Sarah's Banana Bread

I found a baking buddy! Sarah and I met through mutual friends, and while at first I was simply impressed by her spirit and optimistic attitude, I later discovered that she also shares the same love for cooking and baking that I do--a kindred spirit! Hence, the next few recipes are inspired by or are directly from her, beginning with an amazing chocolate chip banana bread.

Here is Sarah's list of ingredients:

2 cups brown rice flour (*I used regular bread flour, since I could not find this)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt (you can also substitute Greek yogurt for additional nutritional value)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or honey is good if you're out)
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

 All ingredients

 Mashed bananas!

Now, when the recipe calls for "very ripe" bananas, it means very ripe-like brown all over. I can tell you from experience that you cannot force bananas to ripen by glaring at them, no matter how hard you try. So try to buy bananas that are already at least yellow, or you will be waiting a few days for your banana bread. Since my bananas were not ready yet, and I was banana-bread obsessed for those few days, I performed several unnecessary Google searches about bananas and can tell you why they should be brown. Apparently, the riper the banana gets, the more sugar it releases, making for a sweeter bread. And, you know...it's easier to mash a riper banana. WARNING NOTE: Do NOT place your bananas near other fruits while you are waiting for them to ripen. I lost three peaches with a lot of potential yumminess that way (bananas release a gas which causes other fruits to ripen faster). At this point, I could also tell you all the facts I learned from Shark Week (I spent some quality time with Google and the Discovery Channel this week), but I will spare you.

So, on to the baking (instructions from Sarah)!

Adjust a rack to the lower middle position of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, yogurt, eggs, melted butter and vanilla, mixing well.

Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry, just to blend--do not over mix. Add in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 50-60 minutes (most breads will take the full hour). Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out and let cool completely. (Or at least for 10 minutes if you really can't wait any longer :))

This was my first attempt at baking bread, and it was hugely successful--the hubby, who hates bananas, actually enjoyed the banana bread, and since he's my litmus test, I was fairly proud. It is also tasty microwaved for about 20 seconds and buttered (and I intend to use stale pieces--if the bread lasts that long--to make banana bread french toast in the future). Mmmm! Thanks again, Sarah, and to everyone else: enjoy!

Gourmet Paninis

If you couldn't tell from my first recipe posting, I love cheese. The kind of love where, if I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one food with me, it would probably be cheese. So, I was daydreaming about grilled cheese sandwiches the other day (because they are made from my food crush) and pondering how I could make the ordinary grilled cheese sandwich a bit more blog-worthy. And then I found this recipe: Fresh Mozzarella, Prosciutto, and Fig Jam. The ingredients are as follows:

4 soft French or Italian rolls

10-12 ounces fresh mozzarella, thickly sliced

8 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced

¼- ½ cup fig jam or fig preserves, to taste

Soft butter for spreading on bread

I followed this pretty much as follows, except I used ciabatta bread (I thought the square shape was cute...ahem) and added some spinach for a little added color and, I suppose, some nutritional value. But mainly for the color. Also, I don't own a panini press, so I used my little George Foreman type grill thing instead. And since it is non-stick, I omitted the butter. Trust me, you won't miss it when it comes to flavor.

I like recipes like this, because you really can't mess them up. All you have to do is:

1) Slice your bread, and spread the fig jam liberally on one side (or both--I will explain why in a moment).

2) Pile on the prosciutto, slices of the fresh mozzarella, and some washed/de-stemmed spinach leaves.

3) Cover the sandwich with the other bread slice, toss into your George Foreman (or place in a warm skillet and press down with a panini press) and just squeeze the heck out of it. The sandwich will get more compact, have lovely little grill marks for presentation purposes, and oh yeah--be ooey, gooey, melty, salty, and caramelized from the fig preserves. Then, you eat, drool, and repeat.

Which brings me back to the fig jam. This needs a special mention, because I almost didn't buy fig jam. I'd never had it before, the stuff was $5 a jar, and the strawberry jam, $3 cheaper, beckoned invitingly to me from beside the fig jam on the shelf. But, I sucked it up and bought the fig jam to stay true to the recipe.

