Homemade Rocks! Hale’s Perfect Banana Split

Posted on May 22, 2011

Wow! Get a load of this stunner made by my eleven-year-old son, Hale. I had just made a batch of chocolate-walnut-coconut-milk sherbet from David Lebovitz’s Room for Dessert…super yummy and light, and I added chopped walnuts for texture…and boom, my son takes one look at it and says, “Mom, can I make a banana split?”

“Sure, but only if you let me photograph it,” I said, smiling.

He agreed, but at the same time made me promise not too take any more food photos when his friends are over for dinner…as I did last night. “It’s just embarrassing when you say, no, don’t eat it yet, let me get just one more shot.”

Fair enough. He’s right. I admit I to being camera crazy sometimes. But I also enjoy a good shot…like the way the blue jimmies match the placemat in this pic. Fun and delicious! Makes me happy. This sherbet will make you happy, too.

Chocolate-Walnut-Coconut-Milk Sherbet
Makes 1 quart
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 cups Thai canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

  1. Heat the water and sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved.
  2. Coarsely chop the chocolate, add it to the syrup, and whisk until the chocolate has completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk and rum (the rum is the key to a delicious flavor, but maybe not for kids!).
  3. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

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Two-Star Michelin Chef Curtis Duffy Comes to KL…and Brings Some Unique Flavors of America!

Posted on May 2, 2011

What happens when a two-star Michelin chef from Chicago comes to town as part of an event called, “The Best of America,” held at the Hilton KL? He brings good things! At a cooking demo followed by a lunch, a lucky group of 30 learned how to make this olive oil poached salmon. Duffy seals the raw salmon with the oil in a bag using the sous-vide method, then he poaches it for 45 minutes at 118 degrees F. The finished fish, of a buttery yet firm texture, is combined with the flavor of licorice coming from lacy strips of fennel bulbs and a fennel leaf emulsion. A mustard vinaigrette, chopped black olives, red sorrel leaves, anise hyssop, sweet cicely leaves and fennel blooms round out the rest of the flavors. The accompaniment: a smattering of airy, crisp crackers made from tapioca flour, akin to rice crackers. Salmon and fennel are two of my favorite foods…so I truly enjoyed this dish and its fresh, green, spring-like presentation.

Soup followed…a healthy, earthy combination of barley and quinoa enveloped in veil of amaranth, moistened with a toasted sunflower seed consomme. At Duffy’s cooking demo, I learned that there are 12 garnishes in that dish, yes, twelve! Sultanas, caramelized pearl onions, puffed amaranth, fried sunflower seeds, sunflower sprouts, burgundy amaranth, quails grass, chive tops, chive blossoms, lemon balm, sweet woodruff, and Queen Anne’s lace. Let’s here it for fresh herbs!  Duffy described the flavor profile as earthy, nutty, and dark, with raisins and onions for sweetness, and the lemon balm to lighten and highlight.

I’ve never come across a palate cleanser quite like this before: liquid sudachi (a small, green Japanese citrus fruit described as a mandarin hybrid with a tangy grapefruit-like flavor) wrapped in coco butter and white chocolate with nepitella mint resting on a bed of super fine sugar. These white balls came with an official warning from the chef and waiter: put it in your mouth and keep your mouth closed. Why? Because the perfectly tart liquid center squirts out like a geyser. At the cooking demo, we learned how to make these lovely balls…I will give it a try someday.

Finally, this sinful dessert reminds me of the game Candyland. Strings of chocolate Manjari ganache form a checkered path along which one might fall into a pool of caramel spiked with cassia buds, puddles of blueberry and lemon puree, a sand pit of brown butter powder, or hit a rock of cocoa. Mountains of hazelnut financiers are buried under the winding path, one of them topped with a quenelle of mandarin ice cream garnished with dill, banana mint, and candied rind. All I can say is, Wow! I’ve never experienced so many flavor combinations on one dessert plate. The chocolate rush was so intense I felt like a kid again.

As part of Duffy’s gastronomic program he also prepared a six-course dinner, including all of these delicious dishes plus…sea urchin with rhubarb, hojo santa and hyssop bloom (excellent flavor combo); Nantucket bay scallops with romaine lettuce marmalade and white poppy seed milk (okay, the milk was a little too funky for me); and grilled Wagyu beef ribeye with smoked coconut pudding, yuzu puree, preserved kumquats with African blue basil (really nice, even if I’m not a red meat eater…my husband loved it).

During an interview, when I asked Duffy to describe his cuisine, he said, “thoughtful-progressive.” He’s right on both counts. I predict a third star will come his way someday.

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So, I Decided on Chocolate Mousse

Posted on April 30, 2011

Remember on my previous  post how I couldn’t decide what to serve the Thai Ambassador to Malaysia for lunch: homemade peppermint stick ice cream or chocolate mousse? Well, I decided on the mousse. Light yet flavorful, with a hint of almond extract, it was perfection. Crispy almond tuiles sealed the deal. YUM!

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Happy Birthday to Me…with Help from my Dog!

Posted on April 24, 2011

While I was organizing my photos today I came across this picture of my birthday cake…well, it’s actually chocolate pavlova. I wanted to do something different this year and everyone agreed that a chocolate pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries sounded wonderful. For my birthday dinner (on March 21) we went out to an Indian restaurant…a tradition I’ve been keeping alive for a few years now to celebrate the fact that I was born in New Delhi, India. Sometimes, when the stars really line up, my mother-in-law, Evelyn Jones, who was also born in India (Bombay, now called Mumbai, her birthdate is April 7), happens to be visiting us wherever we are in the world…Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia are a few places she’s traveled to…and we celebrate our birthdays together in an Indian restaurant, with a special toast to India, where our lives began.

Oh…and here’s Pucci, my beloved blond, seven-year-old labradoodle, helping me open my gifts while ingesting bits of yellow tissue paper. He’s soooo cute with the gold bow around his neck. :)

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Homemade Rocks! My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on April 14, 2011

Few things in the sweets category top a still-warm-from-the-oven, perfectly crisp yet melting gooey chocolate chip cookie, and I think this recipe is the BEST on the planet. I’m sharing it under one condition: that you give me credit when people say, OMG where did you get this recipe, and then you send them to my blog, catherinejonescooks.com for more delicious recipes. I love these tasty morsels with a cup of robust coffee, my daughter prefers Earl Grey tea, while my son happily dunks his cookies in cold milk. My husband just stands by the cookie jar in easy reach of the next bite…you can’t eat only one, I’ve tried!

Catherine’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

The secret to this recipe is grinding the oats into a powder, which gives the cookies a wonderful crunch. No nuts are called for here, but add them if you wish. Also, you will notice that I call for baking the cookie sheets one at a time. Yes, this takes way more time, but in my many years of baking in conventional home-ovens (not restaurant ones with serious convection power) I have found that baking one sheet at a time leads to more consistent results. You can bake two sheets at once; see my Cooking Tip below.

Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cookies
2-1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and center an oven rack. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. Place the oats in a food processor and pulse about 10 times, or until they are a broken down to a powder slightly thicker than whole wheat flour. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract, and mix on medium speed until light and slightly fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and reserved oats and mix on low speed just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  5. Place heaping teaspoons of the cookie dough on the baking sheets, allowing about 1-inch of space between the mounds. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden.
  6. Remove from the oven, cool for 3 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container. They can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Cooking Tip: To bake two sheets at the same time, position one oven rack one rung down from the top, and the other rack one rung up from the bottom. Place both sheets in the oven at the same time and bake for 6 minutes, then switch the order of the sheets and bake for another 5 to 6 minutes.

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Valentine Lamingtons for Your Sweethearts

Posted on February 12, 2011

Moist vanilla sponge cake doused with chocolate icing rolled in shredded coconut spells sweet bliss. The other day I made a batch of these Australian confections for a coffee I hosted.  My guests, who normally pass on sweets, couldn’t resist. I won’t tell you how many I ate…needless to say, it drastically increased my time in the gym. Over the years, I’ve tried a number of different lamington recipes. I think this one, adapted from Books for Cooks 8 (a fabulous British cookbook series), is the best so far. If you have the desire and energy for a bit of baking, give them a go. Hope your Valentine’s Day is a happy one. I’m a bit overdone on Asian food lately, so Paul and I are going to an Italian restaurant to celebrate. Cheers!

