You ever have those days when every culinary and/or yarn creation you can think up is at least moderately diabolical if not actually toxic? Today we visit this heart of darkness because, well, just because. Also I haven't blogged in a while, so why the crap not?
Last weekend (was it last weekend?) I got a little nostalgic for gin rickeys and thought cucumber-lime pie was a good idea. The less said about that, the better.
This time was more of a bet, really. I got into a discussion with a friend about unusual ingredients that work surprisingly well together (well, doesn't everyone?), and somehow ended up with the Iron Chef ingredients of garlic and chocolate. Don't be fooled: while they may look pretty in their wax paper and foil, these truffles got bite. In fact, I'm a little frightened. This may be the first dessert I've made (including cucumber mush disaster) that I haven't been even a little bit tempted to sample. Recipe, you ask? Well, don't say I didn't warn you....
Garlic Truffles:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz semisweet chocolate (chips, chunks, or chopped)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp coarse sea salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
freshly grated parmesan, for coating
Line a loaf pan with wax paper so that paper overhangs the sides.
Bring cream to a simmer in a medium bowl over boiling water.
Melt in chocolate and butter. Remove from heat.
Add cocoa powder and stir until completely dissolved.
Add salt and garlic and stir until just combined.
Pour into papered loaf pan and refrigerate 2 hours or until set.
Cut into squares and coat with parmesan (I find this works best by tossing a couple squares at a time in a bowl full of cheese, but a bag a la shake and bake probably works fine too).
Makes about a dozen to 20 truffle squares.
As for how it tastes, I defer to the person whose name will go on these truffles if I have anything to do with it. Because WTF???