BREAKING NEWS!

Quick update- I've just come back from a very spontaneous session in the kitchen...and...in sticking to homemade gelato goodness, can I just say that if you ever venture down chocolate lane, please add some orange blossom water AND cardamom. It has to be both together, preferably! What wonders it will do to your chocolate gelato (or ice cream, whatever you decide to do!) It will provide a lovely tingle to your tastebuds, the orange blossom water with the cardamom make a beautiful symphony with the chocolate.

I thought this was news worth sharing- give this flavour combination a try next time!

x

Marianna

Recipe for chocolate gelato with orange blossom water & cardamom:

300ml milk

300ml liquid cream
100gr brown sugar
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
20gr unsweetened cocoa
100gr 70% chocolate, chopped
300ml cold milk + 1 tablespoon cornstarch

In a pot, heat 300ml milk with the cream, sugar, orange blossom water and ground cardamom in a pot. Then add the cocoa and baking chocolate, stir and make sure the chocolate has fully melted into the mixture. Just make sure that during this process, the milk and cream doesn't burn. In a cup, mix the cornstarch with 300ml of cold milk- make sure the cornstarch has dissolved completely, then add to the pot and keep mix over heat for two minutes. Remove from heat, chill in fridge for at least two hours before transfering to your ice cream machine. Follow manufacturer's instructions, and enjoy either immediately or place mixture in freezer for a couple of hours.

THE CHOCOLATE COOKIE RECIPE IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR MY WHOLE LIFE...

Living in France is great because there is a lot of great food- a lot of great French food that is. But when it comes to American specialties things can get a lil' tricky...even dissapointing may I say?

Because the truth is that as much as I love fancy French food, as much as sometimes I just want something a little more ''simple'' (no offense!) like a yummy heartwarming cookie. Who would had ever thought that finding a decent US style cookie is quite mission impossible over here? All I seem to find is crumbly and crunchy cookies when what I really want is a large rich chewy cookie with big chunks of chocolate hidden inside!

And so I decided that it was about time I find a perfect recipe that would result in the dream cookie that could only exist in an ideal world. Maybe my patience has paid off... after years of research, I think I may have just found it- at least for now it beats any other recipe I've ever tried out!

OOEY GOEY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (makes about 8 large cookies)

114gr chocolate (70%) choppped

30 gr butter

40gr flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 large egg

80gr brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

170gr chocolate (70%) chips

Heat chopped chocolat with butter until just melted. In a bowl, beat egg, sugar and vanilla on high speed until fluffy. Then beat in the melted chocolat on low speed. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Finally add the chocolate chips and mix cookie dough well. Place dough in freezer for 20 minutes, and during that time preheat oven to 180C. Line baking tray with parchment paper, form golf ball size balls with cookie dough and place on baking tray keeping enough space between each ball. Bake for 12 minutes- balls will fall flat and shape themselves into a yummy chunky cookie.

P.S: I used only 70% chocolate here, which produces a very grown-up adultish gourmet result. If you're looking for something a bit sweeter feel free to use 52% regular baking chocolate for the melted mixture and keep 70% only for the chips.

FOR ALL THE CHOCOHOLICS OUT THERE!

May I tempt you with a generous slice of what turned out to be an intensely chocolatey cherry cake I made for a recent birthday? I absolutely loved making this as it was a cake for a chocoholic from a chocoholic, and with such similar taste when it comes to desserts between the mr.birthday and myself I knew exactly what he wanted- we literally share a certain telepathy when it comes to sugar coated choices!

I love dusting cakes with cocoa- here it gave an elegant effect over the cherries!

The innards, devine!!

Recipe for Intensely Chocolatey Cherry cake:

200gr dark chocolate, broken down into pieces

200gr butter

200gr sugar
4 eggs
150gr flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cherry jam, heated until liquidy
Chocolate & liquid cream for the ganache, with portions set at 2 parts chocolate: 1 part cream
Cherries- pits removed.

Preheat oven to 180C. Melt the chocolate & butter together, set aside until it cools down a bit. In a bowl beat the sugar and eggs until mixture whitens, then add the melted chocolate/butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt- mix well until smooth. Transfer batter to cake mould (fill 3/4 up) lined with parchment paper and bake for 25mins (check with a sharp knife and extend time by 10 mins if needed). Remove from oven, let cool and place cake in freezer for 1 hour- this is to allow easier slicing for later step.

Prepare ganache: in a pot, heat the liquid but do not let it burn. Remove from heat, throw in the chocolate, cover with lid for 5 mins. Remove lid and stir until smooth and silky.

Slice cake in half horizontally. On the bottom half, poke layer with a fork and brush over the liquidy cherry jam. Follow with a layer of the ganache and then some cherries. Cover bottom half with the top half, and coat entire cake with chocolate ganache. If you have leftover cherries, use some on top for decoration and optionally you can dust it all with cocoa. Place in fridge for a few hours until set and then enjoy!

Of course- feel free to use other fruits: raspberries, strawberries, etc!

I SWORE I'D NEVER MAKE CUPCAKES...

Yes call me crazy but until recently I swore I'd never bake cupcakes, because well I had a "thing" against them. Actually two things- first of all I hated the whole buttercream thing- eating a layer of butter mixed with sugar and other stuff grossed me out. And second of all, I didnt want to get excited over cupcake cuteness like the rest of the world.

But then one day everything changed. All because of a friend's birthday for whom I decided to make cupcakes for... and I do admit, they are indeed lots of fun to make. But I haven't sold my soul to buttercream yet... if I am going to make cupcakes again I definately need to find a healthier alternative to buttercream!

here they are- naked chocolate cuppies yet to be dressed!