Lamingtons
For the Cake
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick, 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar or granulated sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
For the Icing
3-1/4 cups icing sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tabelspoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy (I skipped this)
2 cups desiccated (shredded dry) coconut

  1. Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9- or 10-inch square cake pan and line the bottom with baking parchment.
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, sprinkling in one tablespoon of the flour mix after each egg (this is to stop the curdling). Gently fold remaining flour mix in two goes, alternating with the milk to make light, smooth batter with no trace of flour. Spread the mixture over the base of the buttered and lined tin and bake until the sides of the cake have shrunk slightly from the tin and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out on the wire rack to cool completely.
  3. Make the icing. Sift the sugar and cocoa into a large bowl. Beat in 1/2 cup boiling water until smooth, then beat in the butter, vanilla, and brandy to make a runny icing. Spread half of the coconut in a pie plate.
  4. With a serrated knife, trim the crusts off the sides of the cake. Cut the cake into nine equal squares, about 3 inches square. NOTE: I made much smaller squares, about 1-1/2 inches in size. Take two forks to gently lift a cake square into the chocolate icing and turn to coat in all sides. NOTE: I found it easier to hold the cake square with a large fork and to spoon the icing on top of it. Transfer the square to the plate of coconut, then scoop coconut on top of it to completely coat all sides. Transfer to a large plate dusted with a bit of the coconut to dry. NOTE: It might take a few squares to get your routine in place (any mess ups are still delicious).

Think ahead: The cake is best baked a day in advance for easier cutting. Let cool completely, wrap in cling film and store in an airtight container. Once iced, store in an airtight container for 3 days. If not making a day ahead, cut the cake into squares as soon as it is cool and leave the squares to dry out on a wire rack for at least an hour to make icing easier. If too fresh, the cake sheds crumbs into the icing.

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Gooey Chocolate Crinkles for the Holidays

Posted on December 14, 2010

gooey-chocolate-cookiesGooey chocolate cookies don’t get any better than this. Last week, I hosted a cookie exchange chez moi. It was a smash hit. I used every ounce of discipline I had not to sample every cookie on the table. We all shared recipes, so I thought I’d share mine with you. Warning: These cookies will fill your home with the most delicious chocolate smell, and if you or anyone else samples them still warm from the oven you might pass out from pleasure. P.S. I’m giving a bunch of these morsels to my children’s teachers as gifts, along with frosted sugar cookies and raspberry jam laced with rose petals.

Catherine’s Gooey Chocolate Crinkles
Makes about 35 cookies
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup sugar
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate cut into small chunks or semisweet chocolate chips
About 1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, for coating the balls

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, melted chocolate, vanilla, and eggs and mix with an electric mixer on medium-low speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until well blended.
3. Reduce the speed to low, add the reserved flour mixture in 2 batches, and continue mixing for about 1 minute, or until well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough 1 to 2 hours, or until firm enough to handle. (Cooking Note: The dough can be refrigerated overnight.)
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the confectioners’ sugar in a bowl.
5. Using a tablespoon, scoop out one tablespoon of the dough and roll it into a ball. Place the ball in the confectioners’ sugar and gently nudge it until well coated. Space each of the balls about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Very slightly flatten the each ball with a fork.
6. Bake 14 minutes, or until just set (the cookies will be a little soft in the middle). Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

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Indulge this Valentine’s Day with Tish Boyle’s Heart-Shaped Chocolate Dream!

Posted on February 8, 2010

heart-shape-2

Few food blogs make my mouth water as much as “Tish Boyle’s Sweet Dreams.” Her most recent blog posts include charming stories and scrumptious recipes for Monster Chocolate Chunk Macadamia Nut Cookies, Honey Vanilla Marshmallows, A Really Really Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake, and homemade Caramels. The  photos are simply stunning, and what’s more, she shoots them herself!

In addition to being a food stylist-photographer, Tish is an accomplished pastry chef, caterer, and recipe developer. She’s currently the editor of Dessert Professional magazine (formerly Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design), and the author of  Diner Desserts, The Good Cookie and her latest, The Cake Book http://www.amazon.com/Tish-Boyle/e/B001HD31NC/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.

We met more than twenty years ago at La Varenne Culinary School in Paris. When I asked her to share a cake recipe for Valentine’s Day, she offered this gorgeous confection. I’ll admit, it does take some time to make, but it’s worth the effort and calories (she gives a shortcut in her introduction, which is what I did). Enjoy the splurge! Happy Valentine’s Day! And check out this delectable feast for your eyes at  http://tishboyle.blogspot.com/!

