Archive | chocolate RSS feed for this section

>The Chocolate Room, Brooklyn

15 Jan

>
(Above you see brother and mom, post-chocolate indulgence) Nestled next to a quaint movie theater in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, The Chocolate Room knows how to hit the spot on a cold, snowy day.


Immediately when you walk in a case of gorgeous chocolates will tempt you.


You can sit at the bar or go to the back and sit at a table (If you sit at a table there is a beautiful tall window with which to watch the snow flakes fall). The waitstaff hands you a menu and a little sample: almond cake drizzled with chocolate.


It is pretty much a given that you must order hot chocolate when the snow is falling and you are at a place called “The Chocolate Room.” Oh, and please do order a homemade marshmallow to swim in your hot chocolate. The Chocolate Room also has a hot chocolate with a shot of espresso in it. It is called a Cafe Torino. My eyes just got a little brighter thinking about it.


So five of us “dined” at the Chocolate Room. We each got a drink and then shared two chocolate desserts. A flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and whipped cream=dense and dreamy, and I loved the raspberry-chocolate combo.


Chocolate pudding cake with whipped mascarpone and brandied cherries. Rich and oozing chocolatey goodness. Definitely my favorite chocolate delight from The Chocolate Room.

Both of the desserts–the flourless chocolate cake and the chocolate pudding cake–were on the specials menu.

I feel like I have taken a chocolate and burger tour of New York. My stomach has never hurt so good.

The Chocolate Room
86 5th Avenue
New York, NY 11217
(718) 783-2900

>The City Bakery

10 Jan

>The City Bakery.
I want.
I crave.
I think I found my new favorite bakery.
I think I need to move to New York City.
I think I need to live above The City Bakery.


Exhibit A: The Pretzel Croissant
Salty
Buttery
Tender
Flaky
Sprinkled with sesame seeds
Dipped into my hot chocolate drink


Exhibit B: Dark Hot Chocolate with a Homemade Marshmallow
Chocolate in the morning.
Makes me a happy lady.


Look at those muffins. Ooo tummy.


Bran muffin. A mountain of a muffin.

David Lebovitz turned me on to this bakery. They have a salad bar at the bakery. Salad and pastries. No but really, the salad bar is supposed to be raging during lunch hour. But really no, just go get a pretzel croissant and dip it into your liquid chocolate drink.

The City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 366-1414

>Chocolate Truffles: 5th Avenue Chocolatiere New York

24 Dec

>


Love.

5th Avenue Chocolatiere
693 Third Avenue at 43rd Street
New York, NY 10017
(212) 935-5454

>Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies

19 Nov

>
Ok so I’m clumsy. You don’t even want to know how many of my shirts have food stains on them. Most of them aren’t even from baking/cooking, they are from my sloppy eating habits…I really need to start carrying my tide-to-go pen on me at all times. It’s really the only way.

Ok so I made a whole pan of brownies. There was no way that I wasn’t going to nibble on one hot out of the oven, how could anyone possibly wait until they are cool?


Ok so this was a very crazy week and I began many a morning with a comforting cappuccino and ended many nights chowing down on chocolate covered cranberries. That’s just how it goes.

Chocolate
Chocolate + Butter
Melted Chocolate + Butter

A week ago I spent the afternoon procrastinating studying “diseases of the liver.” I was sitting at a cafe looking up brownie recipes. All I have wanted this entire week was to make brownies. Uber-rich, uber-buttery, uber-fudgey brownies. A week later and I’ve finally done it. I’ve made the brownies that I have been dreaming about for 7 days.

Special thanks to Kiri for recommending this recipe to me…

Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies

recipe from Saveur magazine

makes 24 brownies

16 tablespoons butter
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut in 1/4″ pieces
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup flour

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment. Set pan aside.

2. Pour enough water into a 4 quart saucepan that it reaches a depth of 1″. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Combine butter and chocolate in a medium bowl; set bowl over saucepan (do not let the bottom of the bowl directly touch the water). Cook, stirring until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Whisk together eggs in a large bowl. Add sugars, vanilla, and salt. Stir in chocolate-butter mixture. Fold in the flour. Pour into prepared pan; spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool on a rack. Cut and serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

4 Sep


I made some chocolate chip cookie dough flavor ice cream for you. A whole tub of it. It’s like cookie dough, but it’s ice cream. Insane. I used a combo of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate morsels just because. I used brown sugar and egg yolks in my custard, and when this yummy frozen treat was finished churning, I licked the ice cream maker clean.

And hey, if you still miss those “chunks” of cookie dough mixed into the ice cream, well by all means go ahead and make some dough to mix in. Or if you want to crumble some already baked chocolate chip cookies into the mix, go to town. (If you are looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.) I actually took some leftover homemade oreos from my work and mixed them in.

I happily ate my cookie dough flavor ice cream with chopped chocolate, oreos, and yes, I took a spoonful of peanut butter to go along with my bowl of decadence.

***NOTE: Apologies for the low quality photos…my camera is still broken and in the process of being fixed. So just hold your horses until then…

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

from JoytheBaker

3 tablespoons butter
2 cups half and half
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2% is best; milk with less fat might make this particular ice cream get too icy when frozen)
3/4-1 cup chocolate, chopped (I used half semisweet, half bittersweet)

Pour your 1 1/2 cups milk into a medium-large bowl and set over an ice water bath. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it melts into a nice golden brown color (this is called browned butter). Add the half and half until scalding (not quite boiling). Add your pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add some of the warm half and half mixture to the egg-sugar mixture while stirring constantly. Then pour the rest back into the saucepan and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened slightly and can coat the back of a metal spoon. Strain through a sieve into the bowl of milk. Stir over the ice water bath until chilled, then stick in the fridge until completely chilled.

Pour into the ice cream maker. In the last few minutes of churning, stir in the chopped chocolate, cookie dough chunks, whatever tickles your fancy…

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →