Chocolate Pate

If New Year's Eve dinner means fondue, then New Year's Eve dessert must mean chocolate pate.  It's a recipe my mother used to whip up from the old, ripped, completely chocolate drenched volume of The Joy of Chocolate that rested among the cookbooks in our kitchen.  I would take that book down and flip through the pages, gazing at the glossy pictures of cakes, candies, brownies, cookies, and tarts.  I longed to create such beautiful masterpieces, adorned in perfectly sculpted chocolate roses, leaves, and more.

When I found a copy in the shelves of my local library, I was transported to a time when love was dished out in ounces of Baker's Semi-Sweet.  Because whenever my mother reached for that volume, spread it out on the kitchen counter with a bowl at the ready, something magical was going to happen.

Chocolate pate is not for the weak.  We're not kidding around; we mean serious chocolate business.  It's rich, it's dense, and it's indulgent.  For me, it was almost as much about the pate as it was the Carr's whole wheat crackers on which it would be spread.  Those crackers come but once a year, and they move me to tears each time.  Dollop some pate on a cracker with your choice of fruit, and you're ready to ring in the New Year.  And you might need to push any resolutions back a few days, since it makes an excellent New Year's day breakfast.

Chocolate Pate
Serves 8-10

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 2/3 c heavy cream
5 T butter
2 t almond extract
1 1/4 c chopped blanched almonds, toasted

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Remove from the heat.  Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Bring it to a boil and remove immediately, adding the chocolate and butter.  Stir until smooth and cooled.  Stir in the almond extract and almonds.  Spoon into a bowl or pate dish and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface.  Refrigerate until solidified; bring to room temperature a few hours before serving.