A Five-Minute Frozen Chocolate Wafer to Enjoy Summer Better

It's too hot to spend much time in the kitchen, but summer is for pleasure. Just three minutes with a mixer and you will have two sleeves of black rich chocolate dough for the freezer. Then, whenever you want something nice, slice off some wafers, thin as you like, turn on the oven, and go water the plants or something. It's a maximum return for minimum effort:

We will need:

250 g/ 1 C butter
1/2 tsp. salt
250 g / 1 1/4 C sugar
125 g/ 4 1/2 oz. melted semi-sweet chocolate
1 egg
70 g/scant 1 C cocoa powder
300 g/ 2 1/2 C flour
coarse grained raw sugar is you have it, for rolling the logs in.

Beat the softened butter, salt, sugar, and melted chocolate together. Add the cocoa powder and the egg, and when that is smooth, blend int he flour with a spoon so the dough does not toughen.

Divide in two, and make logs as fat and short or as long and thin as you like. I do one of each- small for tea time, large for constructing desserts.

Roll the log in coarse sugar if you have any, or chopped nuts, or chopped chocolate, or anything you like or nothing at all, wrap in plastic, and store in the freezer. when you are ready to have some, turn the oven on to 170 C/ 350 F, line  baking sheet with non-stick paper, and slice as thinly as you like. Put them on paper with just a little room between them.

Bake 10 - 12  minutes- they will look dry, but you can press your finger into them- they will crisp as they cool.

Great with cherries.

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Love and Chocolate

This sweet little guy brought a heart shaped box of Russell Stover's to school for Carrie something-or-other, and then he ended up being too afraid to give them to her and, frankly, none of us could blame him. That wasn't going to go well. Love can be rough. He was quite a few years shy of being old enough for his friends to go out and get him drunk. I hope he ate the chocolates- they were the best you could buy in our isolated town in the North Country- there was no See's Candy, and no one had heard of Godiva, let alone Teuscher, or Neuhaus (we'd barely even heard of Switzerland or Belgium- we were 8). There were a lot of these episodes. The only good thing to come out of this was learning to root for the underdog of romance (little guy with the Russell Stover's, Colonel Brandon, any John Cusack character....). Anyway, every day is a holiday when you're in love. Designating a special day? That's just all kinds of pressure.

Not that we don't celebrate Valentine's day at our house- we do! We celebrate everything. We eat only red food- nothing challenging- beet vinaigrette, penne all'arrabbiata- no red velvet cake because it freaks me out a little. Usually we make rolled sugar cookies, heart shapes, sandwiched together with red jam and the top cookie with another shape cut out of it like a window- a small duck, a piglet. We make lots of them, and the girls give them to their friends, and so do I. We make chocolates too. There is some romance, but it's all on screen. This year we'll see Imagine Me and You- the girls were more in a Lemony Snicket stage when it came out, so we missed seeing it together. A nice bonus- a world where homogeneous heterosexuality is just assumed feels to us small and sad and dull (one of the few ways Greece sometimes disappoints, but, to be fair, we are comparing it to San Francisco). If I'm not wrong, this sweet movie was not overly self-conscious- much more plain love story than "gay love story." If we feel like a dose of underdog, we go for Notting Hill or, kind of obviously, High Fidelity.

Here are some things we make throughout the year, because they are easy, and easy to share, and we have fun in the kitchen together, and everyone likes them a lot. I put them in order of easiest to least easy (but still easy), with the links under the pictures. Wish you a happy, low-key, messy Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Double Greek Coffee Meringues

Candy Bar Meringues

Meringue Mushrooms (Huge Hit with Children!)

Salted Caramel Truffles

Butter Ganache Truffles

Salted Butter Caramels

Love is great. It's romantic love that stirs up all the trouble. You never go wrong staying in the kitchen, and sharing something sweet with everyone dear to you.

I love that Strawberries start their
hothouse season so early-
we had our first this week, and they were good!

