Chocolate Chipped

Sheer Elegance: Profiteroles With Coffee Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Profiteroles With Coffee Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce by thebittenword.com

Profiteroles are basically cream puffs (as you can see here), but whenever I think of cream puffs I imagine sort of a vanilla cream sandwiched between the pastry part.

These cream puffs, however, take things up a few dozen notches by having coffee ice cream in the middle, and then of course the chocolate sauce drizzled on top.

If you really want to wow your friends and family, then make these for dessert--no one will believe that you actually made French pastries!

Grab the recipe! Profiteroles With Coffee Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Daringly Delicious: Chocolate Eclairs with Earl Grey Cream

Photo Chocolate Eclairs with Earl Grey Cream by Polkaroo

My hat is off to Isabelle, who took on the challenge of making eclairs from scratch!

I would never be brave enough to do that--one time in 9th grade I tried to make petit fours from scratch and the experience has scarred me for life!

But this photo just goes to show that is is possible to make homemade eclairs.

And these are not just any eclairs--the filling is an Earl Grey Cream, which sounds so fancy!

I can't even imagine what that would taste like, since I'm not much of a tea drinker, but it sounds tempting!

Grab the recipe! Chocolate Eclairs with Earl Grey Cream

So Many Possibilities! Chocolate Banana Pot Stickers

Potstickers Step 10 by meeyauw

You've had pot stickers at your favorite Chinese restaurant, right?

Usually they have some sort of savory concoction in there, and there's a dipping sauce that goes along with it (soooo yummy!)

Well, these are pot stickers of the desert variety, because instead of containing savory ingredients like veggies and stuff, they are filled with bananas and chocolate!

Basically, these are wantons, filled with bananas and melted chocolate chips, which are then fried and drizzled with chocolate (how can that be wrong?)

Needless to say, if you don't like the banana chocolate combo, you could do strawberries and chocolate or peanut butter and chocolate or make it a rocky road thing with marshmallows and chocolate.

OR use Nutella!!!!!!

So many possibilities!

Grab the photo recipe! Chocolate Banana Pot Stickers

Simply Decadent: Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tartlet with Raspberries

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tartlet with Raspberries by jen_m_stewart

[Sigh] And did you see that the filling is chocolate truffle????

Oh, I'd love this little tart as an afternoon snack (now that would be a treat!) or it would probably be more "appropriate" to serve to guests at sweet little dinner party.

They would swoon!

This baker/photographer, Jen, says this tart is uber rich, but from looking at the recipe it looks like it wouldn't take very long to whip up. Only 2 ingredients in the truffle filling part!

I'm adding this to my "must make for party" recipe list.

Grab the recipe! Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tartlet with Raspberries

French Kiss: Profiteroles with Chocolate and Ginger Pastry Cream

Profiteroles originally uploaded by fruitcakey

Oh, I have a soft spot for French pastries, and these look divine!

I remember in high school French class we had to make stuff like this and bring it in for everyone in the class to taste--those were the most memorable and fun school days of my life!

I cannot claim that my high school profiteroles turned out even half as scrumptious looking as these in the photo taken by Lisa, but seeing her success with this recipe makes me want to try it too!

Grab the recipe! Profiteroles with Chocolate and Ginger Pastry Cream

Performing Chocolate Brain Surgery: Chocolate Mousse Napoleon

Chocolate Mousse Napoleon, originally uploaded by Fenchurch!

Alright, people. We have our work cut out for us today.

This photo is actually of a dessert offered at a restaurant, and what do you know--there is not an official recipe available for this particular masterpiece of an ice cream / mousse / chocolate sauce tower.

But look at it--it seems pretty easy to break apart. This is how I see it:

Layer #1 (starting at plate level): Chocolate Sauce
Layer #2: Is that baked Phyllo Dough? (you know, the stuff they make Baklava with) Or maybe it's puff pastry.
Layer #3: Strawberry ice cream (2 scoops side by side)
Layer #4: Phyllo Dough (I'm calling it baked Phyllo Dough--what do you think it is?)
Layer #5: More chocolate sauce
Layer #6: One scoop of white chocolate mousse nestled next to one scoop of dark chocolate mousse
Layer #7: More Phyllo Dough
Layer #8: Chocolate Sauce
Layer #9: Fresh Raspberries

Whew! This is the sort of dessert you just stand back and gape at when it's delivered to someone's table, then you strategically plan to "leave room" for dessert (or perhaps skip the meal altogether and go right for the Napolean!)

Let's break it down--I'm sure we can make this at home:

Chocolate Sauce--David Lebovitz has a killer chocolate sauce recipe. (Or of course they sell that stuff ready made at the store--shhhh, I won't tell!)

If it is phyllo dough or puff pastry, you can buy that at the store too. There are instructions on the box for cooking the dough so it comes out flaky but here are some extra tips that may be helpful for the phyllo dough.

Strawberry ice cream--Don't try to be a hero. Just buy it at the store.

Chocolate mouse--this looks like a very tasty and easy chocolate mousse recipe.

White Chocolate Mousse-- Oh this  white chocolate mousse recipe looks yummy (and so simple)!

Whew! That was an intense dissection of this drool worthy dessert--will anyone attempt this baby?

A Delish Twist: Chocolate Hanukkah Doughnuts With Chocolate Filling

Happy Holidays, originally uploaded by gkamin.

Wow–these are gorgeous! I’ve never had traditional Hanukkah doughnuts (which these aren’t), but the baker says that they’re usually filled with jam and are not usually chocolate.

So, what she did was make the dough chocolate and instead of putting jam in the middle she snuck in a piece of high quality chocolate. Yummm! The jam filled ones sound delish, but you cannot beat chocolate stuffed inside of chocolate!

Grab the recipe here: Chocolate Hanukkah Doughnuts With Chocolate Filling

 

Sophisticated Flapjacks: Autumn Squash Pancakes With Chocolate Chips

Autumn squash pancakes with chocolate chips and sugar, originally uploaded by esther.brownie.

The baker / photographer of this pancake masterpiece is Esther Brownie (oh, how I envy that name!) at the blog Consubstantial Paneity, and didn’t she do an outstanding job with her first foray into food porn? (audience nods in agreement).

She’s an absolute natural, cuz the second I saw this photo I immediately went “Ahhhh–for the love of Autumn!”

I have had pumpkin pancakes, but I can’t say that I’ve ever had squash pancakes though. Of course her recipe calls for winter squash (ya know–butternut, acorn and all that) roasted no less. So, it’s not your everyday pancake–these guys are special occasion flapjacks!

By all means, include the chocolate chips in the batter–it can’t get any better than that.

Grab the recipe! Autumn Squash Pancakes With Chocolate Chips