Sophisticated Smores

As a family we recently camped out in the back yard. It was a lot of fun, and my girls really enjoyed it. A camp out just wouldn't be a camp out without smores. A good smore makes you smile and always leaves you wanting 'smore', you get the crunch of the Graham Cracker, the smoothness of the melted chocolate, and the sweet stickiness of the marshmallow, and it is all encompassed in a delicious smokiness from the campfire.
As we were enjoying eating and making smores with my girls I began to think about ways of elevating the humble yet delicious childhood treat, and transforming it into a more sophisticated dessert.
This is what I came up with.


My 'Sophisticated Smore' still needed to maintain the integrity of the original, and therefore needed a Graham Cracker-esque element to the dish. I wanted to keep the familiar sandwich structure of the smore, and chose to make cinnamon tuiles as the vehicle for my smore.
A tuile is a very delicate and light cookie, which is often molded while still hot to form edible garnishes for ice creams and desserts.


My Cinnamon Tuiles:
125 g/4 oz softened unsalted butter (not margarine!)
125 g/4 oz icing/confectioners sugar
4 medium egg whites
125 g/4 oz plain flour
1 heaped tbsp cinnamon
I wanted my tuiles to look like a graham cracker, so I made a stencil 6cm/2 1/4'' by 12cm/4 1/2'' from stiff card, and wrapped it in plastic wrap.
Preheat the oven to 180 C./350 F. and line a baking sheet with baking parchment or silicone; personally I prefer to use a silicone sheet as it is reusable and I seem to get better results with it. Cream together the butter and sugar. I recommend using an electric whisk or mixer to save your arms, until it becomes pale and stiff; it should resemble butter cream frosting at this point. Next gradually beat in the egg whites. Once the whites are completely incorporated into the mix fold in the flour and cinnamon. Be careful not to over mix it or you will lose all of the air that you have so carefully whipped in.
Using a palette knife or spatula, smear some of the batter through the stencil onto your baking sheet, and repeat. Leave about an inch gap between the tuiles as this will make removing them easier.
Bake in the oven for about 4 minutes, or until they are beginning to go golden. Then remove them from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
These will keep for a few weeks in an airtight container, but they are best used straight away.
The next element of my smores is the chocolate. I wanted the chocolate aspect of the dish to evoke the heat and smokiness of the campfire. After some experimentation I came upon something I was happy with, a 'Smoked Paprika and Dark Chocolate Ganache'.
A chocolate ganache is incredibly easy to make and forms the basis of many chocolate desserts and treats such as truffles.
Smoked Paprika and Dark Chocolate Ganache:
125 g/4oz Good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
150ml/1/4 pint of double or heavy whipping cream
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika powder
To make the ganache, finely chop the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a heat-proof bowl. Then heat the cream and paprika in a saucepan until you get a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour it over the chocolate, mix thoroughly until all the chocolate has melted and you are left with a silky smooth gananche.
I wanted to pipe the marshmallow into my dessert, and so I could have used ready made marshmallow cream, but that just didn't seem to fit with this dessert. I didn't want something full of E numbers and chemicals; I wanted to know exactly what was in it. So I made it myself, which was actually much easier than I had expected. After trying several recipes and variations I found one that looked and tasted perfect. It is from a web sight called 'Wren's Cottage'.


For the recipe and instructions for how to make the Marshmallow Creme click here.
I added the seeds of a vanilla pod to syrup to make it extra tasty.


To assemble my smores, I spread some of the ganache onto a tuile, then using a piping bag with a 1/2'' nozzle I piped some of the marshmallow creme on top of the ganache. Using a chef's blow torch I caramelised the top of the marshmallow. This really adds the smell and flavour of campfire toasted marshmallows. To finish lay another tuile on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.


Enjoy!!!

Chocolate with a good pinch of humour.

Last year, while searching for suitable gifts for my in-laws, I came across the chocolate company 'Bloomsberry &Co'. They are a New Zealand based company who import Swiss chocolate, wrap it with their own unique brand of humour and then ship it around the world.


Their range of chocolate bars has something for most tastes, both in regards to your palate, with both milk (33% cocoa solids) and dark chocolate (75% cocoa solids), and your sense of humour.
They have 'Bochox' bars, for the relief of wrinkles, and 'Dechox' bars to 'detoxify your mind of all that bad mood food'.

There are bars such as 'Dr Chocolate' with the instructions to 'take 100g and call me in the morning', and the 'Girth Control' bar which helps you to avoid thinking about 'it' for up to 15 minutes.

