Like it or not, white chocolate seems to be on dessert carts and candy-store shelves to stay.
The fad that begun with a profusion of elaborately decorated desserts, chips for cookies and brownies and products such as white-chocolate-flavored toothpaste and white-chocolate tortellini, is settling in.
In just four years, Nestle`s Alpine White bar has raced to second place in the company`s sales, behind its top-selling Crunch bar, and other candy makers have been quick to try to share in its success.
Godiva has watched sales of its Ivory White chocolate bars rise steadily for the last three years. Harbor Sweets, a Massachusetts candymaker, uses white chocolate for the mainsail of its almond butter-crunch Sweet Sloop, which accounts for half the company`s sales.
The surest sign that white chocolate has arrived is the steady supply on supermarket shelves and its move from the candy aisle to the baking aisle. But shoppers searching for it will find it only under an alias.
Because there are no cocoa solids in white chocolate, the Food and Drug Administration forbids manufacturers to use the word chocolate to describe their product, which is made of cocoa butter, milk solids and flavorings.
For years American candymakers have used a similar product, made with vegetable fat, that goes under many names, including summer coating, compound coating and confectionary coating.
Companies market white chocolate in this country under a profusion of names meant to suggest Europe; Duncan Hines`s Vienna White brownie mix, for example.
Sweet-lovers are vehement on the subject of white chocolate, no matter what name it goes by.
”It`s insipid,” said Bruce Healy, author of ”Mastering the Art of French Pastry” (Barron`s, 1984). ”The interesting thing about chocolate is the combination of bitter and sweet. White chocolate is just sweet. And unctuous.”
With its combination of cocoa butter and butterfat, white chocolate has a fat content equal to and sometimes higher than that of other chocolate, despite the impression that it is lighter.
”Look, it`s sweet and it`s rich, and anyone who denies it is lying,”
said Janice Wald Henderson, author of ”White Chocolate” (Contemporary Books, 1987). Henderson, who teaches classes on white chocolate, has found a broader acceptance by consumers and chefs.
”A lot of people who profess to hate it often rave about a dessert when they don`t know white chocolate is an ingredient,” she said.
Barbara Albright, the editor of Chocolatier magazine, said: ”We`re a milk chocolate-loving country. Supposedly, if you`re sophisticated, you like dark.” Nina Kurtz, the chocolate buyer for Bloomingdale`s, said she buys more milk chocolate than dark or white.
Milk chocolate is very closely related to white: the milk solids and sweetness are similar-only the chocolate liquor is missing.
Its absence means there are only trace quantities in white chocolate of theobromine and caffeine, the stimulants in chocolate that cause allergic reactions in some people.
”A lot of milk-chocolate users are turning to white chocolate,” said Joan Steuer, president of Chocolate Marketing Inc., a consulting company in New York and Los Angeles. ”They want something lighter and creamier than dark chocolate.”
Even pastry chefs who dislike white chocolate agree that it has a place in some desserts.
”Use it as a component,” Henderson advised them. ”Pair it with a spicy and sharp ingredient like ginger. I love it with the tartness of orange, lemon and grapefruit. It offsets dark chocolate without one overwhelming the other. Its smoothness makes a great balance with the crunch of nuts.”
Joseph Schmidt, owner of Joseph Schmidt Confections in San Francisco, buys a million pounds of chocolate a year, a quarter of it white.
”White chocolate introduces a lot of people to chocolate,” he said.
”Then they move to milk and dark.”
He uses white chocolate extensively in his decorative work.
Two of his multicolored pieces are on display in ”The Confectioner`s Art,” an exhibition at the American Craft Museum in New York.
Home cooks too can use white chocolate for its decorative advantages.
”I like white chocolate for the canvas it gives me,” said Flo Braker, a baker and cookbook author. ”It`s the color that interests me, and working against it.”
Braker covers cakes with white chocolate and draws designs in red jelly while the jelly and chocolate are warm.
”They melt into each other,” she said. ”And as they set, it looks like you did something tricky, but you didn`t.”
Elaine Gonzalez, a chocolate consultant, cooking teacher and author of
”Chocolate Artistry” (Contemporary Books; paperback, $12.95), said that her students often asked her how to make white-chocolate curls, which requires tempered chocolate. Tempering allows the cook to mold the chocolate easily and to accomplish fancy techniques.
Her simplified method involves finely chopping two thirds of the desired amount of white chocolate, melting it and stirring in the remaining third, cut into large chunks, until the temperature of the melted chocolate reaches exactly 88 degrees. At that point the remaining unmelted chunks are removed.
Gonzalez cautions students to be very careful when buying white chocolate.
”I have a feeling that most of the white chocolate we eat is not in good condition,” she said. ”Of all chocolates it has the shortest shelf life. If exposed to light it oxidizes and has a rancid taste that you can even smell. When buying white, inhale deeply. It should smell like chocolate and not at all rancid.”
White chocolate made with cocoa butter is an ivory color; anything that is pure white is likely to be part or all vegetable fat, called compound chocolate.
Sales clerks rarely know the difference and often insist that compound chocolate is white chocolate. The most reliable guide usually is price. White chocolate most often costs twice as much as compound chocolate.
