a short while.

2. Take teaspoons of mix and roll into balls, then roll in coconut, chocolate sprinkles or crushed nuts. Store either in the fridge or in the freezer.