chocolate ganache

The method that I use is extremely simple but also very effective, so give it a try. You'll want to have:

cream (whipping cream, heavy cream, double cream, whatever you know it as)

chocolate (the better the quality the better the flavor, but even Meiji bars work in a pinch)

*liqueur (optional but amazing as always)

So 2 or 3 ingredients. Can’t be too hard, right? Break your chocolate up into smallish pieces and leave them in a bowl (preferably metal). Pour over your liqueur if you’re using it. You could also use coffee. Heat the cream in a saucepan (low or medium heat, please) stirring so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom and die – if you have a nice thick bottomed pan this probably won’t happen though. When bubbles start, well, bubbling, around the outside edge, you’re almost ready. Give it a bit longer, so that it’s just started boiling, and pour it over the chocolate. Now, leave it be! Just for a minute or so, then you can stir it up. Use a spoon and stir until it goes from ugly duckling to molten chocomagic. If the cream wasn’t hot enough, and the chocolate doesn’t melt all the way, you have to do one of those annoying bain marie things where you put a metal bowl on top of a saucepot with hot water to cook it with steam heat. So, what I'm saying is, just make the cream hot enough the first time around.

Wait, how much cream and how much chocolate, you ask? Ganache is used for many things, from truffle cores to cake icings, so it’s not set in stone. I think an icing ganache is pretty nice when the cream is just enough to cover the chocolate pieces. A runnier ganache can be made with more cream, or a truffle ganache with less. Just try it out. Get a feel for it. I would say as a rule of thumb that it doesn’t take as much cream as I usually think it will.

For the liqueur, you only need enough so that the flavor comes through a bit. I use around a shot. Anything will work, including classics like Grand Marnier, or something fruity like Chambord, or nutty like amaretto. Split your chocolate up and try a sampling of different flavors for an elegant wine tasting time!