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Sea Salt Butter Caramels- Surf and Turf.

It would be too bad if salted caramels became, as it were, a victim of their own success. American tastes have always run to the salt-tinged sweet; we just never identified it in a way that could deem it faddish. Chocolate covered pretzels, tin roof sundaes, gritty Reece's peanut butter cups, cracker jacks, pay day bars- salt keeps sweets lively and balanced. Fashion aside, salted caramels are one of our confectionery staples. They glitter with flaky salt scraped off of rocks in the sea in Crete and the other ingredients are just cream and butter and sugar, and a shot of rum, marrying the flavors and giving a subtle base note. These are a satisfying project- turning a liquid into a dense creamy solid with a gently yielding chew feels like magic. They have a bold luscious dairy richness, and that bite of salt is fresh like the sea air.

Just because making candy is like magic does not mean it is difficult- a candy thermometer makes these very simple. (However, growing up without a candy thermometer and using instead glasses of ice water lined up on the counter to test the consistency brought me closer to the secret life of things).

We will need:

600 g/ 3 C  sugar

120 g/ 1/2 C corn syrup

120 ml/ 1/2 C water

1 tsp flaky sea salt

400 ml/ scant 2 C heavy cream

140 g/ 5 oz butter

1 shot rum, or some vanilla

Before starting to cook, line a loaf pan with foil and butter it thickly and thoroughly. Get our a candy thermometer and put it in a glass of hot water.

Heat the cream, butter, and salt together in a small pan.

Take a large, tall pan (the mixture will bubble up like mad when we add the cream to the caramel), pour the sugar into the center, the water around it, and the corn syrup over the whole. Warm, then let it come to a full boil- it will be frothy and white-

Keep a watching it- don't leave the stove for a second. It will stay white, and white, and white, then. as soon as it starts to take on some color, it darkens quickly. When it is a deep honey color, stand back as far as you can and pour in the hot cream. It froths and steams like a volcano and is really loud.

As soon as it subsides, give it a few stirs with a long-handled wooden spoon, attach a candy thermometer, and again keep the closest watch. The thermometer climbs slowly at first and then picks up speed.

The very second it reaches 115 C/ 240 F, take it from the heat, add the rum, and pout it into the waiting pan lined with buttered foil. Sprinkle lightly with more sea salt. Let it cool at room temperature- which takes forever or at least 5 - 6 hours, or put it outside, as I did. It's winter, and the cold caramel gets really hard and you'll think, at least I did, that it is overcooked it and it would be too hard and chewy. As it comes to room temperature and also seems to take in some softening moisture from the air, it is firm enough to hold its shape, soft enough to melt on the tongue.

Turn the bar out upside down onto a piece of non-stick baking paper. Carefully peel off the foil and, while still upside down, but it into whatever size pieces you like (cutting through the softer underside makes neat pieces).

Finishing-

They are ready to eat and delicious plain, but hard to wrap or serve or give- you cannot trust the surface to not stick to anything after a few hours. An elegant solution is to dip the bottoms only in tempered chocolate. Also, the salt has sunk in and you can't see it so well- a few streaks of chocolate on top give the more salt something to cling to and shimmer.

Take a little over half of 200 g/ 7 oz. dark chocolate, melt it in the microwave or over simmering water, then add the rest of the chocolate. Stir until it melts in and the temperature of the chocolate cools (it will feel cool to your bottom lip). Dip the bottoms of the caramels, letting it come up the sides as much as you like, set them on a piece of non-stick paper, and drizzle the rest over the tops, sprinkling with salt flakes right away before it has a chance to set (tempered chocolate sets fast).

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Rich Pear Brownies Mirror a Crisp Fall Day.

