The Recipes |
Title (Who) |
Recipe |
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1. Sarah vs. Barack Truffles (Patti) |
World-aware Barack truffles: - 3 dark chocolates, port and almond oil - plain, roasted almond, or rosemary almond centers - coated in curry, cocoa or freshly ground cinnamon
Homogeneous Sarah truffles: - white chocolate & soy milk - coated in powdered sugar |
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2. Mushroom* Baracklava (Elisa) WINNER MOST ARTISTIC |
I had been given mushrooms …~1.5 lb shiitakes, and ~2-2.5 lb white/button mushrooms. Without knowing what I was going to do with them, I roasted them, just so they wouldn't get funky and rot. I cut the button mushrooms into quarters &sliced the shiitakes. (In retrospect, all-thinly-sliced mushrooms would probably have worked better for this recipe.) Roasted them, separately, on a baking sheet spread with a little olive oil, topped off with salt and pepper. Don't recall the oven temperature, and my oven is wildly inaccurate, anyway: maybe ~325, maybe ~20 minutes? Basically roasted until I thought they were, uhhh, roasted enough. Then I put them back in the fridge in sealed containers until I figured out what I was actually going to do with them. Eventually I settled on barackalava and figured I might enter it in the worst-pun category. :-) Defrosted a package of phyllo (bought it frozen; left it in the fridge overnight; then out on the counter, unopened, for a couple of hours; all this per instructions on the package) Meanwhile I put ~1.5-2 cups organic dark chocolate bits in a large (4 c.) Pyrex cup, with ~1/4 cup (2%) milk. I heated that in the microwave on the 50% power setting just long enough to soften the bits a bit. Then stirred them in until they were relatively smooth (though some bits remained a bit chunky). Also melted some butter; & (in a separate container) sifted some cocoa with a little nutmeg. Set these aside... Sprayed a baking sheet with canola oil. Laid down two layers of phyllo dough, and either sprayed the top with canola oil or lightly brushed some butter on (alternated which fat/lubricant somewhat randomly; again a suggestion on the phyllo package).
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Laid down a (admittedly somewhat spotty) layer of chocolate, first, I think. Probably sprinkled a little cocoa on that as well (just used a little tiny sifter/strainer to shake it on). Then a layer of phyllo dough, a very light layer of fat, a layer of one of the types of mushrooms plus a little cocoa, a layer of phyllo dough, etc. etc. I ended with a top layer of phyllo dough, brushed with some butter. Baked at ~375 for ~20 minutes. Dusted some more cocoa on top after it came out of the oven. Let it cool for a while at room temperature, then put it in the fridge; I think I took it out later that evening and cut it into squares, but I was nervous about getting down to the traditional diagonal shapes; I really thought it would all disintegrate if I kept cutting*. Refrigerated it again, and managed to cut it into the diagonals the next day (mostly by taking pieces out of the pan, putting them onto a waxed-paper lined cutting board, making the cuts, then putting them back in the pan. I didn't quite use up all the mushrooms, nor the chocolate, nor the phyllo dough, in fact. So essentially, all the measurements are not merely approximate, but somewhat meaningless! *To be honest, when it first came out of the oven, I was ready to chuck it in the compost. I'd had ~zero previous experience working with phyllo dough, and all around the edges it seemed to have the consistency of crisp newsprint. I figured it would totally fall apart, and/or really have no flavor. But the middle sections were actually pretty decent, and tasty (due to the chocolate, I'm sure, and not the dough), so I did not despair! In retrospect, I'll probably try another brand of phyllo dough next time around, if I do something like this again. This phyllo was politically correct and organic, but flavorless and perhaps just not very high quality. |
3. Palin’s Alaskan Chocolate ‘Chilly’ (Deborah) |
(except used Scharffenberger’s unsweetened chocolate rather than bittersweet) |
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4. Double Chocolate Biscotti (Russ & Penelope) |
2/3 c whole almonds |
Toast nuts @ 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and liqueur. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to creamed mixture. Cut nuts into halves or thirds. Fold them and chopped chocolate into dough. |
5. White and Dark Chocolate Martinis (Thib) |
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No RECIPE |
6. Red, White and Blueberry (Tom P.) |
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White chocolate field of strawberries and blueberries |
7. HyPEARbole (Tom P.) |
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Dried pears spread with dark chocolate |
8. Bi LLayers (Bill Ayers) Cake (Karen) |
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No RECIPE |
9. Chocolate Covered Bacon (Tom L.) WINNER MOST DECADENT
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Election-year pork, disguised as something sweet…. |
10. Ribbons and Lame Duck (Katrina) WINNER BEST SAVORY AND BEST OVERALL
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Chocolate noodles with duck cooked in port, garnished with squash and pomegranate seeds |
11. Palin Comparison (David) |
1 c. unsalted butter |
Pale variant. This was painful. |
12. Ribs (Peter and Lori) |
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This got LOTS of votes!!
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13. I can see Russia! (Judy & Karen) WINNER ON THEME
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Recipe required at least 2 people with a sense of humor, being driven by Deborah, allowing them to concentrate on the recipe - that is the only critical ingredient. Deborah served as consultant as well as driver. |
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14. Macarons a la Praline Swinging (Francois) |
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Macaroons with Praline (Palin) filling for the swing states (turning blue)... |
15. Choctuber Surprise (Mike P.) WINNER BEST TASTING
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This recipe is called Mock Chestnut Torte on epicurious.com and in Flourless Chocolate Cake with Sweet Potato
Torte Ingredients
First cook the sweet potatoes. I started with almost two pounds of sweet potatoes. You want a uniform smooth mass without fibers, so you end up cutting away the outer layer of the potatoes and any eyes. I used large sweet potatoes to reduce the amount wasted. The recipe said you can use yams or canned instead of fresh cooked, but I didn't try them. I just scrubbed the sweet potatoes and baked them until they were soft (about an hour, check that a fork can easily go to the center of ohe potato). Cool them a bit, then peel them and remove any bad spots. I used a ricer to mash them, which gives a good consistency. Measure 1 1/2 cups of them. Let them cool. |
Preheat the oven to 350.
In a mixing bowl large enough to eventually hold all the batter, cream the butter with 1/3 cup sugar. Then, in turn, stir in the egg yolks, sweet potatoes, and chocolate until blended. The batter will be heavy.
Glaze Ingredients |
17. Nana’s Chocolate Cake (Maureen & Tom) |
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No RECIPE |
18. Moose Mousse (Lockes) |
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No RECIPE |
20. Salami (Chiyoko) |
1) Dark cocoa powder can from Trader Joe's ($4.99 — an excellent value and tastes good!) |
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21. Chocolate Cake (Susan and Mike F.) |
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No RECIPE |
22. Where’s the Bread? Pudding (Helen)
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http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHOCOLATE-BREAD-PUDDING-109128 |