If you walk into a fantastic chocolatier likeJacques Geninin Paris and ask for a truffle, they’ll point you to one particular type of sweet rolled in cocoa powder. But maybe you wanted the square ones with Szechuan peppercorn and the rectangular ones with bergamot instead? That’s when it pays off to know: What is the difference between a truffle and a bonbon?
In the U.S., we pretty much call every bite-size confection a truffle. But the proper name for most of these sweet treats is “bonbon.” The word translates to “candy” in French, but it’s come to mean any type of confection filled with ganache, praliné, salted caramel, nougat—the list goes on. Most tend to be filled with ganache, an emulsification of chocolate and heavy cream, and chocolatiers often experiment with different types: Thinkoolong teaand evendoughnutganache.
Bonbonscan be round, square, cone-shaped, and so on, and they are often decorated with bright colors, cocoa nibs, and freeze-dried raspberries—or even in one desperately-seeking-millennials move to look liketattoos. They are almost always enrobed in a thin layer of chocolate.
La Maison du Chocolat 14-Piece Box, $38 at Neiman Marcus
Some of my favorite places to snag a bonbon or two (or 24) areSoma Chocolatemakerfor bean-to-bar-to-bonbon treats like Roasted Cacao Bean (a whole cocoa bean enrobed in dark chocolate),Recchiuti Confectionsfor single-origin varietals and the famous burnt caramel truffle, andGinger Elizabethfor their wildflower-honey-and-yogurt bonbon, made with local artisans’ dairy and honey.
“We wanted to pack as much yogurt flavor into this bonbon [as possible], so we formulated the ganache recipe to only use yogurt, no cream,” says founder Ginger Hahn. “Balancing different types of dairy with chocolate—buttermilk, crème fraiche, yogurt—and not limiting ourselves to the traditional use of cream is all part of what makes our bonbons special.”
True Truffles
A truffle, on the other hand, is aparticular typeof bonbon that is filled with ganache and usually rolled in cocoa powder. One of my favorite truffle makers isLa Maison du Chocolatfor its strict adherence to the classical style. Truffles must be kept cool and are extremely perishable—so you won’t find many available online. But they’re easy to make at home.
Whether you’re looking for bonbons or specifically truffles, they should have:
Smooth and silky centers.The ganache shouldn’t be grainy or watery, and caramel or praliné centers shouldn’t be “too blond or dark/burnt,” says Hahn—and shouldn’t be grainy or stick to your teeth.
Short shelf life.Think weeks, not months. “A longer shelf life means the bonbon is packed with a high percentage of sorbitol and any number of other moisture-binding sugars,” she says. (So look, too, for a short ingredients list that only includes things like cream, cocoa butter, sugar, etc.)
Thin coating of shiny chocolate, decorated tastefully.The chocolate shell around a bonbon should be as thin as possible, without chocolate pooling around the bottom (called a foot). Truffles may simply be rolled in cocoa powder.
Now you can be trufflin’ every day!
Chocolate of the Month Club
Get your fill with assorted chocolates every month.
Sometimes you just don’t want two dozen cookies, or an entire cake or pie—or at least you don’t want to tempt yourself with the surplus—so what to do? Learn how to make dessert for two with these conversion tips for scaling down recipes, plus small-batch dessert recipes from a pro.
When a craving overtakes you, sometimes you have to satisfy it. We get it. You can’t stop dreaming of rich, fudgy brownies cradling crystals of fleur de sel; moist pound cake bursting with lemon sunshine, caressed by a dollop of fresh whipped cream and crowned by glittering berries; or smooth, yet intense, hazelnut gelato, so sultry on the tongue you wish it would never end. These sweet, decadent, and sometimes forbidden foods are salacious in and of themselves, whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not. You can swap in healthier ingredients, which helps, but the real trick is to make this dessert an exclusive, one-night-only engagement for you and your plus-one.
Christina Lane knows how to make that magic happen. She wrote the cookbook “Sweet & Simple: Dessert for Two” to share her favorite desserts in the easiest recipes possible that make enough for only two people, so there are no leftovers to tempt you in the morning.
“If you’re going to make a whole pan of brownies, you might eat the whole pan of brownies. We’ve all been there,” says Lane. While all her books are about small-batch cooking, this third cookbook is more laser-focused on her personal passion for fruity over chocolatey desserts, and uses shortcuts like store-bought pie crust to keep it simple. (“Comfort and Joy: Cooking for Two” focuses more on small-scale savory recipes if you need dinner inspiration.)
Lane hatched the Dessert for Two blog that started her small-batch success in 2010. She was a Dallas transplant in northern California, working in greenhouse production after earning her master’s degree in horticulture. “I had too much time after getting off work at 3 p.m.,” Lane says. “I was away from home and my family, so I found myself calling my mom for family recipes like Texas chocolate sheet cake, which I learned to scale down. I’d crave her desserts.”
