Valentine’s Day Dessert

When I think of a romantic dessert to round out our perfect Valentine’s Day meal, my mind goes in two different directions. First, there is red fruit—raspberries and strawberries. Strawberries are an especially romantic fruit because, when you slice them, they kind of look like little hearts. Also, they go very well with champagne.

Of course, there’s always chocolate. Studies have shown that eating a bit of chocolate actually releases endorphins, those feel-good chemicals in the brain. What better way to end up your Valentine’s Day dinner than with both of you feeling good, right?

Also, I know you’ve been busy preparing all the courses for this dinner. So, dessert will be a simple affair—minimal preparation with maximum impact. We’re going to combine strawberries and chocolate. You just can’t go wrong with this combination.

The first idea is to make a lovely chocolate fondue for dipping. Crocks of dark chocolate fondue are available in specialty stores and on the Internet. All you have to do is heat them up and then dip strawberries or cubes of pound cake for a no-fuss, luscious and romantic dessert. Here’s a good brand you can find at Amazon.com called Fondue au Chocolate. Just heat it up in a microwave or in a double boiler and you are ready to go.

Chocolate Fondue

Here’s how to make your own chocolate fondue at home. This sauce can be made up to a week in advance. All you’ll have to do is heat it up.

Ingredients

2 oz. butter
4 oz. sugar
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup corn syrup
¼ cup whole milk
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon rum
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 oz. best quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Whisk together cocoa powder, water and rum into a paste. Place in a bowl with the chopped chocolate and the vanilla.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, cream, corn syrup milk and salt. Bring to a boil and keep at a slow boil until the mixture is a light caramel color, about 15 minutes.

Strain the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture and whisk well until smooth. Pour into fondue pot to keep warm. Serve with cubed pound cake, marshmallows, fruit, or frozen cubes of cheesecake.

Variations: Add ½ teaspoon (or to taste) of orange extract or peppermint extract. Boil a cinnamon stick in with the dairy mixture.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

For a dessert a little less messy but just as decadent, try your hand dipping strawberries in chocolate. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about tempering chocolate. Adding just a bit of vegetable oil to melted chocolate chips will give you a great coating chocolate that will set up with a nice shine.

1 - 12 oz. bag of semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Fresh whole strawberries (get the nicest, reddest ones you can find. For those of you in the south, this will be pretty easy. Florida grows very nice winter strawberries)

Cover a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper.

In a large metal bowl set over a pan of simmering—not boiling—water, melt the chocolate chips. Stir frequently, and make sure that the water in the pan does not touch the bottom of the bowl.

Thoroughly stir in the vegetable oil. Stir well, but try not to make any bubbles in the chocolate. You want it to be as smooth as possible so your dipped strawberries look perfect.
Cool the chocolate to room temperature, stirring frequently. Right before you are ready to dip the strawberries, rinse them off in cold water and dry them gently but thoroughly. Make sure the berries are dry before dipping.

Holding a strawberry by its green top and dip the strawberry in the chocolate so only a little of the red is showing. Swirl the strawberry in the chocolate to make sure it is well coated. You might have to use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the berries when you start to run low on chocolate.

Lift the berry up and let some of the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Set the dipped strawberry on its side on the paper-lined cookie sheet. Continue dipping until you either run out of strawberries or chocolate. This recipe will probably make about 30 dipped strawberries, depending on the size, so you will have plenty.

Once all the berries are dipped, put the tray in the refrigerator until you are ready for dessert.

Serve with champagne, or for a nice and unexpected change of pace, try a rich ruby port or maybe Rosa Regale, a light pink Italian sparkling wine produced by Banfi. Rosa Regale tastes of red berries and roses and pairs remarkably well with dark chocolate.

Romantic Cheese Course

Lobster Bisque Recipe

How to Make A Great Salad For Valentine’s Day

Pork Medallions with Apricot Glaze Recipe

Steak with Wild Mushroom Sauce

Fish en Papillote or Fish in Parchment Paper

Chocolate Souffle

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

My Squidoo - A Reluctant Valentine’s Day Dinner

Danish Pancakes - Ebelskiver (Aebleskiver)

I have been telling my kids for years about my mom making Ebelskiver (Danish round pancakes) when I was growing up. I remember visiting my grandmother (mormor) in Denmark as a kid and having Ebelskiver in Tivoli Gardens. So when I opened one of my Christmas gifts this year and found an Ebelskiver pan, I instantly went back to my childhood and couldn’t wait to have my kids experience these delightful round pancakes filled with jam and fresh fruit.

