|
Recipe by:
Laura Giannatempo
Courtesy of Sustainable Table ® Description:
You can dip practically anything in chocolate: fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, cookies, cake - whatever tickles your fancy and your appetite! This recipe is for the dip. The process used here is called "tempering," which stabilizes the cocoa butter crystals, so once the chocolate is hardened, it doesn’t have that unsightly "white dust" look that un-tempered chocolate can get. Instead, it’ll have a nice, glossy sheen. All you need is a good candy thermometer with a mercury gauge and chocolate, of course. Ingredients:
½ to 1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate (depending on how many treats you want to dip) Directions:
Chop the chocolate into relatively small pieces. Over a double boiler (that is, a bowl placed on top of a pot of lightly simmering water without the bowl ever touching the water), melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. Be extra-careful not to scorch it. Stick the thermometer in the chocolate and let it reach a temperature of 113°F.
Remove the bowl from the simmering pot and stir until the temperature drops to somewhere between 86° to 88°. Maintain this temperature by moving the bowl back and forth from the simmering water as you dip your treats. If you don’t maintain the temperature, the chocolate will literally ’lose its temper.’
To dip, make sure you have some parchment paper handy, or any other surface area where you can place your dipped treats as they cool down. It’s going to get messy! All you have to do is dip your favorite fruits, cookies or nuts, draining off the excess coating.
Make sure fresh fruit is dry to the touch for the chocolate to really stick. Reserve the nuts for the end as you will have to immerse them in the chocolate and dig them out with a slotted spoon. They may leave pieces of nuts in the chocolate, which will then stick to your other items. Tips:
You can dip treats in chocolate without tempering it, but you won’t have the same perfect shiny finish. You’ll end up with a more opaque, "dusty" chocolate that will not be as good-looking - but is still yummy. If you decide not to temper, just melt the chocolate on a double boiler and start dipping. To Learn More:
For more information on chocolate and chocolate recipes, visit CacaoWeb.net, a web site devoted to all things chocolate! Recipe Number 61 added on 2006-10-05
|
