Killer Chocolate Torte

[mugwump]

I recently sent this recipe to my son and thought I'd share. It will pull a 16 year-old girl out of a full-blown pre-menstual funk and thaw a silent, cold-shouldered wife (you know the drill). It's that powerful.

I strongly recommend that you make this when the little lady is out. It loses some of its ju-ju if the target female sees how easy it is to make.

==Ingredients:

3 tablespoons light Karo syrup

5 tablespoons rum (I use dark Myers)

1 pound bittersweet chocolate (don't skimp here, use the absolute best you can find. I use 70% Cacao bittersweet Scharffen Berger)

1 pint heavy cream at room temperature

1/2 cup regular sugar

3 ounces Amaretti cookies (OK, these can be a tough thing to find. The best are Amaretti di Saronno Cookies made by Lazzaroni. They can be found in specialty food stores and here in the Chicago area Dominic's often has them. They are a bone dry Amaretto-flavored cookie often served with espresso in chi-chi coffee houses. Don't despair, you can substitute any Amaretto-flavored cookie. Push comes to shove, sprinkle some Amaretto over crushed graham crackers or just leave them off entirely.)

Cocoa pwder for dusting the top when it's ready to serve

==You will need a 9 inch cake pan lined with a circle of parchment paper/silicone paper. Lightly brush the base and sides with peanut oil.

==Directions

Jeff, pay attention to the "no water in the chocolate" warning -- it's the only way to screw up.

Cut a circle of parchment paper the size of your pan. Put it in the bottom and brush the paper and sides of the pa w/ peanut oil.

Put the amaretto cookies into doubled ziploc bags and smack two or three times with the bottom of a pan. You are trying to crush them, not pulverize them into a powder. A few remaining bigger chunks are fine. Sprinkle them evenly into the oiled cake pan with the parchment paper. If you couldn't find the cookies, no worries.

Next you are going to melt the chocolate. Get a regular old saucepan, about the size you'd use to heat soup. Find a metal or glass bowl that you can set over the pan without falling in. The bowl can be quite a bit bigger than the pan. Put about a half inch of water in the pot and heat it until it barely simmers. No roiling boil please. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and put it into the glass or metal pan and place the pan over the simmering water. Add the Karo syrup and the rum. Stir constantly as it melts. DO NOT GET EVEN A DROP OF WATER IN THE CHOCOLATE OR IT WILL SEIZE UP. After it melts set aside until about body temp.

In a separate bowl add the sugar to the cream and whip it with a hand mixer until it is slightly thickened. You are not making whipped cream, just slightly thickening it. It should still be runny and not something you'd put on pumpkin pie.

Add the cream to the chocolate mixture and fold them together. Folding: get a rubber spatula and stick it into the middle of the bowl, scrape it along the bottom of the bowl toward the edge, and fold the mixture back towards the middle. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat. Don't stir. This will take a minute or so.

When it's all mixed up pour it into the pan. If you were a bit aggressive whipping the cream it might have to be spooned into the pan and packed down (it will still be good but don't whip the cream so much next time).

Cover w/ plastic and put it in the refrigerator overnight. To serve, run a knife around the rim of the pan and turn it out onto a plate. Look for a nice one, women notice details. Dust the top lightly w/ cocoa powder.

I usually serve this w/ rasberry sauce: thaw frozen rasberries in a pan over heat, add sugar to taste, simmer briely in a pan and save the liquid after putting it through a sieve. Pour it around a slice. If you are really in trouble you can put 2 mint leaves on top.

DO NOT leave the dishes in the sink -- you slob -- and DBAFWYT.

[Warrior-Mentor]

Sounds delish.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by mugwump

...a 16 year-old girl [in] a full-blown pre-menstual funk...silent, cold-shouldered wife...

==Ingredients:

5 tablespoons run

Yup, I think that about sums it up.

[Warrior-Mentor]

Originally Posted by Razor

5 tablespoons run.

Gross!

[lksteve]

this post is worthless without samples...

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

Gross!

Not THE runs, ya scatacologic obsessive; run, the verb, as in away.

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by Razor

Not THE runs, ya scatacologic obsessive; run, the verb, as in away.

LOL, the major must be thinking about the brownies from The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy.

Looks good mugwump, thank you.

[mugwump]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mugwump
...a 16 year-old girl [in] a full-blown pre-menstual funk...silent, cold-shouldered wife...

==Ingredients:

5 tablespoons run

Originally Posted by Razor

Yup, I think that about sums it up.

LOL you are absolutely right.