Chocolate Cognac Cream Recipes

Steps:

• Special equipment: Chocolate Shot Glasses
• Shake the cognac and tea together in cocktail shaker with ice. Add cream. Shake and serve in Chocolate Shot Glasses. Add cinnamon stick for garnish.

Steps:

• Make ganache:
• Bring cream and butter to a simmer in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, then reduce heat to low. Whisk in chocolate until smooth and remove from heat. Transfer ganache to a bowl and chill, covered, stirring every 30 minutes, until thickened but spreadable, about 2 hours. (If ganache becomes too stiff, let stand at room temperature until slightly softened.)
• Make cake layers while ganache chills:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter cake pans and line bottom of each with a round of parchment or wax paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess flour.
• Pulse chestnuts with flour, baking soda, and salt in a food processor until finely ground.
• Beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or about 6 minutes with a handheld. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla (mixture will look a little separated). Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and sour cream alternately in 3 batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing until just combined.
• Divide batter evenly among pans and bake in middle of oven until pale golden and springy to the touch, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks, then invert onto racks and remove parchment.
• Make mousse and assemble torte:
• Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth, and stir in Cognac. Transfer to a bowl and chill, covered, stirring occasionally, until thickened to the consistency of softened butter, about 1 hour. (If mixture becomes too stiff, let stand at room temperature until softened.)
• Beat cream in a bowl with cleaned beaters until it just holds soft peaks, then chill, covered, while beginning to assemble torte.
• Put 1 cake layer on cardboard round on a rack set in a shallow baking pan (1 inch deep). Spread 1/2 cup ganache evenly over top of layer and sprinkle with all of chopped marrons glacés. Top marrons glacés with another 1/4 cup ganache and cover with another cake layer.
• Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt using cleaned beaters at medium-high speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add sugar and beat at high speed until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir whipped cream into chocolate Cognac mixture, then stir in one third of whites to lighten. Fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Spoon mousse immediately onto cake layer (it sets quickly), spreading evenly, then top with third cake layer. Chill torte, covered, until mousse layer is firm, about 1 hour. Keep remaining ganache at a spreadable consistency at room temperature, chilling, covered, if it becomes too soft.
• Glaze cake:
• Reserve 1 1/4 cups ganache in a metal bowl, then spread remainder over top and side of torte to seal in crumbs. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.
• Set bowl of reserved ganache over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until ganache reaches a pourable consistency. Remove bowl from heat and cool 5 minutes. Pour ganache evenly over top of torte, making sure it coats all of side. Shake rack gently to smooth glaze (let excess drip into baking pan). Transfer cake on cardboard to a cake stand or plate using 2 large heavy metal spatulas and chill until set. Garnish just before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Line the tart pan with the pâte sucrée according to page 196. Prick the bottom with a fork and line it with a few open and fanned out coffee filters or a piece of parchment paper. Fill the lined tart shell with beans or pie weights, and bake 15 minutes, until set. Take the tart out of the oven, and carefully lift out the paper and beans. Return the tart to the oven, and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is an even golden brown. Set the tart on a rack to cool completely.
• Spread the nuts on a baking sheet (keep each type separate) and toast 8 to 12 minutes, until they're golden brown and smell nutty. Some will toast more quickly than others, so watch them carefully and remove the toasted nuts as needed.
• Place the sugar and 1 cup water in a very clean medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan. Over medium-high heat, cook the sugar, shaking the pan often to stir-don't use a utensil to stir, as it could cause the sugar to crystallize. Continue cooking and swirling the pan until the caramel is a deep golden brown, just beyond the soft-crack stage (about 310°F on a candy thermometer). It should be a nice dark color, but not burned.
• Remove from the heat, and slowly whisk in 2/3 cup cream, stirring with the whisk the entire time, until the caramel is smooth and the cream is fully incorporated. (Be aware that the caramel will foam up as you add the cream. It's very hot, so be careful and pour slowly.) Allow to cool a few minutes. Place the nuts and honey in a bowl. Pour the caramel over them, and stir to combine well. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pour the mixture into the baked tart shell, to just below the rim. It's important not to overfill the crust. Refrigerate the tart at least 2 hours.
• Melt the milk chocolate in a small saucepan over very low heat, and stir in 1/3 cup water. Just before serving, whip 1 cup cream and the cognac to soft peaks in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Slice the tart in half, and cut one half into twelve thin slices. Refrigerate the rest for leftover snacking. Place one slice at the center of each of six plates. Prop up a second slice on top of the first, setting it at an angle and letting the pointed end of the slice rest on the plate. Continue with the remaining slices. Garnish each with three dollops of the cognac cream, and drizzle the milk chocolate across the tart.
• Note
• The tricky part to this dessert is making the caramel filling. If it cooks too long, it will taste bitter; and if it doesn't cook long enough, it won't achieve that chewy consistency.

Steps:

• Place the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
• Transfer them to a mixing bowl.
• Place the 2-3/4 oz. of chocolate and 1/2 cup of butter in a microwave bowl.
• Place in microwave and melt them in 15 second increments.
• Stirring a few times.
• Give the chocolate and butter a final stirring to mix well, then pour over the cookie crumbs and mix together.
• Put this mixture into a 9-inch springform pan and press down to form a base.
• Place in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
• Place the chocolate in a large microwave safe mixing bowl and melt in 15 second increments.
• Beat in the mascarpone, egg yolks and brandy.
• Whip the cream until it just holds its shape and fold it into the chocolate mixture.
• Using a grease-free bowl and clean beaters, whip the egg whites to soft peaks.
• Add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat until the whites are thick and glossy.
• Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture in two batches, until just mixed.
• Spoon the mixture onto the chilled base and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• To serve:.
• Carefully remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a serving plate.
• Pipe 12 rosettes of the whipped cream and top each with a chocolate coffee bean.
• Cut into 12 wedges and serve.