For those of you who don’t know Maman and Gourmand did a little interview with one of America’s smallest artisan chocolatiers. What I love most about the article is that the true love and passion Mr. Pollard has for his craft really shines though. He has dedicated his life to creating some of the world’s highest quality chocolate and it really shows. After reading this article and discovering that they would be giving away some of their chocolate artistry I couldn’t help but pull out my favorite chocolate recipe and enter!

The Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Sandwich is a sunny day must! I have long loved the combination of crunchy chocolate cookie and rich creamy mint chocolate chip gelato! It immediately takes me back to summers as a child where I would bike down to the local convince store to buy the nestle version of this timeless classic. While this version is a little more sophisticated and delicious (in my opinion) it still conjures up days of a carefree life style!

To begin our masterpiece we mix together some shortening and sugar. The base for any delicious cookie.

Next we throw in some brown sugar and mix again. While this is mixing add the egg and vanilla and mix for an additional 2 mintues.

In a separate bowl mix together the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking soda. Pour this into your mixer and you’re almost done!

Once your cookie base has been made it’s time to add some more chocolate! Mix in your chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. Doesn’t that look delicious? It’s perfectly understandable if you eat the dough like this. After all you need to test your product throughout production to ensure that its coming together properly right? =)

This should yield you 36 + cookie balls. I like to use a melon baller to form my dough as it helps keep uniformity. Plus it’s a lot faster this way.

Once your cookies have cooled place them in the freezer for about an hour. When they are solid enough it’s time to pull out your gelato! Now I don’t have pictures of the gelato because this is something I had made a couple of weeks ago. I have included the recipe and will definitely make it at a later date to share with you. Trust me; it’s worth the effort! Once you have assembled your work of art it’s time to enjoy. I suggest sharing this with family and friends. Dessert is always better enjoyed with company!

Chocolate Chunk Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• ¾ cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp good Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup high quality semi-sweet cocoa powder
• 1 cup mint chocolate chips (extra for rolling prepared cookie in)
• 1 cup high quality semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 375
2. Combine your cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
3. With a mixer cream the shortening and granulated sugar
4. Add the brown sugar and mix until well combined (scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed)
5. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes)
6. Slowly pour in your dry ingredient mixture until everything is combined (scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed)
7. With a spoon mix in your chocolate chips and chocolate chunks
8. With a small scoop (a melon baller works well for this) lay out your balls of dough on a cookie sheet
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes
10. Let stand for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack, once on rack let cookies cool completely (about 20 minutes)
11. Lay the cookies on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place in the freezer for about an hour
12. Take cookies out of freezer and scoop a generous amount of Mint Chocolate Chunk Gelato onto the flat side of one of the cookies
13. Top with another cookie and roll the sides in the leftover mint chocolate chips
14. Eat right away before the Gelato melts and ENJOY!

Mint Chocolate Chip Gelato
Recipe from Making Artisan Gelato

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups fresh mint leaves, cleaned and patted dry
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Pour milk and ½ cup sugar into medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stirring occasionally; heat to 170 degrees. Remove sauce pan from heat and add mint leaves, stirring to make sure they are fully submerged. Cover and steep for 2 hours.
2. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean medium since sauce pan pressing on the mint leaves to remove as much flavor as possible. Place the steeped mixture back on the stove over medium heat. Stirring occasionally bring back to 170 degrees.
3. In another medium bowl whisk together egg yolks and remaining ¼ cup sugar until foamy and slightly thickened.
4. Carefully temper the egg yolks with the hot milk mixture by slowly adding about half of the hot liquid to the eggs, whisking continuously. Pour the heated egg mixture into the sauce pan with the hot milk and return to the stove top.
5. Stirring continuously with a wooden spoon cook the mixture over medium heat until it registers 185 degrees or is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon taking care to make sure the mixture does not boil. Remove from heat.
6. Pour the heavy cream into a clean, large stainless steel mixing bowl and set over an ice bath. Pour the heated custard through a fine mesh sieve or strainer into the cold cream, add the vanilla extract, and stir until fully incorporated.
7. Stir occasionally until the mixture has fully cooled. This should take about ½ hour. Remove the mixing bowl from the ice bath and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
8. When ready pour the chilled mixture into the ice-cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s specifications. When the gelato is about 2 minutes from being done, slowly add the chopped chocolate and finish processing the gelato.
9. Remove the finished gelato from the ice cream maker and place in a plastic container. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer to fully harden before serving.