Christina Lane’s latest book, released February 2017.
When she found a tiny cake pan at a store, Lane had her eureka moment. “I thought, ‘This is it! I get to eat what I love in small-sized versions.'”
How to Make Dessert for Two
Try your own dessert for two on Valentine’s Day—or any day that ends in “y”—keeping these tips in mind:
1. You don’t have to run out and scour stores for adorable mini baking dishes. Maybe eventually you’ll want to do that, but there are many small-batch desserts you can make with the dishes you already have in your kitchen, such as a bread-loaf pan for baking two large brownies, a muffin tin for mini pies, and ramekins for the rest.
USA Pan Bakeware Aluminized Steel Loaf Pan, $13.99 on Amazon
2. When you are ready to buy mini bakeware, try Sur La Table, Amazon.com, Michael’s, or other craft and cake-decorating stores. The first thing to get is a 6-inch cake pan that’s 2-inches high. Don’t get the 3-inch-high pan, which will make the cake sink.
Wilton Perfect Results Round Mini Cake Pan, $4.97 on Amazon
3. “Make sure your baking soda and baking powder are not a decade old,” Lane says with a laugh. (But she’s serious, and it’s good advice; you don’t want your efforts to fall flat.)
4. Learn how to split uneven numbers of ingredients. Lane doesn’t give advice on doubling or tripling her small-batch recipes, but when she’s testing how to create small versions of regular-sized recipes, she starts by cutting all the ingredients in half, and comparing that result with the taste and texture of the full-sized dessert. When she needs to split an uneven number of eggs, she has a rule. If the original recipe called for three eggs, she’ll use two egg whites and one egg yolk for cakes, and two egg yolks and one egg white for brownies and cookies. Cakes can use a fluffy binding agent like egg whites, and the fat-filled yolk makes brownies and cookies that much more intense.
5. Know when to use Silpats and when to use parchment. “I like Silpats (the baking mat) because they keep cookies from spreading too much,” she says, “although in my book’s second recipe (easy chocolate-hazelnut cookies), I want them to spread and get crispy on the edges and gooey in the middle, so I use parchment.”
AmazonBasics Silicone Baking Mats, 2 for $13.99 on Amazon
It doesn’t take much more than some coconut milk, gelatin, figs, and honey to make this delicacy come to life. It’s also dairy-free and naturally sweetened. Do this dessert ahead of time though, because it needs at least four hours to set in the fridge. Get the Coconut Panna Cotta recipe.
Crunchy, sweet, and nutty, toffee is the thing. Similar to Lane’s panna cotta, this sweet treat requires about four hours to set but you only need a few ingredients to make it happen: almonds, chocolate chips, salt, sugar, and butter. Get the Easy Toffee recipe.
If you can buy a couple slices of pound cake and a tiny carton of sorbet, it won’t take long to make this classic dessert that whips up chills, in a good way. Get the Easy Baked Alaska recipe.
And if you only need dessert for one, Easy Mug Cakes are the perfect solution!
Dinner this week has something for everyone – chili, easy enchiladas, and ramen stir fry for the causal diners and Chicken Cordon Bleu or seared tuna for those looking to serve something extra special.
Looking for dinner that’s healthy in a hurry? The whole family will love this vegetarian skillet dinner! It’s loaded with the sweet and earthy flavors of roasted butternut squash, black beans, and quinoa, seasoned with cumin and chili powder. The best part? It’s ready, start to finish, in about 45 minutes.
If you’re tired of traditional cooking shows with bubbly hosts or the over-the-stove Instagram videos set to plucky music—and who could blame you, really—then might we suggest a turn towards YouTube and one of its biggest breakout food stars?
With bone dry humor and uniquely deadpan delivery, “Binging with Babish,” hosted by Brooklyn-based Andrew Rea, has become a bit of a big deal on YouTube—to the tune of six million subscribers—by way of quirky yet informative cooking videos inspired by his favorite films and TV scenes.
Oscar BuzzRecreate the Very First Oscars Menu for Your 2020 Oscars PartyThough nottechnically ASMR, there is a wholly soothing quality to Babish’s straight and steady camera and an even steadier voiceover that makes these clever videos extremely watchable. Oh, and you’ll learn to make something cool, too, like a bangin’ Sunday marinara inspired by the greatprison sauce scene from “Goodfellas,” or crispy calzones like the ones George Constanza usedto win over his boss, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, in a classic episode of “Seinfeld.” Babish is funny, too, but the jokes are slipped in wryly—like movie Easter eggs—so don’t blink your ears or you might miss ’em.
Each year brings a new crop of films and TV (also known as material) for Babish to work with, and 2019 proved as strong a year for on-screen eats as any.