These very simple, very rich brownies with their pattern of swirling leaves are quick and spontaneous. They are a thing of the moment- lots of seasonal fruit (it is nearly impossible to buy a modest amount of produce in abundant Greece), bound with some kitchen staples, in the oven and out in no time. Pears and chocolate are delicious together- the sophisticated version of  the  chocolate cherry  or strawberry, and their inspiration is a lot older. For me, the formal combination of Pear and Chocolate dates from the '80's, with my first of many, many Lindt with Pear Williams bars. Histrorically, it dates from Escoffier's classic (more mysterious by far than the Peach Melba- also Escoffier, and also for a Helen- Opera star Nellie Melba). Escoffier introduced Poire Belle Helene  in honor of an Operetta- La Belle Helene- about Helen of Troy. Classic plated dessert, chocolate bar, brownie-  it is hard to come across a combination of pears and chocolate that is not a rich and little intriguing like a crisp bite of fall.

We will need:
8 medium pears- here, Williams pears the size of a child's fist.
250 g/generous 1 C butter
100 g/ 1 C cocoa powder
425 g/ generous 2 C sugar
4 eggs
160 g/ 1 1/3 C flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Wash the pears, make thin slices from the sides of some, and dice the rest. Put them on parchment in a medium oven (170 C/350 F) with the fan on to let them concentrate and dry out a little as you assemble the rest of the ingredients. Line a large (25 x 28 cm. or 10" x 11") with non-stick parchment and set aside. In a pan large enough to combine everything later, melt the butter over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and blend in the sugar, cocoa, and salt.

Whisk to blend very well, and, making sure the mixture is now not at all hot, add the eggs, whisking as you do- it will be a smooth, dark, batter with the texture of a pudding. Add the flour- it will seem like very little. Test for sugar- sometimes it seems to need a little more.  Check the pears- the slices should be slightly browned on the edges, and the diced pieces a little sticky, not juicy. 

Add the diced pear to the brownie batter. Scatter the slices over the top like leaves, and dust with a little coarse sea salt for sparkle- beautiful, and it really brings out the fruit.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 170 C/350 F (without the fan), until a toothpick comes out nearly clean.

They will slice better when cool. They're very lovely, and if you want to make more than a casual snack of them, a triangle with some cream ice cream on the side will bring them from lunch box to dinner party. The gritty texture of the pear breaks up the brownie's rich smoothness, wonderful together.

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Delicate Truffles with Butter Ganache- Simple Perfection.

For a mass produced commercial confection in a bag, those Lindt spheres from the duty free were ethereal.

Resolved to recreate them, I was prepared to experiment, batch after batch, to get them right. I got a lot less than I bargained for- a couple hours later (most of that letting them set), perfection was melting in our mouths. These should be much more difficult, more expensive, and more time consuming. They are the most democratic of luxuries.

Heavy cream ganache has been a foolproof standby for our house truffles- a rich, mouth-coating texture, easy to work with. The butter ganache, rather than coating the mouth, is ever elusive, gossamer. And as it turns out, butter ganache is even easier to work with. 

The proportions of the filling are simple: by weight, one part butter to two parts chocolate, and a little corn syrup. You could worry that so much milk chocolate would be too sweet, especially with the corn syrup (for body and stability), but there is so much butter by that it stretches the sweetness out over more silken volume-

For a very manageable quantity, we will need:

100 g/ 3 1/2 oz butter

200 g/ 7 oz milk chocolate

35 g/ 1 generous ounce (2 tablespoons) corn syrup

some flavoring

200 g/ 7 oz dark chocolate

a blend of 2 parts cocoa to one part powdered sugar, for rolling.

Let the butter come to room temperature and whip it until fluffy. Add the corn syrup and whip some more. Melt the chocolate until liquid but not at all warm. You can melt it in a small bowl over simmering water, or in a microwave- 20 seconds at a time on medium power, stirring in between. Whatever method you choose, stop when there are still some unmelted pieces, and stir gently to melt them. Blend gently and thoroughly into the butter, and add flavor as you wish- here, five drops of peppermint oil. Keep tasting as you add. At this stage, it will not hold a peak. Let it sit a moment to firm up enough to pipe. Transfer to the cone, snip a hole in the bottom if it is too tight, and pipe mounds onto parchment. 

The butter ganache is soft and easy to pipe- it is the simplest way to make the centers uniform size. First, make a parchment cone. I thought it would be obvious how to do it- not really. It is very easy though- this handy video from a woman who makes stunning cakes will show you how. I found this more elegant and easier to use than the usual pastry bag stand in of a zip-lock bag. The parchment cone takes 30 seconds, and piping them takes another minute or so. Make them any size you like- I made thirty, the size of a small walnut:

Unless it is summer, these will firm up nicely and more evenly at room temperature. Give them a few hours. 

When you are ready to dip, melt 2/3 of the dark chocolate until warm, then add the remaining 1/3 and stir until melted and the chocolate, although liquid, does not feel warm to the touch- this a makeshift tempering, worth the tiny effort, and the centers are at room temperature- warm chocolate will melt them and make a mess. Sift the cocoa and the powdered sugar together into a dish large enough to give all the ruffles room:

Dip each truffle into the chocolate and roll between your palms to give it a thin, even coating:

and drop it into the cocoa/sugar:

Roll it around to cover evenly, and let set, which takes no time at all. You could easily make a double batch, as they will be gone instantly, but a fleeting pleasure is often the sweeter for it.

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Rich Chocolate Zucchini Cake- Health Springs Eternal (But Secretly....)

Our cake- black, rich, and so moist it is nearly juicy- promises nothing but pleasure. Delicate, nearly weightless, it is nonetheless filled with every good thing. Tea-time revives; seven pieces with a glass of milk (it happens often with hungry teenagers) make for a substitute meal (so many eggs!). The cake is all indulgence, all health: olive oil, eggs, wheat germ, oat bran, whole wheat flour, and of course a lot of zucchini. This is our other "summer cake,"-  perfect with summer's zucchini, just as nice with the golden squash of fall-

Of course there is some sugar, but as the cake took shape- having cocoa added, taking out some flour, adding the wheat germ and wheat bran, making all the flour whole wheat- we cut it down too. Whole wheat flour and wheat germ are naturally quite sweet; the cake needs less sugar than it does when you make it with white flour. Winter squash are even sweeter than the zucchini. 

The only not so indulgent thing about the cake is its modest height- the thinner the layer, the lighter it rises. The fat finger-width of batter in your largest pan rises to a perfectly nice height; it's just not very dramatic.

We will need:

400 g/ 2 C sugar
85 g/ 1 C cocoa powder
240 g/ 2  C flour- whole wheat pastry flour works very nicely
2 teaspoons each of salt, baking soda, and baking powder, put through a fine mesh strainer into the flour
80 g/ 1/2 C wheat germ
50 g/ 1/2 C oat bran
6 eggs
360 ml/ 1 1/2 C olive oil
400 g/ 4 C zucchini, grated on the large holes of the box grater and loosely packed
lemon zest

Orange and chocolate is a delicious and classic combination. Using lemon zest instead is unexpected- more floral than citrus, giving some balance to the richness of the cocoa. Finely grate the zest of half a lemon (or an orange) and blend it with the sugar in a large bowl to release the fragrance. Add the eggs and the oil, then the cocoa and blend. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and blend again:

Then add the grated zucchini, which adds quite a lot of moisture. If using winder squash, divide into workable pieces and slice the thick outer peel off in segments:

Grate as you grate the zucchini. This is a much harder job.

Line a large pan with non-stick baking paper- we used the sheet pan that fits directly into a standard European oven. Bake at 180 C/ 375 F for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

Let cool before slicing- for such hearty ingredients, it has a fragile texture. This makes an enormous cake, but as it is perfect anytime, and as everyone likes it so much, you surely will not find it too large.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries- a seasonal pleasure a la Paris Match.