Frosted...


Gold dusted...


And sprinkled in colours and shapes...


So who knows? Maybe one day I'll be writing up a second post on cupcakes...

HOMEMADE NUTELLA

So, I am having fun lately making homemade versions of "supermarket food", such as the Digestive biscuits last time, and now: Nutella! I had been seeing many recipes floating around the blogosphere on how to make the infamous hazelnut spread from scratch and decided it was about time to give it a try.

Because I tend to have a nerd-y attitude when it comes to food, I like to research before taking action. What I noticed was that each "homemade Nutella recipe" called for some common ingredients but also for differing ones: some had butter, others had powdered milk, some used cocoa, some used chocolate instead, so on and so forth. With all these variations, I decided I'd have to figure it out on my own. I studied a Nutella label and tried to use some common sense. As long I wasn't using any palm oil in my recipe (yes, the evil palm oil).

At the end of the day, it all came down to three ingredients for a jar of heaven...

1- you will need hazelnut spread. Pure hazelnut spread, no sugar added. I found mine at Biocoop. You could also find this at Wholefoods or the sorts for those living in the US, UK, etc. 

It's like tahini- but hazelnuts instead of sesame!

2- and you will need unsweetened condensed milk.
Note that unsweetened condensed and evaporated are interchangeable- but cannot be substituted with sweetened condensed milk which has a much thicker consistency. 

3- finally, have some chocolate nearby. I made two versions- one with regular chocolate, and the other experimenting around with a caramel flavour, which gave a nice twist! As long as it's baking chocolate- so if you do go with a flavour twist, chocolates stuffed with oozing caramel or jelly fillings will not work.

And look what we have here...a to-die-for-hazelnut spread. 

Decadent, rich nutty chocolatey goodness that you'd have to hide in a password protected safebox! 

Now for the decisive moment- eat straight out of the jar, spread on fresh baguette, on a crepe...

...or eat straight out of the jar?

Recipe for Homemade Nutella (recommend to also read Notes below):

100gr good quality 50-70% chocolate, chopped

100gr pure hazelnut spread- no sugar added. 

200gr unsweetened condensed milk

Heat unsweetened condensed milk in a pot- just heat it but do not let it boil. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Cover pot with a lid for 5 mins. Remove lid and swirl until smooth consistency is obtained and let cool. Then transfer this to a mixer and add the hazelnut spread- mix until perfectly smooth. Empty into a dry and clean jar and enjoy! 

Notes:

Of course, if you wish you can add sugar. The above version produces a not-too-sweet result, but I think next time I would want to add 50 to 80gr sugar. Preferably icing (confectioner) sugar to ensure finest/smoothest texture.

Also- the next day I noticed a white grainy texture which turned out to be the condensed milk that somehow solidified in the process. Nothing to panic about, simply use a mixer/blender and puree it once again until smooth. After that, the white grains should not reappear- at least it did not in my case.

I'm no expert on expiry dates, but I'm guessing this should store well for a good 10 days...considering that chocolate, hazelnut paste and condensed milk as individual ingredients don't call for refridgeration and usually have lengthy expiry dates. I would also recommend that once ready, do not store in the fridge- unless you live in a country where it's very hot.

Finally- have fun experimenting: use different chocolate flavours, substitute with almond or walnut paste if you wish, add some liquor, and for a bit of crunch try some chocolate chips or chopped nuts!

TURRON & ALMOND BROWNIES

Well… I was hoping that I’d be more regular with my posts this year, but I guess things aren’t working out exactly as planned ! Since the beginning of the year, many events have been happening in my life which have taken up a lot of time from sharing my culinary experiences here! I hope this will change soon, because without the cooking…I just don’t quite feel the same…cooking, baking, spending time in the kitchen and being curious with ingredients is certainly an integral part of who I am!

Anyway, I thought I’d pop by with a chocolatey hello with scrumptious turron & almond brownies- giving the classic recipe a bit of a Spanish twist! I absolutely adore turron, especially turron de Jijona (the softer type), and I thought I’d throw some into a brownie recipe along with some almonds for a bit of a crunch!

The brownie recipe I usually follow never disappoints- except this time I thought I should add a bit more flour and prolong baking time by 10 mins… well let me tell you- do not do it! Because the end result was not as moist as I was hoping for, and instead I obtained a somewhat cakey-brownie texture. Nonetheless – do not get me mistaken- these culinary accidents still produced a delicious result, and these brownies are especially fantastic when enjoyed with a cup of coffee (turron and coffee pair up amazingly well!).

Turron & Almond brownies (the right recipe!):

200gr chocolate, 70%
200gr butter
200gr sugar
4 eggs
100gr flour
5gr baking powder
Pinch of salt
100gr chopped almonds
150gr Jijona turron, diced

Preheat oven to th4/180C/350F.
Start by roasting the almonds- either in the oven or in a pan. Roast for about 5 mins, this will make them crunchier and gives them a delicious scent! Remove from oven/pan, chop the almonds and set aside. Melt the butter with the chocolate, preferably over a bain-marie. Transfer to mixing bowl, add the sugar & eggs- whisk. Follow with the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Finally add the chopped almonds and turron blando- mix very gently. Bake in oven for 25 mins, remove and let cool before serving.

P.S: because the Jijona turron is so crumbly and fragile, it would be best to dice and place in the fridge a couple of hours (or even a day) prior to baking the brownies.