Chocolate Ganache: Epic Fail To Epic Save

June 11, 2014 by Laurie Nguyen 9 Comments

Have I ever mentioned that I like to improvise when cooking?  Sometimes improvisation results in wonderful creations.  Other times, especially when working with temperamental ingredients, improvisation results in a big, yucky mess.  (Isn’t that the story of my life?!)

 

Last Saturday, I decided to make some chocolate truffles filled with chocolate ganache.  I’ve worked with chocolate before.  I make fudge almost every year and have been doing it for about a decade.  I felt pretty confident that I could follow the simple instructions for chocolate ganache.  I was wrong!  Very wrong!

 

“How wrong?” you ask.  Well, I made a tiny mistake and my ganache was a tiny bit grainy.  Just a tad bit.  I decided to “fix” it, and I ended up with this.

 

That is not fixed!

 

For you to truly appreciate my experience, I’m going to show you in a photo step-by-step how my hubris caused my epic fail.

 

I started with some simple ingredients. I knew that by using chocolate chips (which are already tempered) it would be a touch trickier, but how hard could it be?

 

I set up a double boiler by putting a bowl over a pot of water on the stove. I made sure that there was a pretty tight fit so that the steam didn’t cause the chocolate to “seize.” I turned the heat on medium (which I now realize was too hot), and let the chocolate melt.

 

Isn’t that pretty? No graininess, no seizing, just beautiful, melting chocolate.

 

I added my cream (which I realize now I should have heated first and then added the chocolate.  I guess I should read all of the instructions before I begin, huh?)…

 

It didn’t incorporate as well as I thought it would.

 

I kept whisking and it finally came together, but it was a touch grainy. I consulted the internet about how I can “save” ganache once this happens.

 

Those tips didn’t work. In fact, it got worse!

 

What was I going to do?  I didn’t want to waste perfectly good chocolate!  Thankfully, I found one website which explained that once your chocolate ganache is gone, it’s gone.  BUT… you can use it in other things, like cookies.  So I whipped up a basic oatmeal cookie recipe and spread it in a pyrex pan, like this…

 

 

I spread the chocolate mess over the top.

 

I spread the remaining cookie dough over the top and let it mix a bit with the chocolate. Then I put it in a 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes.

 

After 20 minutes, they were browning, so I removed them from the oven. They probably could have gone for another few minutes, but I like my cookies chewy.

 

And here they are! They were delicious, too!

 

I might have to mess up some chocolate ganache again and make these cookies!

 

Have you ever had an epic fail or an epic save?  I’d love to hear about it!

 

Laurel Laurie Staten Nguyen Newhall, CA

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