And holy shitake mushrooms, people, was it amazingly delicious. First, it lacks the tartness of most other jams, so it just accentuates rather than dominates the other ingredients of the sandwich. The flavor is much more....like raisin-flavored honey. Or heaven. And when cooked, the jam warms up and sweetens, becoming almost candy-like, which provides a nice contrast to the salty prosciutto. And now, I am making it a life goal to get the fig family into as many recipes as I can from here on out. Try the figs, people--you won't regret it!!

Finally, the finished product--enjoy!

Cake Pops!

The last couple of days, I have felt inundated by images of cupcakes. (OK, so I looked in a magazine advertising cupcakes, and Paula Deen had that Hello, Cupcake! lady on her show--it's still a sign from the universe, gosh darn it!) So what better way to end a Friday afternoon than with some baking? Unfortunately, I recently began dieting, and the caramel corn cupcake recipe I was drooling over did not seem diet-friendly. So, I opted for something in a smaller, more diet-friendly size. And thus I give you...the cake pop.

Before starting, I looked at various cake pop designs. I figured I would use this first foray into the cake pop world as an introduction to basics, and just try to make something that looked like this:

The goal was to one day work up to something like this (and be sure to look at the rest of Bakerella's website--those cake pops are CRAZY awesome). Yay Star Wars pops!

The basic posed a few challenges of its own, however, so I am going to post what I did first and then post my suggestions for what I could have improved on at the end.

So, let's get to it: my basic cake pop. I'll be honest: I did the lazy baker's version. As suggested by recipes here and here, you can buy a box of store cake mix, a container of pre-made store frosting, a package of candy melts/baker's chocolate/almond bark, and pre-made decorations of your choice--nothing needs to be made from scratch. Add a box of lollipop sticks and a piece of styrofoam (to stick your cake pops into as the chocolate sets) from your local hobby store (i.e. Michaels, Hobby Lobby), and you're done.

I selected a box of red velvet cake mix, container of cream cheese frosting, and baker's white chocolate.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, when it comes to your choice of chocolate for the chocolate shell, buy the baking chocolate, almond bark, or candy melts, NOT the chocolate chips. The chocolate chip bags promise that you can simply melt the chips and add some shortening...and while I am more than willing to admit that I could have microwaved incorrectly, my chocolate chips came out a congealed mess. My Baker's chocolate? Came out perfectly. Either way, you save yourself a step.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Step #1: Make your cake according to package directions.

When finished, allow the cake to cool on the counter for 30 minutes. Next comes the fun part. See your lovely, oh-so-perfect cake? Time to destroy it! Using a spoon, break up the cake into crumbs, starting in the middle of the cake and stopping just short of the cake's edges (these are a bit tougher, so I just removed them to keep my cake crumb pile nice and soft).

Scoop in your frosting (you can do all of these steps in the pan you baked the cake in!), and use your spoon to integrate it into the cake crumbs so that they are evenly moistened and stick together. Hint: continue to use your spoon here. I was tempted to use my hands, but the mixture sticks to your hands and makes further integration difficult. When it's all mixed together, cover the cake/frosting mix, and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours or longer.

Cake balls can fall apart easily, so be sure to give the cake mix its fridge time. When the 3 hours are up, remove the cake from the fridge, and take out a baking sheet and line with wax paper--it's time to make the cake mix into balls! If you have one, a small ice cream scoop or melon baller helps you to make your cake balls easily and uniformly-shaped. If not, use your hands to roll pieces of the cake mix into balls about an inch, inch and a half big. The recipes suggest that you should have about 36 cake balls (I had 42). When all your cake balls are formed, place the baking sheet with the cake balls into the freezer for one hour.

