Midnight Delight....For Two

(Sigh) “Well, I think that was the last of them.”

He looked at her and thought, she goes through this every year. Every Halloween she gets excited upon seeing the little ones all dressed up and Trick or Treating and then it’s over. It makes her sad to wait 12 months before she can open the door to the children again…a reminder that she can never have any of her own.

“Marie, you look so heartbroken every year when Halloween is at an end.”

“I know, it’s just that I won’t be seeing the children for a full year.”

“Yes,” he said with a smile,” that is true. However, you have been giving the little ones treats for almost two centuries now, and you’ll see the princesses, witches and devils for hundreds of years to come.”

“Of course, you’re right,” said Marie. “You always know what to say to brighten my dark moods. It’s barely midnight, what shall we do?”

“Let’s have our own little celebration, what do you think?” he replied.

“Did you have something special in mind?” He’d aroused her curiosity.

“I have a surprise for you.”

He led her into the dining area where he had candles lit, a bottle of wine on ice and a scrumptious dessert for her.

“Chocolate? My Beloved, you said chocolate would be the death of me!”

“I promise, every year so that you might remain happy on Halloween, I will have a special chocolate dessert waiting for you.”

“And then I will have something special for you, my love,” Marie said with a glint in her eye.

A short (VERY short) little story for you by Teresa & Bob. Happy Halloween everyone.)

Midnight Delight, A Chocolate Dessert for Two

Mexican Chocolate Brownies
½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ round disc Mexican chocolate, pulverized
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

For brownies:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°. Generously butter 8X8X2 inch metal baking pan; dust with flour. Mix first three ingredients in small bowl. Stir chocolates and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Turn off heat. Let chocolate stand over water.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until mixture thickens and falls in soft ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in 2 additions, blending well after each. Gradually add warm chocolate to egg mixture, beating until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake brownies until top is set and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.
Once cooled, top with a layer of Mexican Chocolate Mousse.

Mexican Chocolate Mousse

4 ounces (about 1 ½ disks) Mexican Chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup milk
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 carton (8 ounces) whipped topping, like Cool Whip

In a saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate in milk. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until well combined. Stir in chocolate mixture. Fold in whipped topping.
Spoon mixture over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours. Using a round cookie cutter (or like in my case, I used a cocktail shaker), cut rounds of the brownie and mousse dessert.

Set on small round plates and top off with Flavored Whipped Cream.
Decorate if desired.

Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon Chocolate Vodka

Combine whipping cream and vodka in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fill a pastry bag with the whipped cream and top off your Midnight Delights with a swirling of the topping. Optional, add raspberries of chocolate shards or curls.

Wine: Vampire Wine

Chocolate Shards: Midnight Reverie by Ghirardelli







Marie, Mistress of the Night: Lily

Her Beloved: Brian, Lily’s BF






******************************
Quote:
"Stress wouldn't be so hard to take if it were covered in chocolate."
-Anonymous

Brownie Sundae

Remember this picture? I posted it a couple of days ago. Having gained 2 pounds over the last week, I figured I should stay away from my chocolate for a while. 2 days should be long enough, right? I was dying to get into this Ghirardelli Intense chocolate bar. It’s called Twilight. I knew without a doubt that it was fate that I found it right after buying my first Stephenie Meyer book, Twilight. I’m sure most of you have heard of her vampire series. And as for moi (me), I'm ahuge vampire fan. I was really bummed when Anne Rice decided to stop her Vampire Chronicles. But hey, October is right around the corner and it’s my time of year. I needed to get back into my element.

Back to the chocolate. My daughter had purchased a box of those new M & M’s for me, The M & M Premiums. Triple Chocolate: layers of milk, white and dark chocolate all rolled up into one. Should I combine these two or keep them separate? Keep them separate I think. I already know what I want to do with the M & M’s. So, what to do with the Ghirardelli’s? This is going to be a simple dinner night for Bob and me. Lily’s got the night shift at Andre’s Pizzeria where she works and it’s too muggy to be standing by the stove for too long. Simple steak sandwiches and home-style hash browns will do the trick. I’ll just make Bob a nice dessert to go with it. My Mexican Chocolate Brownies topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with a ganache made with the Twilight chocolate. Perfect. Maybe he’ll even clean the kitchen for me …NOT.

Enjoy the brownies and look for the new and interesting in chocolate. It’s coming up to that time of the year where you want to fill those stockings with cool and crazy chocolate bits to satisfy everyone’s chocolate dreams.

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ round disc Mexican chocolate, pulverized
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
4 large eggs1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

For brownies: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°. Generously butter 8X8X2 inch metal baking pan; dust with flour. Mix first three ingredients in small bowl. Stir chocolates and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Turn off heat. Let chocolate stand over water.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until mixture thickens and falls in soft ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in 2 additions, blending well after each. Gradually add warm chocolate to egg mixture, beating until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake brownies until top is set and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.

I used a round cutter for the brownies. They look fancier that way. Top with vanilla ice cream and drizzle with some ganache made with the Twilight chocolate bar.

Ganache: chopped chocolate bar, ¼ cup hot cream. Stir until melted and drizzle.
Enjoy.