Chocolate

This icing is so rich and delicious that it is popular with our customers even as a “frosting shot”—straight icing eaten with a spoon. Try piping about 2 ounces into shot glasses or espresso cups and serving them (accompanied by demitasse spoons) as an unexpected cocktail party dessert. Or pull out a bowl of the icing on movie night and offer cookies and strawberries for dipping. Just as sour cream is much softer than butter, this icing is very soft, so it’s important to be flexible about the amount of sour cream you add; the amount will depend on the heat and humidity where and when you’re making it. You’ll add it 1/3 cup at a time at the end of the recipe, so stop adding it if the icing gets to the consistency of warm peanut butter. While not essential, for best results keep cakes and cupcakes iced with Chocolate Icing refrigerated until about 30 minutes before serving them. For a more exotic twist, 2 tablespoons of chili powder can add a smokey heat to the icing. Try that atop Devil’s Food Cake (page 98) cupcakes for a Cinco de Mayo party or other fiesta.

Swiss meringue adds a lightness to traditional mocha flavor, which makes this icing a more delicate addition to chocolate desserts. To be sure to highlight the coffee flavor, use a good-quality espresso and brew it strong. If you don’t have an espresso maker, go down to your local coffee shop and order two double shots of espresso to go. Also, consider a garnish of chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Sweet and salty, crunchy and soft, this bark has all the yin-and-yang attributes of a scrumptious dessert. The peanut brittle in this recipe is also great as a stand-alone or dipped in dark chocolate. With its salty sweetness, this bark makes the perfect snack for a World Series or Super Bowl party.

The health benefits of dark chocolate, almonds, and dried fruit make this a great option to serve as a snack or to give as a gift to a health-conscious friend. In a box or tin beautifully tied with ribbon, the flourless bark can also make a welcome Passover hostess gift, which can be served immediately or nibbled on all week long. The dried cranberries add a delicious chewiness to this otherwise solid bark. All sorts of dried fruits and nuts can be used, but when buying the dried fruit, especially cranberries, be sure to pick an unsweetened variety. The added sugar can change the taste of the fruit and also alter the tempered chocolate.

Salt and Pepper Chocolate is one of our more exotic, but top-selling, flavor combinations. The idea was given to us by one of our customers, who had seen a similar chocolate bar on a trip to Paris. This surprisingly elegant flavor pairing is an eye-catching chocolate treat to set out at the end of a dinner party.

Tempered chocolate solidifies easily into a hard, shiny chocolate that snaps when broken. It can be worked into a variety of shapes, spread into sheets, and used in molds. Tempering chocolate also keeps cocoa butter from rising to the surface of the chocolate and “blooming” into unsightly light brown patches. Many chocolate experts will teach you to temper using the marble slab method: You heat your chocolate, then pour it onto a cool marble slab, stirring and working the chocolate with a bench scraper until it has cooled to the proper temperature and then returning it to your bowl. This is a beautiful, classic French method to use, but as large marble slabs aren’t readily available for this purpose, here’s how to use the seed method. Be sure to have an accurate digital thermometer on hand.

While this Ginger Truffle makes a treat appropriate for Thanksgiving and the holiday season, it’s not exclusive to that time of year. With its candied ginger topping, it’s a refreshing chocolate treat even in the summer months. At Tribeca Treats we sometimes offer a variation on this, adding 2 tablespoons of dark rum to the ganache, for our Dark and Stormy Truffles.

Whereas the Double Chocolate Truffles (page 172) are the easy crowd-pleasers, Wasabi–Black Sesame Truffles should be reserved for your more adventurous friends. When mixed with chocolate, the spiciness of the wasabi is subdued, but it brings out some bitterness in the dark chocolate and gives the ganache a subtle kick. The strength of the wasabi varies greatly among the different brands of wasabi powder. Start with 1 tablespoon and then feel free to add more to taste. Keep in mind that the flavor will intensify as the ganache ages. The black sesame seeds are an important component of the truffle, both for their texture and for their nutty sweetness, which helps balance the bitterness of the ganache. If you can’t find black sesame seeds, regular sesames are a reasonable substitute, but they are a little softer and have a less intense flavor, so toast them first: Spread them in one layer on a sheet pan and roast them in a 350˚F oven for 5 to 8 minutes. Check them after about 4 minutes and shake the pan gently to turn them. They should be a light to medium golden brown when they’re done.