And now, here is the challenging part: the chocolate shell, lollipop stick, and decorations. The way the recipes tell you to accomplish the final transformation from cake ball to cake pop is as follows:
1) Microwave or melt your chocolate over the stove (in a glass bowl atop boiling water).
2) Dip the lollipop stick in the chocolate and then stick the chocolately-end into a cake ball (the chocolate should act as glue to keep the cake ball on the stick).
3) Dip the cake ball in the melted chocolate to cover it in the chocolate shell.
4) Stick the completed cake pop in the styrofoam and allow the chocolate shell to set.
5) Decorate as you desire with sprinkles (do this BEFORE the chocolate sets) or with a drizzle of a different chocolate (i.e. white chocolate over dark chocolate or vice versa).

I followed these instructions and ended up with several lovely cake pops. See, evidence:

And, they were tasty. However, I had a few that simply slipped down the lollipop stick, and there was the congealed chocolate chip incident I alluded to earlier. My suggestions? 

1) Again, avoid the chocolate chips!!! Get the chocolate that was destined to become a candy shell. It will feel fulfilled, and you won't be irritated.

2) Either make the cake balls about half the size as that specified above (to reduce the weight on the stick) OR put the cake balls back into the freezer once you've inserted the sticks to allow them to set awhile OR lay the cake pops sideways as soon as the chocolate is set to reduce the weight on the stick. 

Follow these steps (with the modifications suggested above), and I know your cake pops will be fabulous! Enjoy!

Homemade Doughnuts!

One of my guilty slack-off pleasures as a newlywed is to troll www.thenest.com: a website with information on housing, cooking...and politics/current events. An unexpected combo to be sure, but it keeps me entertained. One of the message board posters there had a plate of delicious-looking homemade doughnuts in her signature, and it looked like something I needed to try! I located a recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crispy-and-creamy-doughnuts/detail.aspx

Now, these donuts come out more like a standard Dunkin Donut, if you have those in your area (i.e. a bit lighter than a cake donut). This recipe also only calls for glazed donuts; I had a taste for cinnamon sugar ones, since my husband and I often buy these from our local farms/pumpkin patch type places, and they are always SO good! So, I will tell you how to make both! First, the ingredients:

• Dough
• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
•  
• Glaze
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

Cinnamon-Sugar topping

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

2-3 tbs cinnamon (or more, to your taste)

To begin, cut open the yeast packets, and sprinkle them over the warm water. Let the mix sit for five minutes or until it becomes foamy. Now, this was my first time cooking with yeast, and I learned a few things about it. One, temperature is hugely-important. Yeast needs the water to be warm and it will need a warm environment in the kitchen to rise at a decent pace. So, you may want a 75-80 degree kitchen today (I stupidly had my air conditioning turned on full blast on a 70 degree day, and my dough took a good hour and 45 minutes to rise. Learn from my mistake!!). Second, yeast is a fungus, and so it is a bit smelly. Just keep imagining fresh doughnuts in your head as you smell the yeast-i-ness, and you will make it through.

Next, mix the following in a large bowl: the yeast mix, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, and shortening. Use a whisk to make the integration of the shortening easier. When all is combined, add in the flour to the mix in 1/2 cup intervals, again whisking to remove any lumps. You can also use a hand mixer set on low speed if the spoon isn't working for you (I just figured mixing by hand would help cancel out the future doughnut calories :p).

When it is well-mixed, knead the dough for about five minutes, then place it into a greased bowl and cover lightly (saran wrap works well here--just be sure to spray with non-stick spray and cover loosely). Finally, leave the dough alone to rise. It will be ready for action once it is about double its original size and will leave an indentation if touched (if it springs back into its original place when touched, it needs more time).

