New Chocolate Classics: Over 100 of Your Favorite Recipes Now Irresistibly in Chocolate

by Diana Dalsass

Overview

If you like chocolate you’ll love these new chocolate versions of classic recipes like Apple Brown Betty, Strawberry Shortcake, and Tiramisu.

Diana Dalsass has created over 100 original recipes, testing each one over and over again to preserve the integrity of the original dessert while making an entirely new chocolate sensation. Pies, pastries, puddings, cakes, cookies, and even coffee cakes, muffins, and breads are reinvented and made startlingly fresh and delicious by the addition of that magical ingredient, chocolate. Dalsass has created simple, easy-to-follow recipes that will not tax your time or energy. She draws on classic American desserts, including Key Lime Pie, Indian Pudding, and Boston Cream Pie, as well as luscious European favorites like eclairs, Zuppa Inglese, and Madeleines. With such intriguingly unusual concoctions as chocolate zabaglione and Baked Alaska, this unique cookbook opens up worlds of scrumptious possibilities. New Chocolate Classics will soothe the craving of the most hardened chocoholic while opening up new horizons for any lover of dessert.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393318814
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/1999
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Diana Dalsass has been a food columnist and is the author of several cookbooks, including The New Good Cake Book. She lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Pies for Chocoholics

Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie is one of my husband's favorite desserts, and he orders it in restaurants whenever it's available. But even he has to admit that the conversion to Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie is even better. The filling is light, yet rich—similar to a dark chocolate mousse—with toasted coconut scattered throughout and on top. As a final improvement, chocolate cookies are used for the crumb crust.

    This filling is so delicate that it needs several hours of chilling in order to firm up sufficiently to cut the pie. Therefore, plan to make the pie early on the day you intend to serve it or a day in advance.

Chocolate Crumb Crust

1 1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate cookie
crumbs (a 9-ounce box of Nabisco's
Famous Chocolate Wafers)
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling

1 1/3 cups shredded coconut
3 1/2 cups whole milk, divided
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks
4 1-ounce squares unsweetened
chocolate 2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy or whipping cream

    Yield: 12 servings

1. Prepare the crumb crust: Preheat the oven to 300°F. In a bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a deep dish 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool. Do not turn off theoven.

2. Spread the coconut on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 8 minutes, stirring once, or until the coconut is lightly toasted. Transfer the coconut to a dinner plate and let cool. (Turn off the oven.)

3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1/3 cup milk and the gelatin. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks and mix well.

4. Pour the remaining milk into a saucepan. Add the chocolate. Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted. Continue cooking until the milk is scalded (little bubbles will appear at the edge of the saucepan, but the milk will not come to a full boil).

5. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Beat about a half cup of the chocolate milk mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks. Now add the chocolate milk/egg yolk mixture to the contents of the saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over a low heat until the mixture becomes thickened. This will take about 15 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

6. Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the filling. (This prevents a "skin" from forming.) Chill the mixture until cold.

7. When the cooked mixture is nearly chilled, beat the heavy cream until whipped. Fold into the chilled mixture. Stir in about half the coconut.

8. Pour the filling into the crust. Sprinkle with the remaining coconut. Chill several hours before serving.

Eggnog Pie

This is an old-fashioned recipe that definitely deserves a revival. The flavors of eggnog—milk or cream, egg yolks, rum, and nutmeg—are combined in a mousse-like pie filling to make a very appealing dessert. This version begins with a chocolate crust and flavors the filling with chocolate, which adds to its richness.

Chocolate Pastry Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Filling

1 cup milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy or whipping cream

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

1. Prepare the crust: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt. With a pastry cutter, 2 knives, or your fingertips, cut in the butter or margarine until the texture is that of coarse meal. Add just enough water for the ingredients to hold together. Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit the bottom and sides of a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Fit the dough into the pie plate, and prick it in several places on the bottom and sides with a fork.

