chocolate – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods July 13, 2024July 13, 2024almond paste, almonds, cake pan, cakes, chilled, china caps, chocolate, Christmas, Cointreau, cold desserts, dessert, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, frozen, fruit sauce, gluten-free, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, grated, grind, liqueur, mousse, orange liqueur, orange peel, powdered sugar, raspberries, raspberry liqueur, raspberry sauce, semisweet, stiff peaks, vegetarian, wax paper, whipped, whipping cream, XMAS 23, zested

I had high hopes of catching up on this thing in a timely fashion, but let’s face it–we’re all surprised I’m even still updating it all at this point. The 10-year anniversary came and went a few months ago without much (or any) fanfare, but I AM still here–just not as attentive as I used to be. Let’s face it–a LOT has changed over the last 10 years. No plans to completely let it die yet, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it.

Anyway, here’s 16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was one of two desserts I served for Christmas 2023 (XMAS 23).

Seemed Christmas-appropriate, plus it’s gluten-free! That doesn’t matter to anyone that’s in this house, but someone out there might care about something like that.

14-37: Chocolate Soufflé

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 21, 2024April 21, 2024all-purpose flour, butter, chocolate, dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, favorites, granulated sugar, hot desserts, meringue, milk, paper collar, party food, soufflés, stiff peaks, temper, TGV 2022, Thanksgiving, unsweetened, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I debated about doing two desserts back-to-back, but I think it makes more sense to just do all the TGV 2022 recipes together and be done with it already. Plus, this one came out really well and I want to tell you about it. So, with that in mind, here is 14-37: Chocolate Soufflé, the Thanksgiving 2022 companion dessert to 16-21: Apple Pie with Crumb Topping.

The blurb here reminds me of one of my favorite tropes: the endangered soufflé, otherwise known as soufflé humor. Whatever happened to that?

14-28: “Hot Love”

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 15, 2023February 15, 2023chocolate, chocolate curls, cookies, dessert, easy, fairly expensive, fruit, garnish, grated, hot desserts, ice cream, liqueur, macaroons, orange juice, party food, raspberries, raspberry liqueur, raspberry sauce, shortbread, simmered, soft peaks, untested, Valentine's Day, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I’m a day late, but had intended to post 14-28: “Hot Love” for Valentine’s Day, because how could you not? Apologies for procrastinating on it, but at least it’s there for Valentine’s Day 2024 (and beyond).

This one used to make me giggle every time I looked at the card as a kid–it felt cheesy to me even back then (but also sort of intriguing in that “is this what grown-ups do?” kind of way). I pretty much still feel the same way about it (grown-up question and all).

What is the plate in the picture above resting on (besides a book)? A cabinet on its side? A locked trunk? What’s in the box!?

Can you tell I’m not much of a romantic?

16-5: Sacher Torte

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 30, 2021August 30, 2021all-purpose flour, almonds, apricots, Austrian, blanched, butter, cakes, chocolate, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, favorites, folded, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, holiday baking, jam/jelly/preserves, melted, meringue, nuts, party food, pastry, peeled, springform pan, stiff peaks, Thanksgiving, torte, untested, vegetarian, Viennese

It always takes me a minute to “catch up” on these, so if you’re keeping track (don’t), we’re now up to Thanksgiving of last year (2020) with 16-5: Sacher Torte. Sachertorte is a real thing, and Simply Delicious actually has a pretty decent take on it.

The Wikipedia link above gives a pretty close approximation of the origin story Simply Delicious mentions on their card above, so they’re hitting near the mark. Sometimes the best Simply Delicious recipes are the ones they DON’T make up for themselves.

Side note: My dad ended up LOVING this one (and he’s been eating the dishes from this book for 30+ years), so it comes highly recommended.

15-7: Banana Split

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 23, 2021March 22, 2021American, bananas, chocolate, chocolate sauce, cocoa powder, cold desserts, dessert, easy, fruit, granulated sugar, ice cream, inexpensive, maraschino cherries, melted, sundaes, toasted, untested, vegetarian, walnuts, whipped, whipping cream

Y’all, we have been locked inside for over a year at this point, so it was only a matter of time before the recipes that looked silly to me before now started looking like a good time. What better time to enjoy 15-7: Banana Split than when the only “safe” entertainment you can get these days is picking up ingredients for it while wearing two masks at the grocery store?

Nope, that’s not a cat hair on your screen–it was on my scanner when I scanned the card. Stop trying to get it off.