Once the dough has doubled in size, it is, as they say, time to make the doughnuts! First, prep your space. The recipe calls for you to roll the dough out onto a hard surface, and the dough was still obstinately sticky for me when I uncovered it. So, I taped some saran wrap to my counter top and sprayed it with non-stick spray and sprinkled it with a bit of flour. I highly suggest doing something similar to keep your dough from sticking. Then, place your dough on this surface, cover it with a piece of wax paper, and roll out your dough with a rolling pin on top of the wax paper, until the dough is a 1/2 in. thick (be sure to use the wax paper to keep the dough from sticking to the pin). Use a doughnut cutter to make your dough into the well-loved doughnut shapes (or, as I did, a drinking glass and a small, circular piece from a pastry bag--cooking is all about innovation after all). Finally, allow your doughnuts to again double in size until they look like the ones below:

Finally, it's time to cook the doughnuts and make your toppings. I made the doughnuts first and then went back to make the glaze and such after--the doughnuts fry up very fast, so you may want to devote all your attention to them first. Heat the oil in a skillet (or a deep fryer if you have one) until it reaches 350 degrees (or until a wooden spoon placed in the center of your oil starts to have little bubbles coming up around it--in case you don't have a thermometer). Using a spatula, slide the donuts (2-3 at a time) into the oil, flipping them over as soon as they achieve a light golden color on one side. Once they are golden on each side, remove them and set them on a wire rack to cool (just be sure to place a cookie sheet underneath to catch the mess!).

Toppings are up to you, but here is a glaze option and a cinnamon-sugar option. For the glaze, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and then add in the confectioner's sugar and vanilla. This is going to thicken up and become frosting-like in consistency, so you will need to add a tsp or more of hot water to thin it out. A little goes a long way, so be sure to only add one tsp at a time until the glaze is thin enough to be drizzled over the doughnuts. Then, simply drizzle over the doughnuts as they cool on the wire racks, and feel free to add fun embellishments like sprinkles!

The cinnamon sugar topping is even easier. Simply mix together your sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and melt the butter in a separate dish. Brush the butter onto the top of the doughnuts and place them into the cinnamon sugar mix--the butter will act as a glue to keep the cinnamon and sugar on the doughnut. Cover the other side of the doughnut in butter and dip the other side in the mixture. (Alternatively, you can place the cinnamon and sugar in a paper bag and shake it to cover all surfaces of the doughnut). These were my favorite, though the glazed were very good, too.

And the final result: time-consuming, but oh so yummy! Enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs and Noodles

After three weeks of placing our life in boxes, my husband and I have finally moved into a new place--with a beautiful new kitchen! So of course, I needed a homemade meal to break in the new place and settled on one of my favorites from childhood: Swedish meatballs and noodles. I'd say this recipe is most similar in taste to the Stouffer's boxed dinner...but it's also thicker, fresher, meatier, and more flavorful (and actually fairly healthy--just watch your portion size)! The recipe was inspired by a combination of a random card I found in a recipe box, some stroganoff ingredients, and my own imaginings. Here are the ingredients (note that I ended up swiping paprika for parsley at the last minute at the end of the recipe):

For the meatballs:

3/4 pd. of lean ground beef

3/4 to 1 cup of breadcrumbs

2 egg whites

1/4 chopped yellow onion

1/2 tsp allspice

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup beef broth (prepared or made from bouillon)

For sauce:

1 can cream of mushroom soup (healthy fat/sodium version)

1 packet Lipton onion soup mix

1/2 cup sour cream (I used light)

And finally, a bag of egg noodles (brand of your choice--I used whole wheat ones for the health benefits)

To begin, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients for your meatballs in a bowl except for the beef broth (i.e. ground beef, onion, egg whites, spices, breadcrumbs). When finished, form 1 inch balls of meat out of the mixture (ice cream scoopers help to keep your meatballs a uniform size for even cooking). Warm a skillet, put in a few tsp of oil to prevent sticking, and brown the meatballs over medium-high heat. When browned, transfer the meatballs to a baking dish, pour the beef broth on top, cover with aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. This will help them to complete the cooking process, and they will be finished when they are no longer pink on the inside.

While the meatballs cook, prepare your sauce and noodles. To prepare the sauce, combine the mushroom soup and packet of dry onion soup mix in a large skillet on the stove (over medium heat). Depending on how thick you like your sauce, you can add a little milk to thin your sauce out, but be sure to add it a tsp at a time to keep it from getting too runny. Cook your egg noodles in a large pot according to the package's directions.