There is also a bar for the 'Ultimate balanced diet', with clearly divided portions for your three daily meals.

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There are bars for glamorous ladies such as the 'Wonder Bar' is there to provide the 'lift you'll love', and more earthly bars for those who like to get dirty, or do the gardening, which are full of 'Blooming Marvelous' Swiss chocolate.

Bloomsberry & Co. also provide a 'Chocoscope', an astrological guide to chocolate consumption.

Because you just never know when a chocolate emergency may occur, they have produced a range of 'Emergency chocolate' available in milk, dark and hazelnut chocolate, for the 'immediate relief of chocolate cravings, love sickness, exam pressures, mild anxiety and extreme hunger'. Now we need never be caught unprepared!

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To see their full range of chocolate bars click here.

The chocolate bars are probably the best quality novelty chocolate that I have eaten, unlike most it actually tastes of chocolate and is smooth and creamy, whereas most novelty chocolates have a taste and a texture more reminiscent of coloured wax than chocolate.

I would have to say that these chocolate bars make excellent gifts to give away, but are not perhaps the best for when you just want to indulge your own chocolate cravings.

Edible bling!!!

For me, nothing says summer like fresh local strawberries. There are few things better than picking and eating juicy plump strawberries, and eating them while they are still warm from the sun, except perhaps taking those exact same strawberries and dipping them in chocolate!

My wife and I had a summer wedding, and one of the things we were adamant that we had at our reception were chocolate dipped strawberries. This is my take on a summertime classic, with just that bit of added bling!

We got our strawberries from our local 'pick your own' farm, Ganger Farm, if you don't have easy access to a 'pick your own' farm, strawberries are really easy to grow at home, alternatively you can use store bought, but I recommend using local and/or organic if they have them.

Once you have your strawberries you will need to wash them gently, and then leave to dry. Water and melted chocolate do not mix well.

For the chocolate I recommend using the best you can get, at least 70% cocoa solids, but if dark chocolate is not to your taste then use whatever chocolate you like best. I used Green & Blacks Dark with 85% cocoa solids. I broke the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water (though if you have one a double boiler would be perfect for this) and stir the chocolate slowly until all the pieces have melted and you are left with a smooth liquid. Be careful that when you are melting the chocolate you do not over heat it or get any water in with the chocolate or it will instantly change texture and become unworkable.

Now for the fun bit: dipping the strawberries in the chocolate. Everyone can join in with this; my girls loved helping with it, though I think they ate more than ended up on the plate! Pick the strawberries up by their green stems and dip them into the chocolatey goodness, then place them on a sheet of parchment paper and leave them somewhere cool and out of the sun while the chocolate sets.

You could take the chocolate dipped strawberries and enjoy them as they are, or you could embellish them to give them that added 'je ne sais quoi'.

Pure Gold is edible in small amounts, and is used in all kinds of things from fancy cocktails to Michelin starred desserts. It is important to use only pure 24ct gold. Most gold leaf is mixed with other materials to make it stronger and therefore easier to work with, or to provide a different colour; if you are unsure you can buy gold leaf that is labeled as 'edible' but this is just 24ct gold that they charge more for adding the word 'edible' to the cover of the book of gold leaves.

I get my gold and gilding tools from 'Gold Leaf Supplies' or 'Habberley Meadows'. I carefully turned out a single leaf from the book (make sure that you have loose leaf gold and not transfer leaf) onto a gilders cushion, and using a gilders knife cut the gold into small squares, as above.

Then using a guilders tip, a special brush made from squirrel hair, or a small natural brush such as sable, pick up a small square of gold. As you carefully lay the bristles from the brush on a piece of gold it should adhere to it due to static, sometimes though it may need a little extra help. Gently brush the bristles over the back of your hand, and then try again. Carefully lay the small pieces of gold onto the chocolate. The gold should stick to the chocolate because of the oils in it, then using a soft gilders mop, a very soft round brush as in the picture above, gently tap down the gold so that it is evenly stuck to the chocolate.




Finally, and most importantly, enjoy!!!

Welcome to my life in chocolate.

I, like all sane people, love chocolate. I always have. I love eating it, I love baking and cooking with it and I love trying new things with it. It really is the perfect food. You can eat it or drink it, it can be used as an ingredient in sweet or savoury dishes, or just by itself.

For me, chocolate is not just something to eat. It is part of my life. This blog is somewhere for me to share recipes and ideas, as well as discuss the wonderfull world of chocolate.