Tag Archives: chocolate

Auberge Du Chocolat Book Review

Posted on by Abi

It’s no big secret than I am a huge Chocolate fan, particularly homemade chocolates. When I was heavily pregnant with my last child I spent quite a few weeks in hospital. I was feeling rather sorry for myself as you might imagine but was instantly lifted when my husband arrived with a big box of homemade ganache chocolates. So when Auberge Du Chocolat arrived in the post, I felt just as excited at the prospect of many more delicious creations.

Aside from the recipes I hadn’t anticipated the book containing other useful information. I am personally familiar with subjects such as bean variety, but as this knowledge is not terribly widespread I was pleased to see it covered here. There is also a good amount of information on basic chocolate preparation techniques. There is even a chapter dedicated to making beautiful presentation packaging, how about a box made entirely from chocolate!

There are also no less than 6 chapters of recipes covering:

Dipped Chocolates

Truffles

Moulded Chocolates

Flavoured Chocolate

Dairy-Free Chocolates

Chocolate and Children

I found it extremely hard to pick which recipes to try out, they all sounded so delicious. I eventually settled on the following.

Black Tie Strawberries

These have to be the smartest fruit around, dressed in their little chocolate tuxedos they are ridiculously cute and mouthwatering. The recipe takes literally minutes to follow and you’re left with beautiful strawberries worthy of any dinner party.

Cinnamon Truffles

I’m not exactly sure what went wrong with this recipe but I ended up with something akin to chocolate flubber. My impression is that this wasn’t entirely correct. However we soldiered on and eventually ended up with slightly flat versions of the truffles from the book. In all honesty I wasn’t overly keen on them but my husband couldn’t seem to get enough. So I’ll put that one down to personal preference.

Next on the list? Lavender Cups or Dulce de Leche or maybe Marzipan Ganache, there’s too much choice!

Would I recommend this book?

If you want to make your own chocolates, particularly to give as gifts then this book would be hard to beat. Despite my slightly odd result with the Cinnamon Truffles there are pages dedicated to common problems so if at first you don’t succeed… It’s beautifully presented with wonderful photography and would make a yummy gift in itself.

Could it be improved in anyway?

I found some of the recipes a little scant in their writing style and they jumped slightly in places. Other than that it’s hard to find many faults.

Details

Publisher:New Holland Publishers Ltd

ISBN:978-1847738202

RRP: £16.99

 

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Trufas de chocolate y aceitunas espanolas (Chocolate and Spanish Olive Truffles) Recipe!

Posted on by Abi

On Monday I raved about Olives From Spain and the amazing creations from chef Omar Allibhoy. Today I am going to share his Chocolate and Spanish Olive Truffles Recipe. It may sound strange, but if you love flavours like Salted Caramel then you’ll adore these melt in the mouth truffles.

What You’ll Need

150ml Double Cream

220g Dark Chocolate (70% min) chopped

Zest of 1 Orange

50g Pitted Black Spanish Olives

40g Butter chopped

Cocoa Powder for dusting

 

Step 1

Start by immersing the olives in a bowl of water to wash off any excess brine etc. Then blend them into a rough paste in a food processor.

Step 2

Place the double cream into a medium saucepan over a low heat. When this is just reaching boiling point, turn off the heat. Add the chopped dark chocolate, orange zest and olive paste.

Step 3

Mix with a spatula until your truffle mixture has a smooth texture. Now add the chopped butter for extra shine and silkiness.

Step 4

Pour into a bowl and cover with cling film. Place into the fridge for 5-7 hours (or overnight) to harden.

Step 5

Once cool, shape the mixture into balls with your hands and then roll in cocoa powder. Remember to keep in the fridge.

Tip

When we made these we took a chocolate mould and dusted with cocoa powder, before pressing the truffle mixture into the shapes. Pop back in the fridge for a few minutes, then bring out and pop out perfect little chocolates!

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La Maison Du Chocolat Summer Collection Review

Posted on by Abi

After my recent visit to La Maison Du Chocolat in Piccadilly, I was fortunate to bring away a box of the new Summer Collection. Called ‘Chiberta’ it promises to take you on a tongue tingling ride to the Basque country in France. The birthplace of La Maison Du Chocolat founder Robert Linxe, it is also the first place in France that Cacao arrived in 1609. The collection is very beautifully designed with a wonderful watercolour painting of the Basque country adorning the box.

Each box of Chiberta contains 5 different varieties of chocolates. As I’m sure you can imagine it wasn’t much of a chore testing out the various flavours, but I shall do my best to describe each variety in detail.

First I tried the one and only Milk Chocolate in the box, called ‘Eztia’ it is a Milk Chocolate filled with a Basque Honey Ganache. Beautifully smooth milk chocolate covers a strong and intense honey ganache. The honey is thick whilst retaining movement, it made me think of a quality manuka honey. The honey flavour is heavy and rich with delicate floral tones. Somewhat reminiscent of a good Heather Honey.

Next in the box came ‘Txokolate Lluna’ a dark chocolate bonbon. The scent of this chocolate is heaven itself, the kind of amazing Cocoa scent that radiates from a luxurious cake batter before baking. The bonbon is rich with a lightly malty taste and intense smoky after tones. The taste lingers tantalisingly on your tongue.

‘Praline Macaron’ is next in line. An amazingly silky praline lies at the centre of this gorgeous bonbon with crunchy slivers of chocolate macaron. An intense chocolate tempered by the delightful crisp almond tones, not heavy but delicate and with a quality flavour.

‘Almond Paste with Patxaran’ this ganache chocolate tastes almost like the worlds most refined and delicate marzipan. Lightly touched by Patxaran liqueur (a liqueur of blackthorn berries macerated in anise alcohol) it leaves a delightful flavour upon your tongue. Despite being a part of the summer collection, this would be a wonderful flavour at Christmastime.

‘Espeletako Piperra’ instantly you are drawn into this bonbon by the delicate and soft Espelette chilli pepper. A sweetness radiates first, followed by a warm spicy after tone that will linger beautifully on your palate. The pepper serves to intensify and amplify the amazingly rich dark chocolate.

Would I recommend this product?

Without a doubt, it’s a wonderful collection. It would make a fantastic gift, but I doubt you’d be able to part with them. It’s been my favourite chocolate collection I have tried so far this year.

Can it be improved in anyway?

I will be very sad to see this collection go after the summer, I would love to see some of the chocolates become a permanent fixture at La Maison Du Chocolat.

Details

Available to purchase at boutiques and online at www.lamaisonduchocolat.co.uk.

Sizes:

Box of 10 Chocolates £12.00

Box of 30 Chocolates £33.00

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