Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (4 page)

To Blanch Hazelnuts

Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the skins parch and begin to flake off. Then, working with a few at a time, place them on a large, coarse towel (I use a large terry-cloth bath towel). Fold part of the towel over to enclose them. Rub firmly against the towel, or hold that part of the towel between both hands and rub back and forth. The handling and the texture of the towel will cause most of the skins to flake off. Pick out the nuts and discard the skins. Don’t worry about the few little pieces of skin that may remain.

This is not as quick and easy as it sounds.

Pistachio Nuts

A light sprinkling of chopped green pistachio nuts is an elegant and classy touch. But don’t overdo it; less is better than more. Fine pastries in swanky patisseries might have only about a teaspoonful of them in the very center of a 9-inch cake, sprinkled on the chocolate icing or whipped cream topping.

Buy shelled, unsalted green pistachios. They are hard to find, but they keep for a long, long time
in the freezer. Try wholesale nut dealers or specialty nut shops. In New York they are available (by mail, too) from Paprikas Weiss, 1572 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10028.

Chop them coarsely on a board using a long, heavy knife. Don’t worry about the little pieces of skin that flake off; use them with the nuts.

WHIPPING CREAM

Plain old-fashioned heavy cream is almost impossible to find nowadays unless you have your own cow. Too bad, because the new super- or ultra-pasteurized (known as UHT—ultra-high-temperature pasteurized) is not as good, at least not to my taste. The reason dairies make it is that it has a 6- to 8-week shelf life (they call it a “pull date” the store has to pull it off their shelves if it is not sold by the date stamped on the container).

The process of making ultra-pasteurized cream involves heating the cream to 250 degrees for one second. It gives the cream a slight caramel flavor (so mild you might not notice it), and makes it more difficult to whip (it will take longer). It is advised that you chill the bowl and the beaters in the freezer for about half an hour before using. And keep the cream in the refrigerator until you are ready to whip; do not let it stand around in the kitchen—it should be as cold as possible.

It seems to me that baked custards take longer to set if they are made with ultra-pasteurized cream, and ice cream takes longer to churn.

How to Whip Cream

Since whipped cream is such an important part of many chocolate desserts, be extra careful with it—make it just right.

If you use plain old-fashioned cream (not UHT pasteurized “super” or “ultra”), it should be at least a few days old.

The best way to whip either cream is to place it in a large bowl, set the bowl in a larger bowl of ice and water, and whip with a large, thin-wired, balloon-type wire whisk.

If that seems like more than you want to fuss with, use an electric mixer or an egg beater, and chill the bowl and beaters before using them. If the bowl does not revolve, then move the beaters around the bowl to whip all the cream evenly at the same time.

When I whip cream with an electric mixer, I always (and I recommend this to everyone) finish the whipping by hand with a wire whisk; there is less chance of overwhipping. At this stage you can use a smaller whisk than the one mentioned above.

Whipped cream, which can be heavenly, is not delicious if it is whipped until it is really stiff—softer is better.

If I am making flavored whipped cream, I add the vanilla and/or sugar to the liquid cream in the bowl and beat everything together.

Equipment

THERMOMETERS

Oven Temperature

One of the
most
important and
most
overlooked requirements for good results in baking (chocolate or otherwise) is correct oven temperature. The
wrong temperature can cause a cake to fall, to burn, to be underdone, to refuse to rise; it can ruin a soufflé it can turn wonderfully crisp cookies into pale, limp, soggy messes, or burned, bitter messes; and it is the cause of almost any other baking disaster that you might have experienced or heard about.

No matter how new, or how good, your oven is,
please
double check the temperature every time you bake. Use a small oven thermometer from a hardware store. Buy the mercury kind—it is best. Light your oven at least 20 minutes ahead of time, and place the thermometer in the middle of the oven. Give the oven plenty of time to heat and cycle and reheat before you read the thermometer; read it (and all thermometers) at eye level. If it does not register the heat you want, adjust the thermostat up or down until the mercury thermometer registers the correct heat—no matter what the oven setting says.

Other Thermometers

A friend told me she did not know that her refrigerator was too warm until she served a large chocolate icebox cake at a dinner party and found that the middle of it was thin and runny instead of firm as it should have been. And once I didn’t know that my freezer was misbehaving until the very last minute, when a photographer was here to take pictures of chocolate desserts; I had waited until he was ready to shoot before I took the chocolate curls out of the freezer and found they had flattened and were no longer curls.

Keep a freezer thermometer in your freezer, and a refrigerator thermometer in your refrigerator—and look at them often.

And for many of these recipes you will need a candy-making thermometer. With a candy-making thermometer in a saucepan, bend down and read it at eye level in order to get a correct reading.

A NUT GRINDER

Many of these recipes call for ground nuts. They should be fine, dry (not oily), and powdery, or about the consistency of cornmeal.

You can use a food processor, a blender, or a nut grinder. If you use a nut grinder I recommend the nut grinder that screws onto the side of a table. The nuts go into the top and come out through the side when the handle is turned. They are available in some specialty kitchen equipment shops and in Hungarian-type food stores. In New York they are available (by mail, too) from Paprikas Weiss, 1572 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10028.

