These can be done without the cream cheese marble as well.

Prep Time: 20 min Inactive Prep Time:  Cook Time: 30 min
Serves:
about 24 (2-inch) brownies  These can be done without the cream cheese marble as well.
 
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
3 ounces finely chopped semisweet chocolate
3 ounces finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Marble:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (the microwave for 45 seconds at 50 percent power is a great way to do this)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, so that the edges of the paper come up the sides. Lightly butter the paper. Put both the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and the butter in a heatproof medium bowl. Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat; set the bowl of chocolate over the water to melt. Whisk until smooth. (Alternatively, melt in a microwave at half power, for 1 minute, stir and then heat for another minute or until melted.) Whisk the flour and salt in a bowl. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Take care not to over mix the batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

For the marble swirl:
Whisk the cream cheese with the sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Drop very large spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture onto the surface of the brownie batter. Insert a butter knife through the batter to the bottom of the pan. With the flat edge of the knife, make swirling motions through the batters, occasionally lifting the knife through the top, until the dark and light batters are marbled. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out coated with a fudge-y crumb, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. To take the brownies out of the pan, lift the edges of the paper. Cut the brownies into squares.
Serve.

Copyright 2003 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved
 

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on 09/25/2008
© 2008 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Sumptuous Hot Chocolate
Makes about 1 quart hot chocolate or enough for 5 or 6 mugs.

Nick Malgieri writes: “This is my approximation of the lusciously rich hot chocolate served at such famous Parisian establishments as La Maison du Chocolat and Angelina’s.”

Ingredients:
1 cup water
3 ounces French bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼-inch pieces
3 ounces French milk chocolate, cut into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup unsweetened alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa powder
3 cups milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Bring the water to a simmer in a small pan. Remove from heat and add the chocolates. Shake the pan to make sure all the chocolate is covered with hot water and set it aside for 5 minutes to melt the chocolate.
2. Sift the cocoa powder into another, larger saucepan, preferably an enamel-lined one. Add a few tablespoons of milk and stir to make a paste. This will keep the cocoa from lumping. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk. Place the pan on lowest heat and bring the liquid to a simmer, whisking often.
3. Whisk the chocolates and water to a smooth paste and whisk into the cocoa and milk mixture. Continue to heat until very hot, but do not bring to a full boil. Keep whisking to make the chocolate frothy. Off heat, whisk in the vanilla and serve immediately. (I like to top each cup with a little whipped cream.-Nina)

© 1998 “Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers” by Nick Malgieri

Homemade Chocolate Treat

If you like chocolate chip ice-cream, you’ll love this.

Buy the thin chocolate mints – chocolate with tiny chunks of mint – and not the chocolates with the runny mint centre

Ingredients
Serves 6 – or 1 if you eat nothing else all day!

8 trifle sponges
6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 x 400g can pear halves in natural juice
300 ml (10 fl oz) double cream
1 x 250 g tub mascarpone cheese
200 g (8 oz) mint chocolate wafer thins Fresh mint, to garnish
Icing sugar, to dust

Preparation time 10 minutes

You will need a shallow glass bowl of about 1.5 litre (23/4 pint) capacity.

1. Slice the trifle sponges horizontally through the middle. Use eight halves to cover the base of the glass bowl. Sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of the Bailey’s and 2 tablespoons of juice from the can of pears.
2. Whisk together the cream and mascarpone in a large bowl until lightly whipped (be careful not to over-whisk). Reserve six of the chocolate thins and chop the rest so they are still very chunky – about the size of hazelnuts. Mix the chopped chocolate in with the cream.
3. Cut the pear halves into 1cm (1/2 in) slices and lay over the soaked sponge mixture. Spread with half the cream mixture and repeat the whole process again starting with the sponge. Coarsely chop the remaining chocolate thins and sprinkle over the top.
4. Leave to chill in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, and serve garnished with fresh mint and a dusting of icing sugar.

Note: Not suitable for freezing

Tip
If you prefer, you could use brandy or rum instead of Bailey’s.

Remember to keep Bailey’s in the fridge; because it has a cream base, it can easily go off (although I find it doesn’t last long enough to worry about) .

If you have over-whipped your cream and it looks a little curdled, add a little pouring cream and stir in (don’t whisk) and the cream will become smooth again.

Recipe taken from Secrets From a Country Kitchen by Lucy Young, published by Ebury Press.

This recipe appeared in Aga magazine, Issue 5. To subscribe to the magazine visit http://www.agamagazine.co.uk/

Flickr photo by Stef Noble Some rights reserved.

As I say in the supermarket every now and then it’s healthy to indulge yourself. Try my assistant Ingrid’s AMAZING chocolate chip cookies. They are THE BEST!!! We like to eat them frozen, but watch your dental work!!

2 sticks unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
3 tsp. real vanilla extract
2 large eggs
4 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ( a little more than 2 twelve oz. bags)
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter and sugars together until creamy.
3. Add vanilla extract and eggs one at a time.
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt then beat thoroughly.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
6. Form small balls of dough with your fingers and place them on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake them for five minutes then rotate your cookie sheets and cook them for about 4-5 more minutes or until they are just cooked enough to maintain their shape when transferred to a cooling rack. They will not yet be golden brown.
7. Once the cookies have cooled enough to be handled, move them to a parchment paper lined tray and finish cooling them in the freezer. These cookies are chewy and delicious either frozen or room temperature once they have initially been freezer cooled.

The recipe for these brownies was given to me by a dear friend on the condition that I NOT publish the recipe, but I’ve adapted the recipe slightly, so she’s allowing me to divulge her secret and share it with you.

Nina’s Best Brownies Ever Makes 16 (2-inch) squares.

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz Baker’s bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), coarsely chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup chopped walnuts (OPTIONAL)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep) with some of the softened butter. Melt the remaining butter and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl, then pour in chocolate mixture, whisking until mixed well. Whisk in the flour mixture, then add walnuts, if using and the batter into the baking pan.

Bake until top is shiny and set and sides have begun to pull away slightly (a wooden pick or skewer will not come out clean), about 35-40 minutes for fudgey brownies; or until wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, Bake longer for drier, cake-like brownies.

Cool brownies in the pan and cut into squares. (You can sneak a taste while they are still warm.)