These Double Chocolate Truffles are about as fundamental as you get in the world of chocolate confections. The flavor is that of pure chocolate. The vanilla extract in the ganache, combined with the milk chocolate coating, keeps this truffle from being too bitter, but the overall flavor is still closer to dark chocolate than to milk. For that reason, Double Chocolate Truffles are crowd-pleasers; they appeal to a wide range of chocolate palates. Cocoa nibs, which are roasted cocoa beans broken into small bits, give a little crunch to an otherwise silky-smooth treat and also give it a little more of an exotic or gourmet touch. Nibs can usually be found in specialty food stores, but if you can’t find them, mini chocolate chips will give the truffles a similar crunch.

Caramel and sea salt has been a popular combination for gourmands for several years now, and its familiarity is growing, indicating that it’s more than a passing trend. Fleur de Sel Caramels are sweet- and- salty bonbons that can be served at any time of the year. Not as dainty as the chocolate truffles, they can blend in easily at a more casual affair. Fleur de sel is fairly easy to find at specialty food stores nowadays, and also is not uncommon at many grocery stores. It and other flaky sea salts have a less salty taste than processed salts, so their delicate quality won’t overwhelm the caramel and chocolate here.

These Sandwich Cookies are one of our signature items at Tribeca Treats. They are like homemade Oreos, but the fresh-baked cookies and the buttercream filling make them a richer, more delectable version. These cookies are also delicious when made with the Vanilla Cookie Dough (page 41) or Graham Cracker Dough (page 86) and using a variety of fillings, including vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, cinnamon cream cheese, marshmallow icing, peanut butter icing, and caramel. Use your imagination to mix and match and create a wide variety of cookies.

This fondue recipe is more of an accessory to than variation on the Chocolate Cookie Dough, but it makes a fun and unique addition to many desserts, especially chocolate cookies. Served with the cookies and a variety of fresh fruits, this chocolate fondue can make a conversation-starting dessert “station” for cocktail parties or a romantic treat after a dinner for two. This accessory also goes well as a sauce for ice cream or poured over a slice of Rich Chocolate Ganache Cake (page 111).

With its rich dark chocolate flavor and smooth, glossy ganache filling, this cookie easily transcends the basic cookie plate to more formal occasions. A dark chocolate amaretto ganache fills the center, but this recipe can also be made with espresso in the cookie and ganache, instead of amaretto, or you can try it with other liqueurs or flavorings. Please note that the addition of the liqueur or espresso to this dough makes it much softer than the other thumbprint varieties, so the recipe requires a couple additional steps in order for the thumbprints to hold their shape.

This cookie is a simple variation of Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 24). By switching out the chocolate chips for white chocolate and coconut, you get something a little more exotic. Play around with this base cookie dough and change up the flavor with a variety of different mix-ins. This particular recipe goes well with tropical themes or summery occasions.

Chocolate chip cookies should be the basis for anyone’s foray into baking. They are simple to make, an all-time favorite, and extremely versatile. Portioned on the smaller side, these cookies can make for a satisfying end to a dinner party or a welcome thank-you gift. The spectrum of chocolate chip cookies is wide, with personal favorites ranging from thin and crispy to soft and chewy. This particular recipe results in a cookie on the softer, more cakey side. It is important to chill the dough thoroughly, for at least one hour, before scooping and baking these cookies. If the dough is too soft when it goes into the oven, the cookie will spread and be very thin.

Dulce de leche is a milk-based caramel sauce found in many Latin American desserts. In the United States, it has become a popular ice cream flavor. If you can’t find it, look for caramel ice cream; vanilla would also taste great here.

This rich, pudding-like mousse is simple to make, and it’s also a real kid-pleaser. A serrated knife works best for chopping chocolate. If you don’t have one, use a chef’s knife.

When lining the baking pan, press the foil neatly into the corners, and smooth the bottom and sides. If necessary, brush sides of pan with butter to help foil stay in place.

This four-ingredient cake deserves a spot on every home baker’s list of go-to dessert recipes. It’s a cinch to prepare, and the cake itself is a revelation—the edges and top develop a delicately crisp crust, while the center remains moist and fudgy.