Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate

The second annual Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon is coming up again on July 12. I was a judge last year and was impressed with the wide range of chocolatiers that showed up to sample their wares, and at $20 for an adult advance ticket I thought it was a darn good deal.

I won't be able to attend this year, but somehow I still had the good fortune to receive a few advance samples from two of my favorite places: Theo Chocolates and Chocolopolis. Sometimes it is good to be a blogger!

Theo sent along a 91% Costa Rica bar that was amazingly smooth for such a high percentage, and a 45% milk chocolate that completely redefined my understanding of the light stuff. It has a complex, caramelized flavor that I could go back to over and over. Also included was a coffee & dark chocolate bar done in concert with Caffe Vita, and these incredible ghost chile & sea salt caramels.

I had the opportunity to tour Theo a couple months ago with a group organized by Keren Brown (aka the Frantic Foodie). I was amazed at what a small, committed group of people can do. How many chocolate companies do you know that have two Ph.D.'s on staff, one who specializes in the anthropology of cacao and another who is helping growers around the world improve the quality of their beans and processing? Or that have already been featured on Oprah? Or that partner with Jane Goodall? Or that uses only organic, fair trade beans? Amazing stuff. I can't even begin to tell you their whole story, you should just go visit them and take the factory tour, or if you live far away, peruse their site and buy some bars.

Chocolopolis also deserves lots of love. Chief Chocophile Lauren Adler curates ultra-high quality bars and confections from around the world, gathering them all at her small Queen Anne shop. It is a terrific place to taste, learn about chocolate, and come home with goodies you can't find anywhere else. They also make some awesome stuff on-site. The fig filled with anise ganache and dipped in 72% chocolate was one of the best bites I've put in my mouth in a long time.

Speaking of local Seattle companies, take a minute to sign up for the ChefShop.com newsletter and you have the chance to win $500 worth of their products. Their products are awesome.

Whopper Cake - Book Review Plus Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

"Today is Grandma's birthday
and Granddad has an itchin'
to bake a whopper chocolate cake
and traumatize the kitchen"

They had me at "traumatize". Whopper Cake, by Karma Wilson and Will Hillenbrand, is a great children's book. The story is of a Grandpa who wants to make a cake for his wife, but has a little bit of trouble following the recipe. It is just too tempting for him to scale it up a hundred-fold or so. A delicious mess ensues.

The book ends with a (normal-scale) recipe for Whopper Cake. With my daughter's birthday approaching and the book in nightly rotation, it was obvious that we should make it for her big day. I can confirm, it makes a very moist, tasty chocolate sheet cake. You should buy this book for any kid that loves to cook with his or her family. Or any kid that loves cake.

The recipe didn't specify a frosting, but I was faced with three simple facts: (1) we had a lot of leftover cream cheese (2) my wife loves cream cheese frosting (3) cream-cheese frosting is super easy to make. Here's what I came up with:

Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting
Enough for a 9"x13" sheetcake
Vegetarian and gluten-free (the icing, not the Whopper Cake!); not vegan

• 12 ounces good quality chocolate chips (Ghiradelli works well)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 ounces cream cheese (I used the whipped kind, but a denser one should work fine too, just break it up into cubes), at room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler or microwave. To microwave, combine in a microwave-safe bowl and cook 1 minute at a time, stopping to carefully stir in between. This is my favorite way to do it, you just have to be sure not to overcook or you can scorch it.
2. Allow to cool a bit, so it won't cook and curdle the cream cheese.
3. Whisk the cream cheese and salt into the melted chocolate. Keep whisking until smooth.
4. Refrigerate for an hour or so until firm enough to spread.
5. Yum.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with a Pumpkin Seed Topping - Recipe

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with a Pumpkin Seed Topping

Who doesn't love a good fruit crisp? They are a great way to use up excesses of seasonal fruits, and you can make the topping so easily that there is no need to wait for a special occasion. Strawberry + rhubarb is a great combination for this time of year, as the rhubarb is getting late and the strawberries are not yet so perfect that it would be a shame not to eat them fresh. 

Sarina insists that there is no other topping for a crisp than oatmeal, and I certainly see her point. It has a great toasty flavor. This time I augmented it with toasted pumpkin seeds, but you could use walnuts or almonds or hazelnuts, or omit them entirely depending on your mood. Crisp topping freezes beautifully too, so why not make a double batch?

The recipe below (based on an Ina Garten formula), makes a lot of topping for a single crisp - we are all hounds for the buttery goodness, so I don't stint. But you could make do with just half as much if you are looking for a lower-fat option.

There are two good options for handling the butter for the crisp topping. You can either melt it, and then refrigerate the topping for at least an hour before baking, or you can cream it relatively cold with the other ingredients and use it right away.

Some recipes for this sort of thing involve peeling and/or pre-stewing the rhubarb. Trust me, this is totally unnecessary. All you need to do is trim the ends and cut it into 1 inch segments. It will happilly cook to tenderness in the oven, leaving a little bit of desireable texture instead of completely turning into sauce. I much prefer it this way.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
Serves 8
Vegetarian; not vegan or gluten-free

For the crisp topping:

• 1/2 pound butter (room temperature or cold, see discussion above)
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
• 1 cup pepitas (green, hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted (or your choice of nuts, or omit)

For the fruit:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1.5 lbs rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1" lengths
• 1 lb. strawberries, hullied and quartered
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• big pinch salt

1. Crisp topping option 1: melt the butter, combine thoroughly with all of the ingredients, and refrigerate for at least one hour until firm. You can also do this a day ahead, or even longer if you freeze it.
2. Crisp topping option 2: cut the cool butter into cubes, and cream in an electric mixer with all of the other ingredients.
3. Preheat the oven to 350.
4. Use the 1 tablespoon of butter to grease a deep casserole. I used a round Emile Henry one that was 9" in diameter and 3" deep.
5. Combine all of the other ingredients, toss well and put in the casserole.
6. Put the crisp filling on in an even layer on top.
7. Bake for about 1 hour until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp.
8. Serve right away, lest the crisp become soggy. Vanilla ice cream, duh!