Oh Gosh, it's Ganache

 Ganache is actually surprisingly easy to make. It can be a little time consuming (depending on what you deem as "time consuming,") but it's totally worth it since it's such a versatile baking tool. Basically, ganache is a mixture of chocolate and cream but its texture can change depending on the ratio of chocolate to cream that you use. A firmer ganache can be used as truffles and rolled in nuts, cocoa powder, powdered sugar... you name it. A softer ganache can be used as more of an icing to top cakes, ice cream, etc etc. At the pastry shop I work at we use a ganache that's sort of "in the middle." We use it as tart filling with raspberries, cake icing/filling, piping and a number of other things.

Now, a "good" ganache can be expensive to produce and use but luckily it keeps in the fridge pretty well and you can adjust portions to your own desired amount. It could just be a good excuse to give sweets to your friends or even people you just sort of like (if you're feeling really friendly that day.)

*And as a note: the higher the fat content on the chocolate you use the better the ganache is going to turn out so really try and crank up that sucker's fatty fat fat.

Now let's get started! What you'll need:

• 1/2 lb Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate
• 5 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 oz. Room Temperature Salted Butter
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp Curacao or Triple Sec
• Small Pot w/Lid
• Whisk

So, Start out with half a pound (or 8 oz.) of the chocolate you've chosen.

 Chop up the chocolate as finely as you can (don't go crazy overboard or anything, but you don't want thicker pieces that will be tricky to melt.) Be careful while doing this because the oils from the chocolate can cause the knife to slip fairly easily.

 Feel free to leave the chocolate on your cutting board, I just prefer to have something a little easier to handle, but either way cut your butter into pieces and throw it in with the chocolate because when it's time you'll be tossing both into your pot quickly and at the same time. But for now you can leave these to the side.

Now we are going to focus on the cream. You're going to want to stay on top of this because it's pretty much the only place you can go wrong. Pour your cream into your pot and set your burner's temp between med and high. You want the cream to start to boil and bubble. It'll form a skin which is okay because you aren't going to touch it, you're just going to watch it. Once the cream has begun to bubble (see pic to the right) you're going to throw in both your chocolate and your butter, take it off the heat, throw on the lid (make sure it's secure) and swish the contents together a few times so it's a little blended then just leave it there and don't touch it for about 15 to 25 minutes.

After you've let it sit long enough for the contents to melt together you can go back and take off the lid. It's going to look really "watery" and odd so don't let this appearance make you think you've messed up. Take a whisk and just stir the contents as long as it takes for the chocolate, butter and cream to all blend together. Now you can let it sit and cool for a little while longer because the next step will require the ganache to be hot enough to work with but cool enough to add more ingredients.

So, you've whisked it and let it sit. Now you can add a Tablespoon of Vanilla extract and a Tablespoon of Triple Sec for added flavor. If the ganache is really hot the alcohol on both of these will simply evaporate so you'll be canceling out the flavor you're trying to add. (If you want: start out with 1/2 Tablespoon for both and then flavor to your own taste depending on how sweet you want it.)

Experiment with your flavor additions as much as you want. I added a little almond extract to mine but you could pretty much add anything you want: candied orange peel, mint, toasted almond slices, caramel... it ends with your imagination.