What I love about spring time…

Sunny days…
Soft gentle breezes…..
Beautiful blooming flowers dripping with the morning dew…..
Peach Bellini Mimosas in the morning…..

When I woke this morning I decided that I would celebrate this beautiful Friday by starting it with a little breakfast pick-me-up. Is there better way to start the day? I doubt it. I am especially excited about this weekend because one, it has already started early and two, this extended weekend has already begun on the right foot. I plan to spend this weekend soaking up the beautiful Texas sun, enjoying the perfect weather, and spending time with family and friends! I think you should do the same!

Peach Bellini Mimosas are the perfect drink of spring (I think they need to declare this officially from the White House). They are light and sweet and make the perfect spring morning drink. They are simple to make leaving you with plenty of time to enjoy the morning dew! I hope that everyone has a beautiful weekend with plenty of sunshine and Peach Bellini Mimosas!

Peach Bellini Mimosas

Ingredients:

• 2 cup peach nectar, chilled
• 1 1/3 cup orange juice, chilled
• 1 750ml bottle champagne, chilled
• 2/3 cup grenadine syrup

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in large pitcher. Stir. Sit back. Sip and Relax!

I feel that the soufflé has been given a bad rap by movies for years! Hollywood has portrayed the soufflé as being extremely difficult to get right. However, as you will see, it’s not really all that hard to make a dessert that is light, fluffy and delicious!

I feel that the only difficult thing about a soufflé is deciding what to top them with! I made these soufflés as the finishing touch to my Mother’s Day weekend. My mother (and me as well) love the flavor combinations of amaretto and chocolate. There’s just something special about that nutty liquor.

As I decided to up the amaretto ante I wanted to make amaretto soaked strawberries and homemade whipped cream (which if you’ve never made before you MUST to stop buying the store brand stuff because homemade tastes so much better and is too simple to make! Trust me you’ll thank me later!) to top my Mother’s Day dessert.

Since the most difficult step in making a soufflé is deciding what to top it with, I feel this step should be done first. To make amaretto soaked strawberries just combine the strawberries and amaretto liquor and refrigerate. This can be soaked for as little as an hour; however, if you want to have the best results this should be done a night in advance. The longer they sit the more they soak up that liquor! Err…. I mean…. amaretto flavor!

The second step in making your soufflé is to place your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt it down. While this is melting, in a separate medium sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cream until combined. Once this mixture has been combined, whisk in the chocolate and amaretto liquor until smooth. Finally, whisk in your flour and cinnamon until incorporated.

Next beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. This can take a minute or two so be patient! I can’t tell you how many times I sat there going why are the peaks not forming yet?! They will come, trust me.

Now comes the fun part. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold half of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture until it is fairly smooth. Make sure not to over do the mixing as this is what gives your soufflé the light and fluffy texture. It is also the reason as to why many a soufflé has collapsed!

Then take the fairly smooth chocolate mixture and mix it back into the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain (like pictured above). Again, be sure not to over do this! Now all you need to do is simply divide this amongst your ramekins and place on a baking sheet. A little trick I like to use is to spray the insides of the ramekins with cooking spray and a teaspoon of sugar. This will prevent them from sticking to the sides and bottom of the glass in the end. Bake this until puffed and firm to the touch (should be about 18 minutes). Serve immediately!

As your soufflé bakes you should make your own whipped cream. As I stated before making your very own special homemade whipped cream is super simple! So simple in fact you will begin to wonder why it is you ever paid for this stuff in the first place!

To make whipped cream combine 1/2 pint of whipping cream, 3 tblsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Whip this with a mixer or whisk until combined and fluffy. See! Wasn’t that easy? The best part of this is by far the flavor. Most store brands skimp out on quality vanilla creating a whip that taste more like whipping cream then, well, whipped cream!

Once the whipped cream has been created it’s time to make the chocolate ganache I used to top the soufflés. Combine ¼ cup heavy cream ¾ tsp sugar and bring to a boil (I also added 1 tsp amaretto liquor as well. I know, a bit over kill, but as I said, I love amaretto!). Remove from the heat and add 4 oz good semi-sweet chocolate chips. As the chocolate beings to melt stir constantly until a smooth chocolate ganache has been created.

