Ingredients
3/4 cup packed, high quality dutch-
1 process cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup hot water
3/4 cup high-quality unsalted butter
1 at room temperature
1/2 each to 1 tsp. vanilla extract or
1 to taste
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 cup toasted and coarsely chopped
1 walnuts or toasted, skinned
1 and coarsely chopped hazel-
1 nuts (optional)
Directions
Combine the cocoa, sugar and salt in the top pan of a double boiler
(or use a heatproof bowl that can be placed over a saucepan,
containing simmering water). Stir the mixture with a whisk until it
is thoroughly mixed, then mix in the hot water thoroughly. Set the
pan over simmering water and stir the contents until the sugar has
completely dissolved and the mixture is hot, about 3 minutes. Remove
the top from the base and set it aside; cool the contents to lukewarm.
Cream the butter together with the vanilla and the almond extracts in
the small bowl of an electric mixer, or use a food processor to beat
the butter with the flavorings just until it is light. With the motor
of the machine running, gradually add the lukewarm chocolate mixture,
continuing to beat just until everything is well combined. Let the
chocolate butter cool completely, stirring or whisking it
occasionally to lighten its texture. Add the nuts, if you're making
the nutted version; then scrape the chocolate butter into a clean,
dry storage jar, cover it tightly and refrigerate it. Makes about 2
1/2 cups with nuts or 1
3/4 cups without nuts.
Note: This wonderful recipe was copied from The Old Farmer's Almanac
Good Cook's Companion magazine referring to the recipes creator,
Helen Witty's recipe from her book "A Little of What You Fancy
(Workman, 1997). She describes chocolate butter as "a luxurious
spread/sauce/confection that keeps up to six weeks in the
refrigerator unless you devour it first; warmed as a sauce, spread as
a cake or cookie filling, or rolled into instant truffles". How
could anyone pass up this recipe? Converted to Meal-Master by Kountry
Cook (Vicki Phillips)
Come visit my recipe collection webpage: The Kountry Kitchen -
Cookin' With Kountry Cook (Vicki Phillips)
http://www.nmol.com/kountry/index.htm
Servings: 1 servings
Chocolate Butter~ Nutted Or Not Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chocolate; Dessert
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to follow the history of recipes far back into antiquity, in truth as far back into history as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and maybe even further. Interesting though that is, these, old recipes were just very simple hieroglyphic recipes for food preparation.
In fact, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are a few clay tablets in Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel `blissful`. Progressing into The time of the roman empire 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote some scripts which described recipes enjoyed by the Romans. In his works, Apicius recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into hors d`oeuvres, main meal and dessert, a very modern way of dining. Additionally, he recounts how the early Romans used many different aromatic flavours, including many that are still in use today such as bay, mint and asafoetida. For the centuries that followed, the powerful and wealthy houses tried to serve up the most extravagent banquests, and as a consequence, chefs and their collection of recipes were highly sought after. However, it wasn`t until the 19th century that haute cuisine and recipe books reached a high level of popularity. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated their lives to collating, trying out, and recording recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. The introduction of the TV gave us celebrity chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the internet revolution, permitting everybody to search through thousands of recipes like those on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Butter~ Nutted Or Not recipe.
