Chocolate « (y)our food choices™

A dollop of whipped cream adds a bit of love to this otherwise vegan chocolate mousse.

You can’t get a reservation to save your life, all the restaurants are filled up, and you have to work late. After all, Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday this year and your boss doesn’t care if you have a love life or not. You feel like an idiot because you didn’t prepare for this day and you know your significant other is going to be beyond pissed if you don’t do something special. What to do?

Beyond hoping that you can find some decent flowers, we suggest you buy a nice bottle of Champagne, or two, a good pâté, a few nice cheeses, a bleu, cheddar, and maybe a Swiss, and a baguette. A few other things like olives, cornichons, some raw almonds, and dried apricots to round out the nosh. Keep the meal simple so you don’t feel stuffed and bloated. After all, neither one of you will be in the mood for that something-something if all you want to do is veg out on the sofa.

To assure that you’ll be getting that something-something, invite your honey into the kitchen while you defy all the laws of cooking by adding water to chocolate. In less than 5 minutes you’ll have the best chocolate mousse ever. You’ll even prove that your biceps are not just for show, but that you can actually use them. While you are whisking away, throw out terms like ‘molecular gastronomy’ and that it was the French chemist, Hervé This that discovered this unusual dessert. By the end, you’ll both be feeding each other out the bowl and well, let’s just say that the kitchen will really be cooking.

5 Minute (Vegan) Chocolate Mousse

265 grams (about 9.40 ounces) dark chocolate (we use 54% Trader Joe’s dark chocolate we don’t recommend using any chocolate higher than 60% cocoa)
1 cup water
1 – 2 tablespoons of honey or ultra fine sugar (optional)
Note: honey is not vegan.

Place a large mixing bowl on top of another slightly smaller one, filled with ice and cold water (the bottom of the large bowl should touch the ice). Set aside.
Put chocolate, water, and honey/sugar in a medium-sized pan and melt the chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally until just melted. Do not boil or simmer.
Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl sitting on top of ice and water, and start whisking like hell with a wire whisk (or an electrical hand-held mixer if you don’t have the muscles) until it begins to thicken. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. You want it drip from the whisk in ribbons. If the mousse becomes grainy transfer it back into the pan, reheat until half of it is melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.
Divide into four serving cups serve right away or refrigerate.

Thanks to Cenk over at Café Fernado for inspiring this blog post!

We’re all about being frugal, trying to save a nickel here and a dime there, and when it comes to holiday confections we don’t see what difference a day or two makes when buying a box of chocolate. The box of chocolate will be as good on February 15^th as it was the day before and it’s always 50% off the retail price. We also know that giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day is a tradition that many of us can’t resist from year to year. So what to do? We say make your own.

There are few flavors that go together so perfectly that people get into heated debates over someone expressing ambivalence, or worse, dislike for the paring. And we don’t understand how anyone could feel like something so perfect has been made one too many times. With our friend Susan’s Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel, the ubiquitous combination of sea salt and caramel proves it is a match made in heaven, or um … France. What is it that makes caramel, chocolate and sea salt taste so good together that even the most jaded food critic can’t resist the flavor combo? Here in the U.S. we’re used to the chocolate and caramel or chocolate and peanut butter pairings. Can you imagine Hershey going a bit French by adding a sprinkle of fleur de sel to their chocolate bars? We can already see the revolt by the crazy-ass wing nuts in the red states. “Sea salt in my chocolate? What the hell?” Remember “Freedom” fries?

What difference does a day make? Buy your heart shaped box of chocolates on February 15th or make your own.

Susan has perfected this recipe and you can taste the love and time she’s put into it. We were lucky enough to taste these delicious truffles at their 2010 holiday party. We’re grateful that she shared the recipe with us and the rest of her friends on Facebook. Steve’s office enjoyed the batch Jason made and we’re sure your sweetie(s) will love them just as much. So we suggest whipping up a batch this weekend and if you still have a hankering for more chocolate, pick up that heart shaped box on Tuesday. It’s a win-win situation. You’ll get great, homemade chocolate truffles for Valentine’s Day and the heart shaped box a few days later. Now go hit the gym and start working out so you can enjoy all the sugar calories you’ll be consuming for the next few weeks.

A little bite of France.

Susan’s Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt

24 ounces fine-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, divided
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon sea salt (fleur de sel if you have it on hand)
unsweetened cocoa powder
additional sea salt

Gently melt 10 ounces chocolate in a double boiler or microwave, set aside.

Combine sugar and water in a heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, until syrup is dark amber. Add cream; caramel will bubble and steam. Reduce heat to low and stir until caramel is entirely smooth, with no remaining lumps. Mix caramel and 1 t. sea salt into chocolate, cool slightly, cover and refrigerate for at least three hours.

Place cocoa powder in a small bowl. Using melon baller or tablespoon, roll truffle filling into balls. Smooth with your hands (gloves highly recommended) and roll in cocoa. Arrange on a baking sheet, cover, and chill overnight.

Line baking sheet with foil, parchment or Silpat. Temper remaining chocolate in a small bowl. Working quickly, submerge one cold truffle center in the tempered chocolate, lift with a fork and tap off excess, and set on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with a small amount of sea salt. Repeat with remaining truffle centers. Let stand until coating sets, at least one hour. (Can be made up to one week in advance. Cover and keep cool. Bring to room temperature to serve.)

* I do the centers in batches: ~10 rough balls at a time using the melon baller, and then pop them into the fridge while I make the next set. When I’m all done, I pull out each set of ~10 and smooth them into nice spheres with my hands and dust with cocoa. I also pull the centers out of the fridge in small batches to do the couverture (dipping the caramels in the chocolate), so that the later ones stay cool. The centers are super gooey at room temperature, so it’s important that they’re right out of the fridge to ensure the outer coating of chocolate covers them well.