Netflix’s “The Irishman”continued a long tradition of mobster movies with food just as tasty as the guys are bad. Babishrecreated the chili dog steamed in beerwith an adapted and easy-to-follow recipe. And if you caught Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” you might rememberBrad Pitt whipping up some vintage blue box Mac n’ Cheese. Babish makes that too, but don’t worry, he does hisfrom scratch, dehydratingactualcheese to create a Kraft-like cheese powder. Impressive.
With film’s biggest night bearing down on us this Sunday, we caught up with Babish himself to get his thoughts on the year in film—and food—and dive a little deeper into the man behind the cult YouTube cooking series.
David Watsky: I’m sure you get asked this a lot (so apologies in advance) but how did you fall into cooking, YouTubing, and recreating food from film and TV?
Babish: No problem! The name of the show is proof of its accidental success. I named the show arbitrarily after my Reddit handle, which I had named arbitrarily after a minor character from “The West Wing.” I never expected it to take off the way it did—it was totally just a hobby. I went to film school, so I put a lot of stock in how the show looks and feels, and while I’m not trained in cooking, I try to use that to my advantage, making sure to show my mistakes and the learning process that every home cook experiences in the kitchen.
DW: Was there a single scene that got this whole thing rolling? A dish you simply had to recreate and film yourself doing it?
Babish: I had set up my camera and lights in my apartment kitchen—and as I so often do—had one of my favorite shows playing in the background while I worked: “Parks and Recreation.” Two characters, Ron Swanson and Chris Traeger, were having a burger cook-off. Chris’ burger was peppered with foodie buzzwords (black truffle aioli, papaya chutney, gluten-free, taleggio, etc), and I wondered, ‘What would that actually taste like?’
I tried making it myself, uploaded it to YouTube for feedback and was pleased with getting a few thousand views and some kind comments. The rest is history.
Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows, $17.99 on Amazon
DW: Indeed it is. What’s the one video people bring up the most? And why do you think that is?
Babish: Probably my second episode, “Il Timpano from Big Night.” It’s a very challenging and dramatic dish, which despite being essentially an ornate lasagna, never fails to make collective viewers’ stomachs rumble.
DW: If you had to choose between good movies/TV or good food, which would you pick? Which one is the true passion?
Babish: Tricky question! I’m obsessed with both. I can’t really imagine life without one or the other, but if I had to pick one, I think it’d be good movies/TV. I watch my favorite films and television shows the way most people listen to music: repeatedly.
DW: Are there any kitchen gadgets you’ve discovered recently that you’re completely obsessed with?
Babish: I love my vacuum sealer, my sous vide, my high-powered blender. But a chef’s knife and a cast iron pan remain my favorite tools.
DW: Are there any pantry items or ingredients you’ve discovered recently that you’re completely obsessed with?
Babish: I’m all about homemade chili oil at the moment. I put it on damn near everything and it rises head and shoulders above anything you can get in the store.
DW: Of any category, mafia/mob movies have probably given us the most memorable food moments. Would you agree? Do you have a favorite?
Babish: Definitely. Food can play an important role in any film (see: “Parasite“), but few films use it to greater effect than those about the mafia. My favorite is probably the same as everyone else’s: the prison gravy scene in “Goodfellas.” The only film scene I can think of that *almost* makes you want to be a mobster in prison. Almost.
DW: What’s the best food movie of all time (in your opinion)?
Babish: I don’t mean to suck up to my personal hero and the author of my book’s foreword, but “Chef” has got to be the greatest food film of all time. “Big Night,” “Babette’s Feast,” “Ratatouille” are all obvious contenders, but “Chef” strikes a chord in anyone with an appetite and an understanding of both the importance of food and following your passions.
DW: The worst?
Babish: I love Bradley Cooper but wasn’t a big fan of “Burnt.”
DW: I have a crush on your knife. What’s his or her name (and brand name too)?
Babish: Haha, thank you! I can’t say I’ve named my knife. If you’re referring to the Damascus chef’s knife, it’s a Shun Classic with an 8-inch blade.
Shun Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife, $150 on Sur La Table
This blade made in Seki, Japan is definitely crush-worthy.
DW: Favorite food city that’s not New York? And where should we eat if we have two meals there?
New Orleans by a wide margin. If you’ve only got two meals in the Crescent City, go old-school and new-school: Commander’s Palace or Antoine’s for the New Orleans of old, Toups’ Meatery or Cochon for the new.
DW: Same! There’s not a close second for me either. How about your favorite film of the year?
Babish: I’m torn between “Parasite” for its artistry and superb storytelling, and “1917” for being a purely cinematic experience. I was absolutely glued to both.
DW: And a favorite meal of the year?
Babish: I was fortunate enough to visit Paris for the first time this past year, and while I tried my first 3-Michelin-star meal there, my favorite was at Le Bon Georges, a darling brasserie with simply and perfectly prepared French mainstays.
