Рецепт Chocolate Snowball...
My humble apologies...I could have sworn I gave you this recipe before now but I suppose when it toppled from our #1 Christmas dessert to the #3 position it somehow got overlooked! So my apologies...to the Chocolate Snowball, it certainly deserves to be here, and to you...you have had NO idea what you've been missing!!
Off topic, but I must tell you about how I came within seconds of laughing myself to death...you see, the mister lost a bet with me, as a result, he has to be an ELF at our annual Christmas party for kids. I made him try on his costume...the boy and I could hardly breath we were laughing so hard...but the mister never cracked a smile...he just stood there with a total deadpan look on his face...in his green tunic and his yellow TIGHTS! And when he finally spoke he said, "Everyone will be able to see my prostrate!" It took me all of FOUR MINUTES to stop laughing long enough to tell him, "No dear, everyone will BE PROSTRATE when they see your PROSTATE!" I'm going to have to make a few adjustments to his costume or the children will be scarred for life!
This recipe is from The Mariposa Restaurant in Deer Valley, Utah - for those of you who know where that is, then you'll know this is where many a movie star, wanna-be's, and people who carry around a duffel bag to hold their petty cash hang out...but for good reason, The Mariposa is as known for it's food as Deer Valley is for it's skiing. The founder and president of La Varenne, the prestigious French cooking school, Anne Willan, came up with this recipe and passed it along to her students, one being someone who eventually went to work at The Mariposa. I begged for the recipe, but as my wallet was a bit thin, I was refused (I'm sure that's the reason!) I left the restaurant with my head down, hobbling on my little tree-branch cane in my hand-me-down clothes, wiping the dripping snot from my nose with my fingerless gloves, silently promising myself, God being my witness, that I would one day eat the infamous Chocolate Snowball for Christmas! Rejected, I made my way to the outlet malls in Park City...I went in the book store, hoping to educate myself on the finesse it takes to coerce a recipe from a snooty pastry worker when what to my wondering eyes should appear? A nice little book...Chocolate Snowball and Other Fabulous Pastries From Deer Valley Bakery by Letty Halloran Flatt!!
Once I had purchased the book I tossed my cane aside, held my head high and immediately forgot about the RUDE pastry worker who not only refused me the recipe but failed to tell me it was in a cookbook - a cookbook that I could have purchased IN DEER VALLEY even! But because of her insolence I bought it at an outlet mall...for HALF PRICE!! Thank you rude (who I'm sure was making $6.50 an hour at the time and I was making at LEAST $7.00 so who did she think she was!?!) pastry worker!
To say this is easy would be lying...it's EXTREMELY EASY! And you won't find a more decadent, rich, utterly chocolate dessert anywhere! This is a chocoholics fantasy...a flour-less cake, (yes! It's gluten free!) which is more like a pudding in texture - creamy smooth, dense, and over-the-top intense...and then it's smothered in whipped cream - without the cream to "cut" the chocolate, your eyes would roll back in your head and you'd flop to the floor in ecstasy! As good as this is, it's made even better with the addition of a raspberry sauce that is drizzled over each serving...chocolate, raspberry and cream...it's what Christmas is all about folks...this one is a solid FIVE on the ol' Dang Meter...it's dang, dang, dang, dang, dang good!
Chocolate Snowball - Adapted From Chocolate Snowball and Other Fabulous Pastries From Deer Valley Bakery by Letty Halloran Flatt
Cake:
- 12 oz. good, quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped in 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 cup strong coffee, hot (decaf is okay)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 6 eggs, lightly beaten
- Cream Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Raspberry Sauce:
- 1 (15 oz.) jar raspberry jam (I used my homemade jam that was a bit runny - it's perfect for this!) or 1 (15 oz.) jar raspberry jelly, without seeds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a medium (5 to 6-cup, about 8-inch diameter) stainless steel or glass oven-proof bowl with aluminum foil so the foil overlaps the bowl 3 or 4 inches. (I used a larger bowl, about 10-inches in diameter, as it is my only oven-proof bowl, but it resulted in a "flatter" snowball.)
Put the chocolate in a saucepan. Pour the coffee over, which will melt some of the chocolate. Place over medium-low heat; add the sugar and stir with a wire whisk to dissolve the sugar and any un-melted chocolate. Add the butter gradually, a dollop at a time, whisking until the butter is incorporated before adding the next dolllop. This should take about 10 minutes - don't rush it. Remove from the heat.
Slowly whisk the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture. Pour through a strainer into the foil-lined bowl. Discard any firm bits of egg that remain in the strainer. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until the batter rises and a cracked top crust forms. The mixture will still jiggle, like molded gelatin. Resist the urge to bake it a little more; the butter and chocolate set up when chilled.
Let the cake cool. Fold the overlapping foil over the top and refrigerate at least 8 hours, keeping the cake in the bowl. It will keep for up to a week if refrigerated and well wrapped in plastic wrap. (It is best to store the cake in the bowl, but, once it is cold, you can invert the dome onto plate - but do not remove the foil wrapper. Wrap the foil-enclosed dome in plastic wrap.) The cake can also be frozen for up to a month; thaw in the refrigerator before frosting.
Cream Topping:
When the cake is ready to assemble, while still in the bowl and still wrapped in foil, you will notice the cake will have fallen slightly in the center; to make the top (or what will be the bottom of the cake) flat and even, press the raised outer edges down. Place a flat serving plate over the bowl and invert. Gently remove the foil.
Whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla until the cream comes to soft peaks that hold their shape. Cover the cake with the cream (you can use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip to decorate the cake if you wish.) Cover the dome completely.
Raspberry Sauce:
In a small saucepan heat the raspberry jam until almost boiling. Remove and pour through a strainer to remove the seeds. (If using seedless raspberry jelly, heat jelly until it liquefies and then allow to cool a bit before serving.) Allow to cool, spoon a couple of tablespoons over each slice of snowball for serving. Serves 10 to 12.