Despite the predominating sweetness and richness of all white chocolate, different brands have different undertones, usually of citrus, nuts or vanilla.
Choice brands include Valrhona Ivoire, which is available from the Marcel Akselrod Co. in New York, and in baking chips from the Williams-Sonoma chain of cookery shops. Callebaut White Couverture, also available from Williams-Sonoma, Lindt Blancor and Tobler Narcisse are widely available.
An American brand recommended by confectioners is Nestle`s Snowcap, which can be ordered from Maid of Scandinavia, 3244 Raleigh Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. 55416; 800-328-6722 or 612-927-7996.
All of the above are couverture chocolates, a term for all chocolate that is at least 32 percent cocoa butter. Lindt Blancor can contain up to 55 percent cocoa butter.
Working with white chocolate presents problems familiar to anyone who has cooked with milk chocolate: the different melting temperatures of cocoa butter and butterfat can cause lumping. The preferred method is to use almost no heat.
Melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over, not in, water no higher than 120 degrees-that is, straight from the tap.
The water should not be uncomfortably hot when touched. Stir frequently.
Ingredients mixed with melted white chocolate should be at the same temperature, to prevent lumping.
To coat a cake, Flo Braker melts butter and a bit of vegetable shortening with white chocolate to achieve a consistency that is easy to work with.
Nicholas Malgieri, a pastry chef who teaches at Peter Kump`s New York Cooking School, found a way to rescue a grainy white-chocolate truffle mixture by adding enough cold whipping cream to make it smooth. It became such a pretty white when he beat air into it that he uses the method with his truffles.
Malgieri, who initially was skeptical about white chocolate, now teaches his students how to make the white truffles. He exemplifies the national passion for something white and sweet-very sweet.
NICHOLAS MALGIERI`S TRUFFLES D`IVOIRE
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Chilling time: 1 1/2 hours
Yield: 60 to 75 truffles
12 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
6 tablespoons cold whipping cream
2 tablespoons raspberry eau de vie (or use kirsch or Grand Marnier)
Cocoa powder, for dusting
1. Combine chocolate and butter in a 2-quart heatproof bowl that fits snugly over (not touching) a 120 degree water bath. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the chocolate and butter are melted. The mixture will look grainy.
2. Remove bowl from hot water and thoroughly stir in cream 1 tablespoon at a time. The mixture will become increasingly grainy. As the last of the cream is added, however, it will become smooth. Press plastic wrap against top of mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Scrape mixture into bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until mixture lightens in color and texture, 1 to 2 minutes. After 1 minute, beat in liqueur in a stream. Do not overbeat.
4. Scrape mixture into a 14-inch pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain pastry tip (Ateco No. 6). Pipe out 3/4-inch spheres onto a pan lined with baking parchment or waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, about a half hour. Roll each truffle between the palms of the hands to make it completely round. Roll in sifted cocoa powder.
FLO BRAKER`S PETITS FOURS
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Standing time: 1 hour
Yield: 40 to 50 petits fours
1 layer (8-inches) plain white cake, pound or sponge
1/2 cup raspberry jam, warm (optional)
4 ounces unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup red-currant jelly, warm
1 pint fresh raspberries
Mint leaves, for garnish
1. Cut cake into two 1/2-inch thick layers. Brush raspberry jam over bottom layer and cover with top layer. (This step is optional; jam can be omitted.)
2. Melt butter, shortening and chocolate in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over (not touching) a 120 degree water bath. Stir until glaze is smooth and liquid.
3. Put cake on a wire rack over a baking sheet or jelly roll pan. Spoon red-currant jelly into a small paper cone and set nearby. Pour white-chocolate glaze onto center of cake and spread evenly using a metal spatula. Sides of cake need not be glazed. Snip off tip of cone, and pipe thin lines of jelly 1/2-inch apart over glaze. Lightly pull the tines of a fork across the lines of jelly to create a feathered effect. Set the cake aside at room temperature until the glaze sets, at least 1 hour.
4. Trim the cake`s edges with a long, sharp knife. Cut into 1-inch squares. To make squares neat, dip the knife blade into hot water and wipe it with paper towels after each cut. Decorate each petit four with a raspberry and mint leaf.
GINGER ICE CREAM
Preparation time: 1 hour
Freezing time: 2 to 6 hours
Yield: 1 quart
This recipe is adapted from ”White Chocolate” by Janice Wald Henderson
(Contemporary Books, $16.95).
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh peeled, grated ginger (about 2 ounces)
2 large egg yolks
5 ounces finely chopped white chocolate, melted and tepid
Minced crystallized ginger for garnish (optional)
1 ounce white chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)
1. Slowly heat cream, milk, sugar and ginger to boil, stirring occasionally in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Immediately remove from heat. Let ingredients steep together for 30 minutes.
2. Beat egg yolks with melted white chocolate in a small bowl. Whisk into cream mixture. Strain custard through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a large bowl.
3. Pour cooled custard into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer`s directions. Transfer ice cream to a container, cover and freeze.
4. Scoop ice cream into dessert bowls. Sprinkle with crystallized ginger and white chocolate shavings, if desired.
Note: Ice cream can be made up to three days in advance. –