DOUBLE BOILERS

Since it is essential to melt chocolate slowly it is generally best to do it in a double boiler, and many of these recipes specify a double boiler. You can buy them in hardware stores or kitchen shops; I like the plain hardware store Revere Ware. If necessary, you can create your own by placing a heatproof bowl over a saucepan (a pot) of shallow hot water. The bowl should be wide enough at the top so its rim rests on the rim of the sauce pan, keeping the bowl suspended over the water.

ELECTRIC MIXERS

I use an electric mixer on a stand that comes with two different-size bowls and a pair of beaters (rather than one). Mine is a Sunbeam, and I am so dependent on it and so accustomed to it, that when I go to major cities far from home to do cooking demonstrations, I bring my own.

I think it is important, or at least extremely helpful, for many dessert recipes to use a mixer that:

1. is on a stand;
   

2. comes with both a small and a large bowl; and
   

3. has space to scrape around the bowl with a rubber spatula while the mixer is going.
   

And I especially recommend that you buy an extra set of bowls and beaters—they are generally available wherever mixers are sold.

Incidentally, although I also have a hand-held mixer, I could live without it. (But if I didn’t have any other I am sure I would learn to love it.) If you are using a hand-held mixer (or even an egg beater in some cases), when I say “small bowl of electric mixer,” that means one with a 7-cup capacity, and “large bowl of electric mixer” means a 16-cup capacity.

ROLLING PINS

If you have many occasions to use a rolling pin, you really should have different sizes and different shapes. Often, a very long, thick, and heavy one will be best. For some mixtures you will want a smaller, lighter one. Most generally, I use the French style, which is extra long, narrow, and tapered at both ends. And occasionally it is best to start the rolling with a large, heavy pin and finish it with a French-style pin.

However, in the absence of any rolling pin at all, other things will do the same job: Try a straight-sided bottle, tall jar, or drinking glass.

BUNDT PAN

Bundt pan is a trade name for a one-piece tube pan that has a specific fancy design. There are many other similar pans with different designs; in each case the name of the pan is descriptive of the design. Turk’s head, turban, and kugelhopf are the most common. When a recipe calls for a Bundt pan, any of these other pans may be substituted.

PASTRY BAGS

The best pastry bags are those made of canvas and coated on only one side with plastic. Use them with the plastic coating inside. The small opening generally has to be cut a bit larger to allow the metal tubes to fit. It is easier to work with a bag that is too large rather than one that is too small. They may be washed in hot soapy water; just hang them up to dry.

When filling a pastry bag, unless there is someone else to hold it for you, it is generally easiest if you support the bag by placing it in a tall and wide glass or jar.

A CAKE-DECORATING TURNTABLE

If you ice many cakes, this is a most important piece of equipment. Not that you can’t ice a cake without it, but it will not look the same. You will love the smooth, professional-looking results, and the ease of using a turntable.

It has a flat surface that spins around when you turn it; it works on the same principle as a lazy Susan. (Although a lazy Susan can be used in place of a turntable, it usually doesn’t turn as easily.)

I put the cake on a cake plate and then put the plate on the turntable.

First put the icing on freely just to cover the cake. Then hold a long, narrow metal spatula in your right hand, with the blade at about a 30-degree angle against the side or the top of the cake. With your left hand slowly rotate the turntable. Hold your right hand still as the cake turns and in a few seconds you will have a smooth, sleek, professional-looking cake. And it is fun. And exciting.

I also use it for trimming and then fluting the edge of pie crust.

Turntables are available at specialty kitchen equipment shops and at wholesale bakery or restaurant suppliers. They range in price from moderate on up. The thing to look for is one that turns easily. There is no reason why a turntable, if it is not abused, should not last a lifetime or two.

SMALL, NARROW METAL SPATULA

Many of my recipes call for this tool for smoothing icing around the sides of a cake. Mine is 8 inches long; it has a 4-inch blade and a 4-inch wooden handle. The blade is ⅝ inch wide and has a rounded tip. Although it can bend, it is more firm than flexible. Metal spatulas are generally available in specialty kitchen supply stores.

Techniques

ABOUT MELTING CHOCOLATE

There is no reason for anyone ever to have trouble melting chocolate. It is not difficult or tricky. There are two simple things to know about it.

1. When you melt chocolate with no other ingredients, the container you melt it in and the tool you stir it with must be absolutely dry. The merest drop of moisture will cause the chocolate to “tighten” or become stiff and lumpy. (More liquid, or approximately 1 tablespoon to 1 ounce of chocolate, is all right. It is the almost invisible drop that causes trouble.) If the chocolate should “tighten,” you can salvage it by stirring in homogenized vegetable shortening, such as Crisco or Spry (not butter—that has water in it), 1 teaspoon for each ounce of chocolate. (If necessary, add a bit more shortening and stir until smooth; then forget that you added it—it should not affect the recipe.)
   

2. Chocolate should melt slowly, never over high heat—it burns easily. It may be melted in the top of a double boiler over hot water on moderate or low heat. The water in the bottom of the double boiler should not boil hard. Or it may be melted in a heavy saucepan over the lowest possible heat. Or in a slow oven. Or, to melt just 1 or 2 ounces, it may be put in a small heatproof custard cup and placed in a pan of shallow hot water over low heat. Milk chocolate should be melted even more slowly than other chocolates.