When the meatballs are close to being finished, take your sauce mixture off the stove and stir in the sour cream until thoroughly blended (you do not want to do this over the heat in case the sour cream curdles).

To serve, place a heap of egg noodles on a plate, add a few meatballs, cover with sauce, and sprinkle with parsley! And there you have it: tasty, healthy, and simple--enjoy!

Chicken Chow Mein

For whatever reason, I've had a real taste for Panda Express lately--I know, it's horrible to use cheap, fast food Chinese food as inspiration, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants. I decided to attempt one of my husband's favorites from Panda, the chow mein, and found a recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/chicken-chow-mein-recipe/index.html

Now, I've cooked quite a bit at this point, and let me tell you--this is one I was really proud of! The flavors, in my opinion, BEAT Panda Express by a long shot and tasted more like something you would find at a real Chinese restaurant (minus the grease :D). It takes a bit of prep work due to all the fresh ingredients, but it is SO worth it!

I should note here that I deviated from the recipe as listed above in a few ways. First, I did not include any rice to make the recipe more like the Panda Express one (which is all noodle!). Second, I did not use the Chinese soba noodles because: a) several posters on that site had issues cooking them and b) Ramen noodles cook quickly and are super cheap, so I substituted in four packages of these noodles (no seasoning!) instead. Third, we dislike most of the veggie choices in this recipe, so instead of the mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts, we used peas and broccoli, making this more of a cross between chow mein and a stir fry. But still SOOO good! Finally, do NOT add extra salt! Soy sauce is extremely salty already, and salt would just be overkill.

All right, now let's get started! Our ingredients (minus the salt):

• 4 pkgs. Ramen noodles (flavor doesn't matter, since you aren't using the seasoning)

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil (for cooking your veggies/chicken)

• 1/2 cup chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned (I made mine from a bouillon cube)

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce (smells gross, but so much flavor!)

• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, plus more for the table

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin 2-inch-long strips

• 1 teaspoon dark Asian sesame oil

• 1 heaping tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 scallions, white and green minced

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced on the diagonal

• 1 medium head of broccoli, chopped

• 1/2 cup fresh peas (pea pods would work too)

First, prep your ingredients: chop your broccoli, celery, onion, (peeled) ginger, scallions, and garlic. The ginger and garlic will be sauteed first, so you can set those aside together if you'd like. Scallions will not be cooked at all, but will be used as a garnish, so set this aside too, then place the peas in with the remaining ingredients. With so much green, I divided everything into stages for cooking, but you can always save on the dirty dishes by keeping all your fresh ingredients together.

Next, combine your chicken broth with the oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar in a small bowl. It is easiest to do this when the chicken broth is hot, as it will dissolve the sugar and cornstarch quickly.

Finally, slice your chicken breasts on a diagonal into thin strips. When finished, sprinkle pepper and drizzle sesame oil on top of slices, making sure all surfaces of the chicken are coated evenly.

Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the ginger and garlic until soft and fragrant (watch closely to make sure it doesn't burn). Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until lightly browned (this should only take 2-3 minutes). Next, add in your vegetables. I placed a lid on top of the dish to steam the broccoli and peas a bit (you don't have to cook them before adding them to the skillet, and in fact, putting them in raw allows the broccoli to retain a bit of crispness!). Finally, pour the chicken broth mixture over the tops of the vegetables, stir, and turn down the heat to low/medium to allow the mixture to simmer and thicken.

Cook your Ramen noodles by boiling them on the stove for approximately three minutes. By the time these are finished and drained, your chicken/veggie mix should be cooked and the sauce thickened. To plate, layer the Ramen noodles, chicken and veggies, and a sprinkling of the scallions. Enjoy!