Your soufflés should be about ready to come out of the oven at this time. You should see beautifully puffed chocolate desserts! You can serve these by removing them from the ramekins and topping them with your whipped cream, chocolate (amaretto) ganache, and amaretto strawberries, or you can leave them in the ramekins as I do and eat your heart out!

Chocolate Soufflé

Soufflé Ingredients

• 2 1/2 ounces good semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup Amaretto Liquor and 3 tblsp for strawberries
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375°F. Lightly coat two 10-ounce ramekins with cooking spray; coat the insides of each with 1 teaspoons sugar.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt your chocolate, stir every 30 seconds until smooth.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolk and cream until combined. Next, whisk in the chocolate and Amaretto Liquor until smooth. Finally, whisk in flour and cinnamon until completely dissolved.
4. In a separate bowl beat egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form.
5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold half the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture until fairly smooth; then gently fold this combined mixture back into the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Divide between the prepared ramekins and place on a baking sheet. Bake until puffed and firm to the touch, 18 to 22 minutes.

Amaretto Soaked Strawberries

Amaretto Soaked Strawberries Ingredients

• 1 cup strawberries, de-stemmed, and halved
• 3 tablespoons Amaretto Liquor

Directions

1. Combine strawberries and Amaretto Liquor. Refrigerate overnight.

Homemade Whipped Cream

Homemade Whipped Cream Ingredients

• ½ pint whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Whip whipping cream with a whisk or mixer. When thickened add sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip until combined and refrigerate or serve immediately.

To continue this week’s Mother’s Day Brunch recap I bring you the second recipe I prepared for that special day. A frittata is a type of Italian omelette, the main difference between the traditional omelette as many American’s know and the frittata is the way in which it is prepared.

A frittata was originally prepared by partially cooking on the stove and was finished on the grill. While this may produce a slightly better tasting outcome, now a days it is significantly easier to prepare fully on the stove. A frittata pan can be found at many retailers throughout the country; however, they are generally extremely expensive.

The difference between a frittata pan and a regular pan is the fact that it has two pans on top of each other which have been locked in the back on a hinge to make it easier to flip without spilling. I personally do not own one of these pans as I don’t feel that shelling out $150 on a pan that has only one purpose is a great idea. I like to take two pans (that are of the same size) and put them over each other. This is fully capable of yielding you the same final results only less expensive as you can see above.

I found this recipe a while back on the Williams-Sonoma website while I was doing a little online shopping for my kitchen. I made some slight adjustments and produced a result that anyone’s mother would adore! I decided to make this recipe for two reasons. The first being that asparagus is currently in season, and the second being that you can easily add or subtract ingredients within a frittata to create completely different flavor combinations without significantly changing the structured output. Experimenting is highly encouraged!

The first step in creating a frittata is preparing your egg mixture. For this particular frittata we used eggs, chives, tarragon and pancetta (oh how I love pancetta; the saltiness of this meat really adds great character to the dish!)

Once the eggs have been mixed thoroughly we add the goat cheese and asparagus. Adding this now instead of the step before will keep the goat cheese from becoming dissolved in the mixture as you beat the eggs and will give you small spots of cheesy gooeyness! You will then put this in your improvised frittata pan and cook for 8 minutes. Flip, and cook for another 10 minutes, then flip again…..

Place your fully cooked frittata on a serving platter and let it cool. Your frittata, or fancy omelette as my wife refers to them as, will be perfectly prepared and ready to devour. Bon appetite!

Asparagus & Goat Cheese Frittata
Adjusted slightly from Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs
• 3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh chives
• 1/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon
• 3 oz. cubed pancetta
• 1/2 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 6 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 lb. asparagus, tough ends trimmed, spears steamed until just tender and cooled
• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 leek, thinly sliced and rinsed well

Directions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, chives, tarragon, pancetta, the 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper. Stir in 4 oz. of the cheese. Cut enough asparagus ends into 1/4-inch lengths to measure 3/4 cup and add to the egg mixture. Reserve the remaining asparagus spears.
2. In the deep half of a frittata pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter. Add the leek and salt and cook until the leek is tender, about 8 minutes. Transfer to the egg mixture.
3. In the deep half of the frittata pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter. Add the egg mixture and cook, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to allow the uncooked eggs to flow underneath, 3 to 4 minutes. Place the shallow pan upside down on top of the deep pan and cook for 6 to 8 minutes more.
4. Remove from the heat, uncover the deep pan and arrange the reserved asparagus spears on top of the frittata in a spoke formation. Meanwhile, set the shallow half of the pan over medium heat and melt the remaining 1 Tbs. butter.
5. Place the shallow pan upside down on top of the deep pan and flip the frittata into the shallow pan. Cook, covered, for 10 to 12 minutes. Flip the frittata back into the deep pan, then slide the frittata onto a serving plate. Let stand for 5 minutes. Top the frittata with the remaining cheese and serve.