Why Paris Match? These were ridiculously popular in the '80's, along with the Style Council (and dried porcini mushrooms). And I made them all the time in Paris in the '80's too. It's a long Springtime in Greece: weeks pass from the time the crispest and hardest apples, the most buttery pears fill the market tables, and when the truly intimidating wealth of summer fruits hits. Cherries and apricots are only just now here. For the last two months, at least, it has been the post peak winter fruits, imported pineapples and bananas, and of course, the reliable strawberry. 

Reliable? Not an exciting word. Well, they are not a very exciting fruit- uniform, pretty, tasty. Not the frais du bois as big as a kindergartner's pinky nail that they serve, unadorned, in a Paris summer (my grandfather ordered whipped cream on the side, and perhaps as he was a veteran of the second world war they obliged him very warmly). But their color alone catches the eye and gets us ready for the riot of June. Fruits here are so intensely flavored that these berries are more of a starter fruit. Most that we eat, we eat covered in chocolate. These are at once easier than they look, and trickier. Easier in that they look so fabulous but take no longer to make than doing up a tea tray does, and trickier in that two or three things could go wrong. The strawberries need to be completely dry (chocolate does not stick well to damp things), and the chocolate needs to be melted with a little care (but not much).

Here they are, in three simple steps:

For each 500 g/ 1 lb berries, we will need at least 200 g/ 7 oz. dark chocolate. Maybe have more standing by.

1. Make sure your rinsed clean strawberries are completely dry:
Wash the strawberries, shake them gently to let most of the water drip away, and put them on some paper towels, with a kitchen towel underneath. Leave some space between the strawberries:

If you have plenty of time and the day is breezy, set them out on the balcony in a shady place to dry completely. Otherwise, dry them with a blow dryer on a cool-ish setting.

2. Temper your chocolate (sort of):
There is an exact process called tempering that is worth doing if you are making serious confectionery, but these are supposed to be a casual, spontaneous treat. Still, an informal stab at tempering makes an enormous difference in the final product, and takes really no extra time. Break up 2/3 of the chocolate into small pieces and melt them, either in the microwave in careful stages, stirring in between, or over simmering water, likewise stirring all the while. 2 things can go very wrong- the chocolate can easily burn, making chalky lumps that will not melt back into the whole, or it can come into contact with a tiny amount of water (from a dripping wet strawberry, for instance), making it "seize" into a lumpy mass which can only then be turned into a sauce with the addition of lots more liquid (heavy cream and some coffee, some rum...).

Once we have a bowl of melted chocolate that is warm (but hopefully not hot), we put the rest of the chocolate in, keeping it in one piece. As we stir, the warm chocolate will melt the solid chocolate, and the constant agitation, the cooling from the new piece of chocolate, and the invisible structure of the new piece of chocolate will encourage the chocolate to set up with a fine texture (a snap as you bite through it into the juicy strawberry) and a glossy surface. When the new piece is melted into the whole, touch some to your bottom lip. It should feel cool. If it feels a bit warm, put it into the freezer for 30 seconds, take it out and stir, and keep doing this (3 or 4 times I sometimes do this) until it is still liquid, but feels cool.

3. Dip the strawberries:
When I made this batch, I was in Athens and in a hurry to bring them to someone, and so when the solid chocolate melted, I figured it must be ready. I dipped three:

and noticed they seemed slow to set. Tempered chocolate already starts to firm up in just a minute. I put the bowl into the freezer and took it out to stir it, doing this two more times, and proceeded with the rest of the batch with the barely cool, still liquid chocolate. See those strawberries on the left whose chocolate coating is still wet? Those are the first three strawberries. Those on the right, dipped (much later) in chocolate at a cooler temperature set up faster, prettier and firmer. The first ones eventually set, with the help of the refrigerator, but the chocolate was chalky in the mouth and dull in appearance. Even with the 2-step melting, this is one of the easiest and most impressive things you can make that is seasonal, stunning, and fun (and vegan). We have them very, very often in the season and no one ever gets tired of them.