My wife whipped up the following recipe that came with the pan and they were delicious. The recipe is for making 40 round pancakes and we decided to cut the recipe in half but what a mistake. They went so fast we regretted not making the whole batch.

The Ebelskiver Pan

The pan from Williams Sonoma is made of heavy cast-aluminum, has a stay cool cast stainless steel handle and seven deep wells for the pancake batter. The Nordic Ware company started making Ebelskiver Pans back in 1950. This family owned business from Minnesota joined up with Williams-Sonoma to make this updated version with a nonstick coating to help release the pancakes from the pan.

I read on the Solvang Restaurant web site (see below) a little history of the pan. They say the Aebleskiver pan comes from the Viking days when after a long day of battle, the warriors were hungry and would go back to their viking ships and make a type of pancake using their shields in lieu of pans. I’m guessing the design of the shields included wells for the batter. This may just be a good story but I like it.

Danish Pancakes In Solvang, CA

I just happen to be in Solvang, California, a small Central Coast community in the San Ynez Valley that was originally founded by a group of Danish educators back in 1911. The town’s architecture has been modeled in a Danish style and you can find restaurants, bakeries and stores selling Scandinavian goods although I was told by one local that there aren’t many Danes left in town.

One morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Solvang Restaurant - home of Arne’s famous “Aebleskiver” on Copenhagen Drive. The restaurant was bright and decorated for Christmas and the servers were friendly. We could tell the locals were in there early like we were because when the tourists arrived in town around 10 am, you couldn’t get near the place.

We all ordered three of Arne’s Aebleskiver served with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. I was thinking they wouldn’t be enough after watching my kids devour 20 Ebelskivers at home on Christmas morning but these were much bigger and in my opinion a little too “doughy”. My wife’s Ebelskiver following the recipe below were much better. They were moister and had a richer flavor perhaps because of the fillings but maybe from the higher egg to flour ratio.

If there are any Danes out there reading this blog, please post your recipe for homemade Ebelskiver in the comments below.

Danish Filled Pancakes

adapted from the recipe that came with the Williams Sonoma pan

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 eggs, separated (yolks and whites)
• 2 cuups milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for cooking
• Fillings for the pancakes - jams, fresh fruit, chocolate

How to Make Danish Ebleskiver (Aebleskiver)

In a bowl big enough to hold all the above ingredients with room to whisk, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the milk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Add this mixture into the flour mixture until blended together. Don’t worry if the batter looks lumpy.

Using a hand held electric mixer, beat the egg whites on the highest speed until they become stiff but you do not want dry peaks to form. This should take about 3 minutes. Then fold the egg whites back into the flour mixture.

Getting the Pan Ready for cooking

Put the pan over medium heat, add 1/4 teaspoon of butter to each well in the pan and heat until the butter begines to bubble. Add 1 tablespoon of batter to each well of the pan, then 1 teaspoon of filling and top with 1 tablespoon more of batter.

You cook untle the bottoms of the round pancakes are golden brown and a little crispy. This should take about 4 minutes. Using a coupe of wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until the other side is golden brown.

Remove the 7 ebelskiver and repeat with the remaining batter until all the batter is cooked. Serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

If you don’t want to add filling, that’s fine. Just serve them with jam or syrup on the side.

Pumpkin Pie - Three Ways

The Thanksgiving “to do” list is often so long we might feel as if, for one day at least, we are working in a professional kitchen. For most people, the Thanksgiving centerpiece around which everything revolves is the turkey. For many people, though, the crowning glory to a bountiful Thanksgiving feast is the pumpkin pie.

(Be sure to check out my Thanksgiving Survival page with tips and techniques for cooking Thanksgiving dinner.)

Since time is at a premium on Thanksgiving, here are three levels of pumpkin pie you can serve this holiday:

1. I Need To Make This Quick Pumpkin Pie
2. Who Needs To Make A Crust - Give Me Some Filling Pumpkin Pie
3. I’ll Make It From Scratch Pumpkin Pie

“I Need To Make This Quick” Pumpkin Pie
Dress up a store bought pie: whip some cream or crème fraiche with brown sugar or maple syrup, a pinch of salt and a little pumpkin pie spice; buy some candied pecans (or make your own, but we’re trying to save time, here), chop them and sprinkle them over the pie. Gently warm some store bought egg nog and glaze your plates with it. It’ll be like serving a nutmeg-spiced crème Anglaise with your pie.

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