A sweet interlude …

Some things are meant to be! By chance when browsing my bookshelves I came across one of my favourites - The Little Book of Chocolat” by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde. I reviewed this book and road tested many of it's recipes in July 2017 – yikes, how time flies! I can never resist looking at the tabs I made at the time and came across the following which I thought would be the perfect hit for the chocoholics out there – it slipped through the net in 2017 – how could I let that happen!

Chocolate Fudge Squares

Takes 1½ hours/ make 50 pieces

400g dark or milk chocolate, broken into small

even sized pieces

25g butter

397 can condensed milk

100g icing sugar

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Line a 20cm square shallow tin with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. In a non-stick saucepan melt the butter and gently warm the condensed milk, then add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar until blended and smooth.

Put the mixture into the prepared tin, spread evenly into the corners, smooth over the top and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour. Remove and cut into small squares and dust with cocoa.

Coming next - a photo or two and a few hints and tips …

A Christmas gift!

In a brief moment during the summer when we were able to socialise outside I saw my friends from the USA albeit briefly.

My friend brought with her a recent gift and what a vast tome! Here it is :

 

I was warned at the time not to buy it – now I know why – a wonderful Christmas gift and I've promised myself time out to really savour (sorry about the pun) this beautiful book. I should say that there are 958 pages and the anticipation of making my way through is exciting to say the least.

During our regular email exchanges leading up to the holidays, my friend in the USA said she was using recipes from the book for a pre-Christmas Dinner – here are her comments :

from her partner … “it was the best tenderloin he has had in his life”. To clarify - what the USA call tenderloin we in the UK call fillet.

My only complaint with the book is that I sometimes have difficulty finding what I remember reading on my first attempt.

My friend's complaint about the difficulty in finding stuff reminded me of my golden rule. If I'm trawling through a new cookery book I always follow the same pattern – I have small coloured (post-it style) markers and use them to flag recipes that I'm interested in – I know I'll never find what I'm looking for later – it's quicker and you don't get frustrated! It doesn't matter if you flag a recipe you then change your mind – with 958 pages it's the easiest way to remember what caught your attention. I passed on my tip!

She replied … Oh and by the way, thanks for the coloured marker tip … I have some and just never thought of using them. I have stupid torn pieces of paper marking pages. Colour coding will be great.

Another idea – has just occurred. This is a huge book and it won't be easy to prop the book to use a particular recipe – it's far too heavy and will eventually, with use, damage the spine. Here's a thought - photograph a recipe :

 

I used my tablet for the photograph – you can

either use your tablet for easy access or print out the

recipe if preferred

In addition to protecting the book I ask the obvious question - are you a messy cook? Sticky fingers when you're flustered and it's too late, your beautiful book is spoilt!

Coming up – hints and tips for next year

Cranks …

...it's such a lovely word. I know that these days it means different things but back in the day a crank was “a person who has strange or unusual ideas and beliefs”. I don't know for certain whether that's how Cranks vegetarian restaurant got its name but a vegetarian in the 1970s was definitely seen to be strange – brilliant!

Cranks vegetarian restaurant opened its doors in 1961 and David Canter was the person we have to thank. Sadly David Canter died in 1981 and Kay Canter and Daphne Swann sold Cranks to Guinness in 1987. Since that time it has been bought and sold many times. My first experience of Cranks was in their Covent Garden establishment – it was revolutionary in its day and the food was delicious.

One of my most treasured cookery books is one of theirs. It's old and frail now but still used. I can do no better than to give you a recipe from The Cranks Recipe Book Cranks Restaurants.

Cream cheese and cashew nut paté

1 carrot, finely grated

225g cream cheese

100g roasted cashew nuts, crushed to a rubble – not

to a dust!

1 tbsp of chopped chives

salt and black pepper

black olives – pitted and sliced (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together, box and fridge. If you are feeling really virtuous have a side of raw carrot!

Serve on whatever takes your fancy – rice cakes, gluten free cheese oatcakes, toast or even as a sandwich filling – a toasted bagel would be good.

