Chocolate porn. Don't be alarmed. Chow Creations is not yet another food blog to resolve to indecency to increase traffic. We simply listen to our viewers and the viewers say more porn, food porn that is. This week, after being away for quite awhile, I return with a mexican chocolate pound cake. Rich and dense however at the same time somehow fluffy and definitely chocolatey. This cake can certainly be the subject of many ahhh's and ohhh's of the next family gathering or church potluck.
Despite it's lack of "mexican" chocolate, we make up for it with a heaping dose of cinnamon and many other tasty flavors including coconut, buttermilk, and "american" chocolate. Well I'm not sure if any chocolate is american seeing that they all come from Brazil or Columbia or some place of that nature, but it's certainly a chocolate which has an american stamp of approval seeing that it's fortified with tons of sugar and milk. Plus I'm using chocolate that's in "chip" form and you know americans love their chips.
Lemon Bars are one of those classic desserts you can find in about any of the supermarkets these days. What's different about my lemon bars is they actually taste good. I know, surprising (not the part about my lemon bars tasting good, the part about lemon bars tasting good at all). Sweet without being cloyingly so, buttery without being too rich, and certainly not dense. If I were to use one word to describe these lemon bars it would be, perfect. The dilemma chefs have always had when making lemon bars, was getting a firm enough top, without sacrificing a crispy bottom. With this recipe you won't have to give up any of that. This is the perfect summer dessert, gift, or picnic item for your next special occasion (or just for everyday eating). It's absolute perfection in a bar, so let's get started (before I go off on one of my tangents). By the way, did I tell you that I finally got a twitter account. @chefchowblog #awesome #madcookingskills #i'mnotmadatyou #i'msorry #don'tcry #nowyou'remakingmecry. Why didn't you stop me!
Like many of our recipes we'll start with the butter. You want to cut the butter into small chunks and put it on a plate in the freezer to harden. Whenever you're baking, often times the temperature of your butter will dictate the success of whatever you're making. Recipes that call for melted butter (i.e. cookies) are intended to have a chewy outcome. Desserts that require the butter to be cold (i.e. pies, pastries) mean the end product will one of these three, crispy, crunchy, or flaky (it could even be all three, oh my). The more you chow.
