His official website is here.
There is something simply down to earth and charming about the way he cooks, and how excited he gets about the ingredients and the simple, basic techniques to cooking and baking on a budget. He makes even inexpensive, $10 per person meals look like a fancy feast. Maybe it's not something that Martha Stewart would create, but as a young adult, it's something I could do for my friends, and perhaps that's part of the allure of him. (Plus he's not bad to look at either!)
This afternoon, I watched an episode of his show called "Late Night Chocolate Party." Chocolate plus a cute chef preparing it -- what more can a girl ask for on a Saturday afternoon?!
Show description: After the movies, the concert or the comedy club, Dave’s late night chocolate party provides the right pick me up when you just don’t want the evening to end. Chocolate sweets and drinks for the late night crowd.
Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread
Yield: About 1 dozen
1 cup husked hazelnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolatePreheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place hazelnuts on baking sheet. Bake until they're a shade darker and fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Lower oven to 325 degrees F.
Place hazelnuts in blender or food processor and pulse to coarse bits; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt to blend; set aside.
Beat butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Beat in egg. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the chopped hazelnuts and mix until distributed evenly throughout.
Form into long cookies and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake until firm, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on racks.
In a saucepan over lowest heat or in a double boiler, melt chocolate. Dip 1 end of cooled cookies into melted chocolate. Place back on cookie sheet to harden.
Cranberry Almond Chocolate Bars with Tangerine Zest
Yield: About 12 servings
(This is actually the picture from the episode, not just some random picture.)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 cups chocolate morsels, (about 1 1/2 (12-ounce) bags)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tangerine, zested Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil.
Lay out almond slivers on baking sheet. Bake in oven until light brown, shaking the baking pan occasionally to mix them around, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Melt the chocolate morsels in a double boiler over low heat. Mix in the cranberries, almond slivers and tangerine zest.
Pour into prepared pan. Smooth the chocolate mixture out into an even layer. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until hard, at least 1 hour. Use a knife to break up chocolate into jagged, varied sized bars.
Yield: About 16 brownies
Rich, decadent, moist and chewy with chunks of candy bars melted in, you couldn't ask a brownie for more. One of the best parts about them is that you can do them in one bowl, so cleanup's a breeze. The one thing you have to remember is to put the candy bars in the fridge before you got to chop them up or you'll get mush instead of chunks.
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, melted, plus a little more for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
10 mini chocolate-peanut candy bars, crumbled (about 1 1/2 cups), refrigerator cold (recommended: Snickers "fun size")Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9 by 13-inch cake pan (aluminum is fine) with butter. Beat the 1 1/2 sticks butter and the sugar together in a large bowl until blended. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then stir in water and vanilla. Sprinkle the salt and baking powder over the mixture, then mix in. Do the same with the cocoa. Finally, stir in the flour until just blended.
Put the candy bars in a food processor or blender and pulse on low speed until all the bars have been reduced to a coarse crumble. Fold the crumble into the batter thoroughly. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the center is set, the edges look a bit crusty, and the top of the brownies start to crack a little. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Spicy Cocoa Cream and Strawberries Transfer to a bowl and serve with strawberries for dipping.
Yield: About 6 servings
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Small pinch cayenne pepper
2 pints strawberries, rinsedUsing a hand-held electric mixer, whip the cream until frothy. While whipping at low speed, gently sprinkle in the sugar, cocoa powder, and cayenne until well combined.
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