For Mother’s Day this year I wanted to do something special for a mother, who to me, is completely amazing. She has always been kind hearted and loving even to those who sometimes didn’t deserve it. My mother is one who everyone should steal a page from. She has taught me many lessons in my life and has done it in a way that commands my utmost respect and admiration. So when my mother asked that we do a brunch to celebrate her day celebrating her I immediately pulled out all the stops!

What I love most about Apple Cinnamon Baked French Toast is the simplicity in which it can be prepared and the awesome cinnamony (it’s a word now) goodness that makes you feel all warm and loved inside (similar to that of a warm hug from your mother on a bad day).

The first step in making this delectable dish is to whisk together your egg whites, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl.

Next, trim the crusts off 8 bread slices and set aside. These will be used to top your French toast a little later on.

After you have your slices it’s time to go to work on the rest of the loaf. Cup the remaining bread slices into 1 inch cubes and toss together with dried apples, raisings, cinnamon and nutmeg (oh yeah baby). The smell of this will cause you to salivate (if it doesn’t you really should get that checked out).

Then in a 9”x13” pan coated with cooking spray pour your egg mixture on top of your bread mixture. Don’t use all of the mixture immediately. You will want to place your 8 crust-less bread slices over top and then finish pouring the remaining egg mixture.

Firmly press down the bread using the back of a large wooden spoon to make sure everything is evenly soaked in eggy goodness (this is so good you’ll start to make up words too!). Now the hard part comes. You have to put this in the fridge for at least 8 hours. This allows your bread to soak up all the flavors!

While you are waiting it’s time to whip up some praline mixture. Mix two sticks of butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg in a bowl. Eating some of this with a spoon while you wait is perfectly okay (just as long as you know that if you eat it all you will have to make some more).

Finally, after all your waiting, it’s time to top your dish with some dried apple slices and your praline mixture. You are officially ready for the oven! Doesn’t that just look fantastic!?!

After baking for 45 minutes at 350 degrees the top of your Apple Cinnamon Baked French Toast should be golden brown and crusty. Your house will also smell of cinnamon and nutmeg (perfect for raising the zombies out of bed on a Sunday morning). Let this stand for about 10 minutes; then drizzle on some maple syrup. I can assure you this tastes as good as it looks! Happy Mother’s Day!

Apple Cinnamon Baked French Toast

Ingredients:

• 3 cups nonfat milk
• 2 cups pasteurized liquid egg whites (such as Egg Beaters)
• 3 tblsp Honey
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 sliced Honey Whole Wheet loaf of bread
• 1 cup chopped dried apple rings (3 oz)
• ½ cup raisins
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

Praline Mixture:

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Whisk milk, egg whites, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl
2. Trim crusts off of 8 bread slices and set aside. Cut the crusts and the remaining bread slices into cubes. Gently toss the cubed bread, dried apples, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Coat a 9”x13” pan with cooking spray. Pour the bread mixture into the pan. Lay the 8 crust-less bread slices over top of the casserole evenly. Whisk the milk mixture one more time and then pour over top of the bread mixture. Firmly press down the bread with the back of a wooden spoon to make sure everything is evenly soaked.
4. Cover with parchment paper, then foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours…up to 24 hours.
5. Combine all of the praline mixture ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.
6. Uncover the refrigerated bread and egg dish and top with some apple slices and praline mixture before baking.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crusty. Let stand for about 10 minutes before serving and serve with maple syrup.

*Contest update/clarification – To enter this contest you only have to post a comment in order to win. If you want more then one entry to the contest then follow ANY of the other steps and the amount of entries to win is shown accordingly.

*This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced shortly.

With all of the drink recipes I shared with you last month I thought that it might be fun to share with you what I will sometimes use for cocktails when I don’t have a ton of time to prepare my party drinks (hey not everyone is perfect). To me Stirrings cocktail mixers are definitely a cut above all other cocktail mixers out there!

