Welcome to the Cooking with C.C. Blog. I will be discussing all things food and travel related. Be sure to join me for information from recipes, cookbooks, restaurants and places to visit. I look forward to hearing from you!
Connection Magazine – Cookies with the kids
The Spring 2011 Issue of Connection Magazine mailed earlier this week. The PDF of the magazine has not yet been posted - I will put a link here once it is posted. In the mean time, here is a link for the "C.C.'s Kitchen Corner" page. For additional recipes, see the Cooking with C.C. Website. The theme of the Spring 2011 Issue of Connection Magazine is “Making Time for Family.” When I think about this theme, two things come to mind – eating together and cooking together. The recipe in the magazine is from a fantastic cookbook by Cindy Mushet and her daughter Bella – “Baking Kids Love.” Carly has made many recipes out of this book – I highly recommend this as a great resource for getting in the kitchen with you children (even if you don’t get in the kitchen much yourself). There is nothing better than mixing up a dough, popping it in the oven and seeing the results of your work and the smile on their face! I have posted three additional recipes on the website – an additional favorite cookie recipe and two dinner recipes that will allow you to get a great dinner on…
Chocolate Fun Facts and Trivia
Now how about some other fun facts and trivia about chocolate…. Ghirardelli (mentioned previously) was founded in San Francisco in 1852 and was the oldest family owned chocolate company in the United States. Dominbro Ghirardelli came to California as part of the Gold Rush and decided the sure way to gold was to sell chocolate to the other miners. Ghirardelli Square is now a great place to visit while in San Francisco. In the Ghirardelli ice cream store, they have some of the old chocolate equipment in the back. In 1896, the recipe for Chocolate Brownies first appeared in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. The “Baby Ruth” candy bar was named for Ruth Cleveland – daughter of President Grover Cleveland by the Curtiss Candy Company of Philadelphia. In the 1930's, the original Three Musketeers Bar had three parts - Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry. It was changed to all chocolate in the 1940's and the formula hasn't changed since. The “I Love Lucy” famous chocolate scene was filmed at the See’s Candy Factory in Pasadena, CA. One of the most famous product placements was Reese’s Pieces in the film ET in 1981. Did you know that the Mars company originally agreed for M&M’s to be used…
Even More About Chocolate
Now that you have a variety of high end chocolates to taste, let’s compare some of them. First, chocolate is best at room temperature (about 68 degrees). As you unwrap the chocolate, look at the surface (if its grayish – that’s either sugar or fat bloom – we’ll cover that in the melting section….). It should be nice and shiny. It should break with a clean snap. Now place a small piece on your tongue and let it melt. How is the texture? It should be nice and smooth – not grainy or waxy. Now move it around your tongue to get the different flavors. You will be amazed at the different flavor profiles of these chocolates. Some are more “fruity” others have a more “earthy.” Now that we have tasted some of the chocolates and have settled on one we like. Let’s move on to cooking with it. First, if the chocolate has gray streaks or surface, this can be either sugar bloom or fat bloom. If you see what looks like sugar crystals on the surface of the chocolate, unfortunately, it’s not going to work for chocolate only recipes - if you are using liquid (butter, cream, etc.)…
More about Chocolate
Continuing the celebration of National Chocolate Month....stay tuned for more! There has been a renaissance of sorts with Artisan chocolates becoming very well-known, wide-spread and popular. You may have noticed a number of chocolate products with the percentage of chocolate liquor in them. When Ghirardelli starts putting “60% chocolate chips” on the shelf at Publix, you know this is here to stay! If you shop for high-end chocolates where you before would have seen a small selection under a brand, you now see specially identified chocolates, whether they be the location it was grown, the bean selection or some other designator. There are great parallels between chocolate and wine in these regards, and the suppliers are now providing many more chocolate choices. The question I often get in class is about the marking of percentages on the chocolates. Why would Ghirardelli put that 60% designation on their semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate chips? The reason comes down to federal requirements. Yes, Congress has defined chocolate for all of us. (If you are dying to look it up, check out 21CFR163). The FDA requires certain compositions when chocolates are marked certain ways. Per the FDA requirements, sweet chocolate must contain at least 15% chocolate liquor…