4. Bake the pie crust for 25 minutes, or until the dough is cooked and lightly browned. Transfer the pie plate to a rack to cool. Let cool completely before filling the pie.

5. In the meantime, prepare the filling: Place the milk in the top of a double boiler. Heat directly on the burner to scalding (just before it begins to boil). Then transfer over boiling water in the double boiler.

6. In a bowl, using a wire whisk, beat together the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and cocoa. Add to the scalded milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until a light custard forms. (The mixture will be thick enough to coat a spoon.)

7. Mix together the gelatin and water. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. Add to the custard mixture. Stir in the rum and vanilla.

8. Transfer the custard mixture to a bowl, and place plastic wrap directly on the mixture to prevent a "skin" from forming. Chill until cold.

9. In a bowl, beat the heavy cream until whipped. Fold the whipped cream into the custard mixture. Pour into the pie crust. Chill the pie until set for at least 2 hours.

Key Lime Pie

Developing this pie recipe required lots of experimentation. Again and again, I tried different proportions for the filling, but each time, it was too runny. The reason I persisted was that the flavor of the pie was incomparably delicious—dark, rich, and chocolaty, with the sharp, tangy contrast of fresh lime. After about five attempts, this recipe was developed, which means that you can enjoy it on your very first try.

Chocolate Pastry Crust

1 recipe Chocolate Pastry Crust from
Eggnog Pie (page 16)
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind

Filling

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 8-ounce container sour cream

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

1. Prepare and bake the pie crust according to the recipe for Eggnog Pie. (Add the lime rind along with the dry ingredients.)

2. In a heavy saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa. In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolks and milk. Add to the cocoa mixture and stir well. Add the butter. Cook, stirring frequently, over a medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the lime juice and boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.

3. Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a bowl and stir in the sour cream. Let sit until the mixture nearly comes to room temperature.

4. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Cover the pie and chill for several hours before serving.

Pumpkin Pie

For anyone who ever found ordinary pumpkin pie a boring Thanksgiving offering, this version provides a completely new taste sensation. The chocolate almost, but not completely, disguises the pumpkin flavor, while the pumpkin lends a buttery, smooth texture. The combination—baked in a cookie-like chocolate crust—is totally delightful.

Chocolate Pastry Crust

1 recipe Chocolate Pastry Crust from Eggnog Pie (page 16)

Filling

1 1-pound can solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs beaten
1 cup sugar
3 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk

Yield: 8 servings

1. Prepare the pie crust according to the recipe for Eggnog Pie, but do not bake it.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

3. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the pie filling. Pour into the crust.

4. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake the pie for 11/4 hours longer, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Let the pie cool on a rack to room temperature and chill well before serving.

Vinegar Pie

Vinegar Pie is an early American recipe, doting back to when fresh fruit was difficult to obtain. Craving the flavor of apples, housewives made a highly economical pie with apple cider vinegar. Looking at the ingredients—1/2 cup vinegar and 2 cups water, among others—it's hard to imagine that this pie could taste good. But, in fact, it is absolutely delicious—thick and custardy, like the filling of a pecan pie. And, of course, Chocolate Vinegar Pie is even richer and more flavorful.

Chocolate Pastry Crust

1 recipe Chocolate Pastry Crust from Eggnog Pie (page 16)

Filling

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 cups water
2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
3 eggs
1 tablespoon butter

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

1. Prepare the pie crust according to the recipe for Eggnog Pie, but bake the crust for 8 minutes at 400°F.

2. Place the sugar and flour in a heavy saucepan and stir together well. Stir in the vinegar. Add the water and chocolate. Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted and the mixture comes to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.

3. Preheat the oven to 475°F.

4. In a small bowl, beat the eggs well. Gradually beat in about 1 cup of the hot liquid, stirring constantly. Add the egg mixture to the saucepan, and then add the butter. Stir until melted.

5. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and bake for 35 minutes longer. The filling will be somewhat liquidy but will firm up as it cools. Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool completely.

Table of Contents

Introduction	9
Pies For Chocoholics	13
Coconut Cream Pie	14
Eggnog Pie	16
Key Lime Pie	18
Pumpkin Pie	19
Vinegar Pie	20
Gravel Pie	21
Jefferson Davis Pie	22
Frangipane Tart	23
German Sponge Tart	24
Beyond The Pastry Shop	27
Baklava	28
Cannoli	30
Eclairs	31
Profiteroles	32
Portuguese Almond "Cheesecakes"	34
Quesadillas	35
Rugelach	36
Austrian Pastry Bars	37
Tiramisu	38
Petits Fours	40
IceboxCake	42
Fruit and Chocolate: What a Combination!	43
Grunt with Blueberries	44
Apple Brown Betty	45
Apple Roly-Poly	46
Clafoutis	48
Ambrosia	49
Strawberry Shortcake with Chocolate-Covered Strawberries	50
Apricot Fool	52
Totally Decadent Puddings	53
Indian Pudding	54
Rice Pudding	55
Tapioca Pudding	56
Noodle Pudding	57
Oeufs à la Neige	58
Floating Island	60
Mexican Baked Custard	61
Creme Caramel	62
Diplomat Pudding	64
Zuppa Inglese	66
Cakes Never Had It So Good	67
Angel Food Cake	68
Gingerbread	69
Boston Cream Pie	70
Yam Cake	72
Honey Cake	73
Jelly Roll	74
Upside Down Cake	76
White Chocolate Fudge Cake with White Chocolate Icing	77
Election Cake	78
Huguenot Torte	79
Lane Cake	80
Lightening Cake	82
Hunter Torte	83
Dacquoise	84
Austrian Walnut Torte	86
Mandeltorte	87
German Wine Cake	88
French Pound Cake	89
Opera Torte	90
Scandinavian Almond-Caramel Cake	92
Turkish Yogurt Cake	93
Yule Log	94
Tyrolean Christmas Fruitcake	96
The Cookie Crumbles to Chocolate	97
German Christmas Bars	98
Swedish Spice Cookies	99
Almond Wreaths	100
Sugar Cookies	101
Star Cookies	102
Austrian Almond Butter Cookies	103
Norwegian Ring Cookies	104
Austrian Nut Crescents	105
Swedish Rye Cookies	106
Scandinavian Shortbread Cookies	107
Wine Cookies	108
Linzer Tarts	109
Amaretti	110
Florentine "Ugly But Good" Cookies	111
Madelines	112
Greek Wedding Cookies	113
Dream Bars	114
Egg Yolk Cookies	115
Hermits	116
Jelly Tots	117
Oatmeal Cookies	118
No-Bake Chocolate Bars	119
Wow! Is That Chocolate in my Bread?	121
Bran Muffins	122
Muffin Tops	123
Scones	124
Swiss Egg Braids	125
Danish Coffee Cake	126
Swedish Coffee Cake	128
Kugelhopf	130
Focaccia	131
Schnecken	132
Panettone	134
Polish Coffee Cake	136
Greek Sweet Bread	137
Zwieback	138
Waffles	139
Uniquely Chocolate Creations	141
Divinity	142
Marshmallows	143
Toffee	144
Semi-Freddo	145
Baked Alaska	146
Zabaglione	148
Italian Cheesecake	149
Fettuccine with Fudge Sauce	150
Queso Fresco Crepes	152
Index	153

Editorial Reviews

Dalsass (The New Good Cake Book, LJ 11/15/96) decided to put chocolate in just about everything: Baklava, Ambrosia, Scones, even Apple Brown Betty. While some of her transformations sound tempting, even chocolate fanatics would agree that theres such a thing as overkill: although Key Lime Pie in a chocolate crust might be a good idea, adding cocoa powder to the filling probably is not. Not a necessary purchase.

Library Journal