For starters, Stirrings continues to create new flavors to keep up with the contemporary bar scene while still holding onto the classics. What’s so great about this you ask? Well not only do they make mixing complicated drinks simple, Stirrings only uses the finest sugar, the freshest juice, and triple filtered water ( a little overkill if you ask me) to produce their mixers. Compare this to their competitors who use artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and corn syrup (don’t even get me started on that stuff) and it’s easy to see why I find this to be my go to drink mix.

Finally, for each cocktail mixer they create they also create a glass rimmer to go with it. The rimmers use either sugar or salt and have been flavored to match the cocktail mixer they were created for! Crushed peppermint for their chocolate peppermintini, sugar and graham crackers for their blueberry mixer (sort of a blueberry pie in a drink), and much much more!

Their passion for quality drinks is evident and has certainly been turning heads ever since they began turning out their mixers. If you haven’t had a chance to give these a try I suggest you enter my give away! What?! Yeah I bet you didn’t see that one coming. That’s right! I’m going to be giving away some of my favorite cosmopolitian drink mixers and rimmers gift sets to 3 of my lucky readers.

To enter this contest simply do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment about your favorite cocktail (1 entry)

and/or

2. Re-tweet this contest on twitter and post a comment about your favorite cocktail and twitter user name. “RT @GourmetFoodie a little giveaway for Stirrings Cocktail Mixers – http://tinyurl.com/d4b4wv” (2 entries)

and/or

3. Post a trackback link to this blog post and leave a comment about your favorite cocktail. (3 entries)

and/or

4. Do each of the above and get an extra 5 entries! (only need 1 comment letting me know you did them all)

Contest ends Monday May 11th midnight pacific time –
Contest is for U.S. residents only! If you would like to enter and are from another country but have someone who you want it shipped to here in the U.S. feel free to enter (Sorry, in the past I have found shipping food product outside the U.S. is pretty much impossible!).

Special thanks to Gourmet Indulgence for making this giveaway possible. So if you don’t want to leave your next cocktail to chance drop on by and get some today.

My long wait for our local farmers market to open has finally come to an end. Every year I look forward to the market as I feel it’s a great place to explore your culinary creativity as well as chat with local people about their favorite recipes. You might be surprised by what you can learn at this place. Today I happened across one stand in particular that had some beautiful cherries which definitely caught my attention! After months of dull colored fruits and veggies the big bold colors of perfectly ripe cherries got my mind to begin racing through the recipe rolodex.

I mean look at these! Whoever can look at this and say that there is not beauty in nature is completely nuts if you ask me (I love the deep burgundy color of cherries). Actually the only thing I hate about cherries is trying to decide which recipe I want to use them in. The possibilities are endless!

I began to think…

Maybe a delectable ice cream…

Or I could possibly make some great tasting muffins…

What about some sweet breakfast scones?….

Each of these have always been a great option in the past…

Suddenly my mind was made up for me.

I decided that the indecision I was left with gave me only one option; a compote! Compotes are perfect because they can be used time and time again on all of the aforementioned items and are quick and simple to make. Who doesn’t love that?

The first step in making a fruit compote as you can see is to combine sugar, butter, and fruit. Bring this to a boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Simply allowing this to cook until the fruit has become slightly softened is all that is technically required to make your typical fruit compote. See, I told you this was simple, didn’t I?

Me, however, I like to add little more complexity to my compotes. Adding a quarter cup amaretto or other flavored liquor to this mixture and allowing the alcohol to evaporate will bring your fruit compote an added level of sophistication that you will undoubtedly crave. The subtle notes of almond mixed with the sweet flavor of cherries will make your plain ole vanilla ice cream not so…well…”vanilla”. Topping a lemon cake with this compote and adding a big scope of ice cream to the side of it will get you what I like to call “complete afternoon satisfaction”…. I suggest you take the time to get some of this soon as you can.

Amaretto & Cherry Compote

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dark cherries; pitted and halved. (Stems removed of course)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ¼ cup amaretto

Directions:

1. Combine the cherries, butter, and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cherries have begun to soften (about 5 minutes).
3. Remove from the heat and slowly add ¼ cup amaretto while stirring softly.
4. Cook on medium low for about 2 minutes as alcohol evaporates.
5. Serve immediately or cool in a refrigerator and then serve, the choice is yours.