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Constantine and Eleni Bars

What do faith, miraculous spectacles, and little coconut cakes with whiskey have in common? For us, May 21st, feast day of Saints Constantine and Eleni.

Feasting and giving shape the Greek year. The major name days (Saints' days) are known to all, and it is general practice on one's name day to have an at home, and at work or school to treat your peers with wrapped cakes. Today- Constantine and Eleni- is special for us as I have a daughter with Helen as a middle name, a dear niece and a dear friend Constantina both, and many beloved Elenis in the family and dear Kostas friends. It's also the only name day I know of that is celebrated with such faith and zeal- we have been to see the Anestanaria walking on coals in the nearby village of Langada (otherwise a destination for public thermal baths) and my was that something! We went early and were told just to wander into people's backyards, like trespassing but everyone was doing it. Great heaps of coals were being prepared and we were there for some hours before things were underway, the Anestanaria wandering serenely, ankle deep in glowing coals, icons help aloft. Have a look:

http://traditionscustoms.com/strange-traditions/firewalking-traditions

Well, after that interlude of metaphysics and faith, a recipe for bar cookies seems anti-climactic, but custom is custom, and our daughter who will hand out treats at film school in the afternoon, and at work in the evening (Principal- her father's club for live shows), and a dear niece who studies architecture and lives on the prettiest street in town, right near the Church of our little city's patron Saint Dimitrios (October 26th is his feast day, and that of our beautiful Thessaloniki). And these are really delicious- crispy crust, a bite of bitter coffee, chocolate, a gooey butter rich topping, smoothed with the depth of copious amounts of whiskey, and lifted with a tang of salt. Also you can make lots of them at once. and they stay very pretty in their individual saran wrapping. Miraculous? No. But this is some very fine, fairly foolproof, indulgent baking, ideal for celebration and sharing.

We will need (For two 9" x 13" or 25 x 28 cm pans): 

250 g/ 1 generous C butter

320 g/ 2 1/2 C flour

10 ml/ 2 tsp/ baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

30 g/ 1/4 C sugar

1 teaspoon nescafe granules
1 teaspoon vanilla 

60 ml/ 1/4 C water

2 egg yolks

2 bars of dark chocolate, 200 g/7 oz. each.

Melt the butter, combine with the dry ingredients, and add the water and egg yolks. It will form a soft crumbling dough with alarming bitter specks of coffee throughout. Line the baking pans with non-stick paper and press the dough into them to form a thin layer. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C/350 F.

While they are in the oven we can make the filling. 

We will need:

5 eggs

2 egg whites (leftover from making the crust)

400 g/ 2 C sugar- half dark brown, half white

4 ml/ 1 tsp. salt

250 g/ 1 generous C butter, melted

some vanilla extract (homemade here)

80 ml/1/3 C whiskey (or rum!)

225 g/ 3 C dried coconut. Sweetened flaked coconut is great but we do not have it in Greece. When I am in San Francisco, that is what I use.

Whisk together and taste for vanilla and salt.

As soon as the crusts come out of the oven, break up a 200 g/ 7 oz. bar of dark chocolate and scatter the pieces over each hot crust. Put them back in the oven for just a minute, and take them out again to smooth the now melted chocolate over the surface with the back of a spoon. 

Pour the filling- evenly divided (I use a cup to scoop it out and alternate between pans) over these, and put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes, switching racks halfway through. Sometimes the filling rises in a great mound here and there- it's just an air pocket and it will settle back into place like nothing ever happened as soon as it rests for a minute. Cool, then chill, then cut into bars with a sharp knife.

Makes more than enough for sharing- the happy point of turning on the oven. 

Our humble ingredients, probably already in your cupboard!

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