Warm chocolate soup - need suggestions

The chef wants me to make a warm chocolate soup for christmas eve and day. We are serving it with candied hazelnuts, marshmellow gellato and brioche croutons.

He mentioned that he wants hints of spices and some cognac or something, but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or recipes because to tell you the truth, I am kind of in the dark. I don't really know if anything will make the cream curdle or anything like that. My pastry chef just left forever and I feel so alone. I can wing it, but I don't want any mistakes and I want to be able to go home early and make biscuits and gravy for my family on christmas morning.

Thanks in advance!!!

Edit: How does this recipe look? Should I omit the creme de cacao? Will this last all night in a BM?

Hazelnut-Chocolate Soup

Recipe By : James McNair's Soups (c) 1990 SF: Chronicle
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Soup Dessert

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 cups half-and-half
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate -- or
bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks -- at room temperature
1/3 cup creme de cacao
3 tablespoons Frangelico
(hazelnut liqueur)
1/2 cup whipping cream -- lightly whipped
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts -- toasted

In a saucepan, combine half-and-half, chocolate, and sugar and place over
medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts.

Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl, then whisk in about 1/2 cup of the
chocolate mixture. Whisk the egg mixture into the soup and simmer, stir
frequently, until the soup thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from
heat and stir in the liqueurs.

To serve hot, ladle into warmed bowls, add a dollop of whipped cream, sprinkle
with the hazelnuts, and serve immediately. Alternatively, pour a container,
tightly cover, and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Slowly reheat before
garnishing and serving.

To serve cold, pour into a container, tightly cover, and refrigerate until
chilled, at least 2 hours or as long as 5 days. Remove from the refrigerate
about 20 minutes before serving. Ladle into chilled bowls and garnish as for
hot soup.

Panini,
Thanks for the sympathy. As far as the soup, it is actually plated, not a buffet. All of the garnishes will be thrown in for service. I do think I'll add a little spice to the soup, but underspiced like you said. I like the idea of sugar spiced rims, but that doesn't make sense with these bowls. Perhaps I could use a spiced liqeur? I'm still up in the air about what alcohol to use. I like the Cognac idea and the Frangelico. We are putting candied hazelnuts in it.

I'm glad you are for the ganache thing, because I want to go easy on myself. At this point, if it works, I'm gonna do it. I like to try new things and get creative, but to be honest, I don't have time. We are also doing Lemon Sabayon tarts for a gazillion people, and individual buche de noels. I can't wait for my arm to go out. :)

Also, for about 200-250 personas, how many pounds of chocolate do you think I will need? How much will the soup thicken as it stands? You guys are great for even reading this. I want to tell you about everything :)

Sarah

So, lt's see if I can get this straight. When I heat up the cream for the ganache, perhaps I will throw in a cinnamon stick or two and maybe some vanilla beans. Would extract work better for this? After the ganache is made, the chocolate/cream ratio is determined, I'll throw in a splash of cognac. Would a tiny splash of some coffee extract be good or is that too much? Should I add some white chocolate to this as well to kind of make it rich but not too dark? I do not have cocoa butter powder.

I want a simple chocolate soup with some undertones, but nothing overpowering the chocolate flavor. I like the idea of adding white chocolate chips with the dark. What do you think about that?

Also, what is the easiest method for candied hazelnuts? Mix them with brown sugar and egg whites and stick em in the oven and then pulse them in the FP? Can't I just mix them with sugar and butter/oven and them grind?

Thanks!

Here I am, getting ready for work :)

Our ganache is basically one quart cream to 2 lbs chocolate. I think the ratio you mentioned earlier would probably be perfect. Thanks for the help, I'll let you know what I try and how it all comes out, if I can still type after the sabayon. Thanks a lot, panini.

Well, thank GOD christmas in that tiny kitchen is over. Talk about insane. The chef gave me props for the soup after all. I used my pal's fondue recipe as a starting point, basically just more milk than cream, extra sugar, and lots of chocolate. I steeped some cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans in the cream when I brought it up, and after I got the right consistency, I added some clove and just some straight up Myers Rum. Good stuff!! I spiced the hazelnuts pretty good and ground them up for garnish, and the brioche croutons were a great finish. I really appreciate all of the advice; it really made a difference.

As for the lemon sabayon, I guess I didn't make enough. They ran out, but at least it was late in the night. The yule log ended up being the most time consuming. The meringue mushrooms kind of fell just a little bit because I went ahead and did the cocoa thing. They were more like little button mushrooms with tilty heads (think mario brothers) than perky little guys. I expected those to run out before the lemon, but I was wrong. We had plenty left over. It kind of sucked though. The genoise wasn't very good because after about 10 minutes in the oven, engineering decided to mess with the back of the oven and it started to cool down without indicating that it wasn't working. Instead of 15 minutes, it took about 25-30. Oh well. Christmas is over.

That's my schpiel. You guys rule. Best message board ever (the one I visit most anyway).