While watching the news this morning, a Chef from Purdy’s was making these little bites for Christmas gatherings. It looked so good I thought I would share it with you.
- 1 baguette, sliced on an angle and lightly toasted, both sides
- 200 g of Brie at room temperature, skin removed
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup olive oil, infused with fresh basil (let sit over night)
- 70% dark chocolate, chopped fine
Mix together the Brie Cheese with a tablespoon room temperataure butter until well combined.
Brush the crostini with the infused basil olive oil and pile a generous spoon of the cheese on top.
Sprinkle the top of the cheese with chocolate and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for until the chocolate has melted and the brie is starting to ooze (love that word) on the toast.
Upon removing from the oven, a tiny sprinkling of kosher salt on top of the chocolate will elevate this to gourmet.
Serve this with a glass of wine, Christmas music in the background and a roomful of friends. Isn’t that what it is all about?
Enjoy!
Salted Chocolate Cookie
This is a perfect addition to the salted maple dessert I put on a few days ago. It is intense chocolate flavour with a kick of the salt. This combination actually cuts some of the “sweet” of the dessert. ‘Tis true.
- 1 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup icing sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 8 oz. of very dark Belgian chocolate, coarsely chopped
- kosher salt for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and shift your racks so you can rotate the trays during the baking process. I am using a convection oven.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, and add the salt. Set aside.
In an electric mixer beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add the egg yolks and egg one at a time, mixing well and add the vanilla. Beat this until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the dry ingredients to just blended. With a spatula, fold in the chocolate pieces.
On parchment lined cookie sheets, drop teaspoon size balls about 1 inch apart. Bake for 6 minutes and, as you rotate the pans to continue baking, sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on top and return to oven. Do this quickly so not to harm the baking process. Bake for another 6 minutes. The cookies will firm up as they cool. Let them cool just a moment on the cookie sheets and transfer to wire racks until completely cool.
These are the yummiest and stay crispy on the edges and softer in the center. These are a perfect size to accompany any dessert you have. Store these airtight at room temperature up to a week. (If they last that long, you did something wrong).