Scharffen Berger Seduction with The Essence of Chocolate

Chocolate afficionados will be overjoyed to receive the Scharffen Berger cookbook The Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate as a stocking stuffer this holiday season. Written by co-founders Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger, this invaluable kitchen resource features 100+ recipes from some of the nation's top pastry chefs (Alice Medrich, Thomas Keller, Emily Luchetti).

Combining a crash course in the cacao bean's origin with an anecdote of the company's history, this amazing book is filled with decadent recipes and baking tips. Some highlights to watch for are the White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache, Cocoa Cabanas (tasty recipe by Flo Braker - yes, I'm a big fan of hers and I loved this) and Chocolate Chinchilla.

There are some neat savory dishes to try, such as the Chicken Mole, Tortilla Soup and John's Cocoa Rub. The 6 oz. Home Baking Bars (62% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate, 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate and 99% Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate) would be perfect to use in any of these recipes.

Fudgy Brownies

Robert developed this recipe, but when the brownies came back from our test kitchen, they didn't have their usual glossy, crackled top and fudgy texture. The cookbook crew asked Robert to make the brownies while they watched. We realized that an electric mixer doesn't work for this recipe. The batter needs to be beaten by hand until it pulls from the sides of the bowl. There's something homey and satisfying about stirring this thick, glossy batter yourself.

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for buttering the baking dish
8 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted walnut halves

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 325 F degrees.

Cut a piece of parchment with handles for an 8 by 8 by 2-inch pan. Butter the pan and line the bottom and two sides with the parchment, and butter the top side of the parchment up to the rim of the baking dish.

Place the chocolate and the cubed butter in a large bowl over a pot of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

With a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, beat the sugar and the salt into the chocolate mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour and mix vigorously until the mixture is very glossy and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

With your fingers, break the nuts into large pieces over the batter and fold in.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tap the bottom on the counter top to even out the batter. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out moist, but free of uncooked batter.

Remove from the oven. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the brownies from the pan using the parchment handles and cool completely on the rack before cutting.

Makes sixteen 2-inch brownies.

(Photo credit: Deborah Jones)