Chocolate Valentine Cake

The secret ingredient in this pretty, heart-shaped cake is whipped cream, which replaces butter as the fat and gives it an airy texture. The cake is baked in a water bath, insulating it from direct heat, and making it as creamy around the edges as it is in the center. After baking, the cake is coated in a dark chocolate glaze and then drizzled with a pastel pink white chocolate, making it the ultimate chocolate Valentine dessert. If you’re not in the mood for love (just chocolate), this cake can also be made in a standard 9-inch round cake pan and drizzled with plain white chocolate.

Makes one 9-inch cake, serving 10
Storage: refrigerated, loosely covered, for up to 5 days
Special Equipment: 9-inch heart-shaped pan; roasting pan; parchment paper cone or small sealable plastic bag

Flourless Chocolate Cake:
10 ounces (283 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (80 ml) water
5 large eggs
1/2 cup (3.5 oz/100 g) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (160 ml) heavy cream

Raspberry Layer:
1/4 cup (2.7 oz/77 g) raspberry jam (not preserves)

Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze:
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

White Chocolate Drizzle:
1 ounce (28 g) high-quality white chocolate
Pink paste food coloring

Make the Flourless Chocolate Cake:
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Place a 9-inch heart-shaped pan on a piece of parchment paper and trace around it with a pencil. Cut out the heart shape from the parchment paper. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan. Line the bottom of the pan with the parchment heart, with the pencil lines against the pan. Grease the paper and set the pan aside.
2. Put the chocolate and water in a medium-size stainless steel bowl and place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from over the pot and set the chocolate aside to cool until tepid.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt by hand. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Heat the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the eggs are warm. Transfer the bowl to the electric mixer stand and, using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture has tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or with a hand-held mixer or by hand), beat the heavy cream until firm peaks just begin to form.
5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture. Fold in the whipped cream.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and place the pan into a roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough very hot water into the pan so that it comes halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake the cake for 45 to 52 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan from the water bath and place it on a wire rack; let the cake cool in the pan for 25 minutes.
7. Run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Carefully invert the cake onto wire rack. Cool completely.
8. Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours (if your wire rack doesn’t fit in the refrigerator, very carefully —the cake is quite delicate at this point — slide the cake onto a cardboard cake round).

Make the glaze:

1. Place the chocolate in the bowl of a food processor and process just until finely ground.
2. Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate to the pan. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the glaze to a small bowl. Cover the surface of the glaze with a piece of plastic wrap and let it cool for about 10 minutes before using.

Glaze  the cake:

1. Place the cake (either on a cake round or not) on a wire rack over a waxed paper or parchment paper lined baking sheet (to catch the drips). Using a small, offset metal spatula, spread the raspberry jam evenly over the top and sides ofthe cake. Pour the glaze on top of the cake spread it evenly over the top and sides, covering it completely. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes before drizzling it with the white chocolate.

Finish the cake:
1. Put the chocolate in a medium-size stainless steel bowl and place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is completely melted.
2. Put a tiny dab of pink paste food coloring on the tip of a toothpick and add it to the white chocolate. Whisk the chocolate to blend in the color. The chocolate should be a pretty pastel pink color—don’t add too much food coloring, or the color will be too dark. Pour the melted chocolate into a small parchment paper cone or small sealable plastic bag (seal the bag and snip a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners). Remove the cake from the refrigerator and drizzle the chocolate in a diagonal zigzag pattern over the top. Refrigerate the cake for at least 20 minutes to set the chocolate.
3. Serve the cake at immediately, or refrigerate. Leave the cake at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

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My 5 Favorite Cookbooks of 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009

JONES_EatingForP_mech.indd

My 5 Favorite Cookbooks of 2009

Like most professional cooks, I have hundreds of cookbooks that I’ve amassed over the decades. But unlike most professional cooks, my home changes every three to four years. You see, my beloved husband is a Foreign Service Officer, so whenever he gets a new assignment, I pack up the family and we head overseas for an exciting new adventure. Honestly, I love exploring unfamiliar foods and cultures (which makes all of this moving insanity worthwhile), but inevitably, on moving day, our shipment is grossly overweight, and it’s my cookbooks that are first to go. Leaving Manila in the summer of 2008, I donated more than 200 cookbooks and hundreds of back issues of food magazines to a local cooking school. They were thrilled, and I avoided paying thousands of dollars on overweight shipping costs. You’d think I’d learn to cut back on cookbooks, but no…new ones appear on my wish list every year.