In case you are unfamiliar with the very American concept of a banana split, here’s Wikipedia’s rundown on it.

16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 24, 2020December 28, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, cakes, chilled, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Eve, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, fruit, garnish, glazed, granulated sugar, layers, melted, parchment paper, party food, powdered sugar, raspberries, revisited, semisweet, stiff peaks, tart, TGV 2019, Thanksgiving, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream, XMAS 08

I had a goal to finish all the ones I cooked in 2019 by the end of 2020…not sure if I’ll meet that goal (EDIT: I did!), but here’s one more from last year: 16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart. Not only is this from last Thanksgiving (along with 6-42: Turkey Pot Roast and 17-15: Cream Puffs), but I also made a version of it as part of a fancy Christmas dinner 12 years ago (XMAS 08) as well. Since today is Christmas Eve, I think it’s a good day to tell you about it.

When I made this back in ’08, I made 6 individual tarts instead of one big one–I was afraid it would look weird once I cut it, so I thought individual servings would look better. I had been watching a LOT of Top Chef at that point (and still do, but that’s the ONLY cooking show I’ll watch).

Since I had a few of the same guests attending as that Christmas dinner back in ’08 (and the same number), I decided to make the same modification this time. Usually I will reverse modifications when I recook recipes I’ve already done to try to honor the “original” recipe, but this time I decided to stick with it.

16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 4, 2020December 3, 2020all-purpose flour, baking powder, butter, cakes, chocolate, cocoa powder, dessert, egg whites, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, frosted, frosting, garnish, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grind, hazelnuts, melted, meringue, nuts, peeled, powdered sugar, stand mixer, stiff peaks, toasted, unsweetened, vegetarian, wax paper, whipping cream

Think of 16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake like a Nutella cake–same flavor profile (chocolate and hazelnuts), and maybe even somewhat healthier?

This is a pretty simple cake–it’s just one layer, and all you have to do is frost and garnish it. Or you can do it like me and make little individual cakes instead.

14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 1, 2020December 1, 2020broiled, brown sugar, chocolate, dessert, dollop, easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, garnish, ginger, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, grapes, hot desserts, liqueur, mint, pears, poached, untested, walnuts, whipping cream

In case you hadn’t had your fill of weird pear desserts with 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping and 14-21: Pear Pandowdy, I have a third one for you: 14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate. To add to the weirdness, even Food Network considers this a recipe.

It does look nice, but I don’t know about the taste claims. Is it the pear that they think makes this taste so good, or the mint chocolate/whipped cream/liqueur?

15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 14, 2020November 14, 2020boiled, bread crumbs, brown sugar, chilled, chocolate, cold desserts, dark chocolate, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fruit, ginger, grated, layers, pears, poached, rye bread, semisweet, simmered, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I often wonder when I “evaluate” these recipes if I’m biased in my ratings/attitude towards them because of my own personal feelings about their contents. If I don’t personally like pears, does that unfairly impact my review of 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping? Probably. Just a thought.

I’m not a huge pear fan, so if you haven’t figured it out by now, pear halves with weird chocolate bread topping wasn’t my jam. But if months of quarantine have you curious about weird desserts from the 80s, read on.

17-15: Cream Puffs

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods October 14, 2020December 24, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, chocolate, choux, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, dough, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, filling, French, gift ideas, glazed, melted, party food, pastry, pastry bag, pastry cream, profiteroles, pudding, TGV 2019, Thanksgiving, vanilla bean, vegetarian, whipping cream

Looking to impress? Or maybe you’ve been watching a lot of those baking shows while on lockdown and you think you’re ready for some of the “tougher” stuff. Well, here’s a good one for you to test your skills.

I made 17-15: Cream Puffs for Thanksgiving last year (TGV 2019), but haven’t written about it until now. Cream puffs feature pâte à choux, which is the puffy, airy dough that you also find in éclairs. We made profiteroles when I worked at a restaurant a few years ago, and it’s essentially the same thing.

Simply Delicious suggests you can fill your cream puffs with vanilla or whipped cream–the most traditional ones also feature pastry cream (crème pâtissière).

The ones we served at the restaurant I worked at were filled with house-made, hand-scooped ice cream that were (sometimes) baked and (often) assembled by yours truly and then drizzled with a chocolate glaze like these. It was one of those trendy gastro-brew pubs that made the beer onsite and had many beardy/tattooed gentlemen working there, so you can imagine the rest of the menu and atmosphere. At least we served most of it on a normal plate. #wewantplates

← Previous