Strawberry and Chocolate Ganache Tart

Several months ago, I caught an episode of Martha Stewart's show where Martha and a guest were making tarts. The process appeared to be time-consuming and unnecessarily difficult (i.e. the butter had to stay super cold, the dough could not be over-processed, etc.), but the tart pan looked so cute with its floofy little edges and such that I figured I could weather the challenge and make one. A few weeks after that, a random trip to Marshall's led me to a $10 tart pan (seriously, check them out for affordable kitchen goodies--I always find something amazing for my recipes there!). And finally, last week marked the end of the school year for me, giving me the free time needed to bake. Which brings us to the strawberry and chocolate ganache tart!

Now, most tarts are fruit-based, but I was not about to sacrifice my chocolate addiction in the interests of recipe purity (or, you know, health), so I found a gorgeous recipe for a chocolate cherry tart here: http://hotpolkadot.com/2011/06/09/thick-as-thieves/. I had to modify the recipe slightly because 1) I could not find hazelnuts in my grocery store and 2) my husband hates cherries. So, I substituted almonds (for consistency) with a spoonful of Nutella (for flavor) to replace the hazelnuts and strawberries for the cherries. Here were my ingredients:

First, you make the tart shell. The shell is the annoying (and time-consuming) part of this recipe, but I promise it will be worth it!

Shell--Phase One (because tart-making is not a one-phase affair!):

-Cut 1 stick (or 1/2 cup) and 1 tbs of butter into pieces and place in freezer

-Grind 1/4 cup almonds with 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a food processor 

-Add 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and 1/4 tsp salt and pulse together until mixed

-Add in frozen butter pieces and pulse until the mixture resembles course crumbs

-Add in a tbs of Nutella and one egg and pulse until the mixture begins to come together

-Remove from food processor, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least two hours

Shell--Phase Two:

-Remove tart dough from refrigerator and let it sit out for 10-15 minutes. You want it cold, but working with the dough immediately is like trying to flatten a rock. 

-While waiting, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, cut two sheets of wax paper, and get out your tart pan and rolling pin. Butter your tart pan or spray it with a non-stick spray to prevent sticking.

-Once the waiting period is up, unwrap your dough and place it between the two pieces of wax paper. You want to roll the dough out so that it is about 15" in diameter, and keeping it in between the pieces of wax paper will keep it from sticking!

-When finished, remove the top sheet of wax paper, and do your best to center the tart dough above the tart pan. Place the dough inside the tart pan, pushing the dough into the corners and CAREFULLY removing the remaining piece of wax paper. The dough will have warmed up a bit here, and I know I caught myself swearing at it at least twice while attempting to keep the dough in one piece, but if you are patient, you will have a lovely soon-to-be shell when finished!

-Fold excess dough back along the edge of the tart pan to form a double crust, PIERCE THE DOUGH with a fork in several places to keep it from rising, then place in the freezer for 30 minutes. When done, it should look something like this:

Shell--Phase Three (the easiest one!):

-Butter or spray a sheet of aluminum foil and fit it snugly inside of the tart pan, making sure to cover the entire shell.

-Bake in the 375 degree oven for 20 minutes with the foil on

-Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes

-When finished, remove the pan from the oven and set it on a cooling rack (I also put my cooling rack with the tart pan into the refrigerator, since I wanted it to cool a bit faster)

And finally, the filling--the easiest and best part of the whole recipe. You can do a lot of the prep work for this while your tart is cooking/cooling:

-Chop up 8 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate (Ghiradelli is amazing, but Baker's is more affordable and still tasty). Pour into a heat-proof bowl and let it sit.

-Mix 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 2 tbs of butter in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

-Remove the cream and butter from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

-Whisk the chocolate into the warm cream after the 5 minutes are up. Congrats! You have made your ganache, which should resemble an especially shiny chocolate pudding. Wasn't that insanely easy after all that shell nonsense?

-Pour the ganache into the COOLED chocolate tart shell and decorate with fruit of your choosing (you can also dust with powdered sugar or cocoa powder).

To conclude: is the shell a royal pain in the rear end? Absolutely. But is it worth the first bite of chocolate decadence and fresh summer berries? Absolutely. Enjoy!