My cookery book recommendation for your Christmas List is one of Cranks – they are still available on Amazon – of course you don't have to wait until then – you could always treat yourself now!

9 down – the end - nearly!

Here is my final choice from The Little Book of Chocolat :

Maya's Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Every child should know how to make these.

For the days when only cookies will do.

Takes 40 minutes/makes 15-20

200g butter, soft

50g unrefined caster sugar

120g unrefined light brown sugar

120g dark chocolate (drops or chopped)

175g oats

200g self raising flour

Heat the oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Cream together the butter and sugars, stir in the chocolate and oats, then finally add the flour and blend.

Roll the mixture by hand into 20-25 even-sized balls. Flatten them sightly with the palm of your hand and place on the baking sheet, giving them enough room to spread when cooking. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Once golden and cooked, cool on a wire rack and, if not eaten at once, store in an airtight container.

As is usual the recipe is taken exactly as written from the book – have you spotted the deliberate mistake? There are conflicting numbers of cookies – 15-20 in the heading and 20-25 in the final paragraph.

I'm not pointing this out to be mean spirited – in fact we all measure in different ways – I actually got 16 cookies from the recipe given.

There's just a little more …

7 down – 2 to go: Raspberry Marquise

We are nearly at the end of this journey. As has been my habit during our experiment what follows is the recipe taken from “The Little Book of Chocolat” by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde.

Raspberry Marquise

This is the ultimate chocoholic's dessert. Grown-up, rich and seductive, it's best served with a fresh raspberry coulis to cut the richness of the chocolate. Perfect for dinner parties, a little goes a long way – and because it's flourless, it's the ideal chocolate fix for cacao addicts everywhere.

Takes 20 minutes, plus 2 hours (minimum)

to set

Serves 10-12

175g butter

175g unrefined caster sugar

400g dark chocolate, broken into

small, even-sized pieces

40g cocoa powder

500ml double cream

6 egg yolks, beaten

cocoa powder, for dusting

250g raspberries

Carefully line a 11.5 x 25.5 cm tin with cling film (try to avoid creases).

Place the butter, sugar, chocolate and cocoa in a bain-marie, melt and stir until smooth and blended. Whisk the cream in a bowl until it just starts to hold, add the egg yolks, whisk, then add the chocolate mixture and blend until smooth. Pour into the lined tin, bang twice on the work surface to remove any air pockets from the corners and place in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight to set.

Turn the loaf out on to a flat board or place, peel away the cling film and lightly dust with sifted cocoa. Blend half the raspberries and sieve to remove the seeds. (Fran suggests doing this, but I never bother. I guess it depends on whether you care about raspberry seeds). Just before serving, arrange the remaining raspberries on top of the loaf, drizzle with the coulis and serve. Have a jug of hot water to dip the knife into before each slice, this will help to achieve a neat cut.

This is looking promising!

Remember the book … 6 down 3 to go!

Just when you thought I'd forgotten all about it.

This next extract from The Little Book of Chocolat by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde is definitely in the top ten for chocoholics, so, without further adieu :

Marianne's Chocolate Pudding

This rich, double chocolate pudding is named after my editor, a true chocoholic, who can always be relied upon to choose the most indulgent chocolate desserts (while I tend to opt for the cheese board!).

Takes 1 hour/ serves 6-8

butter for greasing dish

75g unrefined caster sugar

40g butter, soft

1 egg

40g cocoa powder

150g self raising flour

120ml milk

Sauce

180 unrefined soft brown sugar

200ml water

40g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4. Rub the inside of a 1 litre ovenproof dish with a little butter.

In a bowl, place the sugar, butter and egg and whisk until blended. Add the cocoa powder and flour along with a little milk and blend until smooth. Add the remaining milk and mix in, then transfer to the buttered baking dish.

To make the sauce, place the sugar, water and cocoa in a small saucepan. Heat gently and mix until dissolved. Add the vanilla extract, pour over the top of the cake mixture, place in the middle of the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Hold that thought!