This year was a good one for cookbooks, including my own completely revised second edition of Eating for Pregnancy: The Essential Nutrition Guide and Cookbook for Today’s Mothers-to-Be released in June 2009. I cook from this book ALL the time…this past week I made the hummus, chicken curry, black bean soup, chicken salad, and fruit-filled granola. I was, in fact, doing double duty: cooking for a friend, who is on a low-iodine diet for her upcoming thyroid cancer radiation treatment, and cooking for my father, who is on a low-sodium diet. My family reaped the delicious benefits (even in their lunch boxes). Bottom line: you don’t have to be pregnant to cook from this book….and, you can modify the 150 recipes (including lots of new Asian-inspired vegetarian and vegan recipes) to suit your family’s needs and taste buds.

So, what do I recommend for the cook in your life this holiday season? Here are five of my favorite cookbooks from 2009. Happy Holidays from my kitchen to yours!

Gourmet Today: More than 1,000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen by Ruth Reichl (Editor) Retail: $40.00 ($23.40 amazon price) This cookbook delivers on all of its promises, producing flavorful dishes for every occasion, from family meals to formal dinners. Reichl’s charmingly honest voice (which shines through in her poignant memoirs), and a collection of 1,000 plus professionally tested recipes from the Gourmet test Kitchen, makes this the PERFECT addition to anyone’s cookbook collection. It’s especially timely as November sadly saw the last issue of Gourmet Magazine, a publication I’ve subscribed to for decades.

Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas and More by Andrea Nguyen Retail: $30.00 ($19.80 amazon price) Who doesn’t LOVE a delicious dumpling? A Taiwanese friend of mine living in the Philippines, Tina Wong, taught me how to make authentic pork-and-cabbage Chinese New Year’s dumplings. We would make batches of them (literally hundreds) for our families, and then sit down and stuff ourselves silly for lunch. Nguyen’s illustrated step-by-step technique makes dumplings and other wrapped delights attainable for the home cook. I have this lovely book…and can’t wait to cook from it during the holidays. I can already hear the oohs and aaahs.

Weber’s Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling by Jamie Purviance Retail: 24.95 ($16.47 amazon price) The perfect gift for the grill-hunk/babe in your life. Comes complete with techniques, tips, recipes, and tons of other info to make grilling fun, tasty, and easy…everything it should be. My grill-hunk-husband will be thrilled to find this tome under the tree.

Bite-Size Desserts: Creating Mini Sweet Treats from Cupcakes and Cobbles to Custards and Cookies by Carole Bloom, CCP Retail: $24.95 ($16.47 amazon price) When all you want is a sweet bite to end the perfect meal…make one of Bloom’s delectable confections. Her Double Lemon Meringue Tartlets and Chocolate Espresso Pots de Crème will leave everyone’s taste buds swooning. For me, this book will be an indispensable tool for all of the coffees, teas, cocktails, and formal dinners I will host when I’m entertaining overseas. Thanks Carole!

Cooking Light: The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook: Over 350 Delicious, Easy, and Healthy Meals by the Editors of Cooking Light Magazine Retail: $29.95 ($19.77 amazon price) A go-to book for everyday cooking. The Cooking Light test kitchen is a trusted source for healthy, tasty recipes, and most of them are quick and easy. The Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde were a hit with my family, and they also loved the Corn Chowder (I substituted bacon for the hot-smoked salmon). A great book for all busy cooks.

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Perfect Chocolate Sauce

Posted on December 3, 2009

chocolate-sauce

The other day my sister-in-law, Martha Grove, made a velvety smooth, decadently rich chocolate sauce to pour over vanilla ice cream. “How did you make this?” I asked, licking every morsel off my spoon. “It’s so easy,” she said. Here’s her recipe. I’ll skip the nutritional information. Moderation and self-control are key!

Martha Grove’s Perfect Chocolate Sauce

Makes about 1-1/2 cups
1-1/2 cups (8 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Hershey’s)
6 tablespoons milk (any kind), to desired consistency
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Thin with more milk, one teaspoon at a time, if desired. Serve warm. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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