I'm not a huge chocolate fan. I like it OK, but I don't eat it very often - maybe a couple of times a month - and I very seldom crave it. I think chocolate has very little place in a dessert course, because it is too rich and heavy after almost anything. The best place for chocolate is as a little treat at teatime. Maybe a piece of chocolate tart. Maybe a chocolate roulade filled with mascarpone and berries. Maybe a square of millionaire shortbread. Maybe just a chocolate digestive.
But I have to say, I made an impulsive purchase at the supermarket yesterday, and I think I have embarked on a whole new life-stage of chocolate binging. Marks and Spencer organic fairtrade milk chocolate with nutmeg, cinnamon and coriander. Heaven! Like a chocolatey chai. It set me to fantasising about using it to make chocolate mousse, and hot chocolate, and infusing those flavours in dark chocolate to make truffles for Christmas. I fear it is a limited edition line, so I will have to stock up before they take it away from me!
1 comment:
Oh what bliss, and fair-trade bliss at that!
There's a French label named Dolfin with a fine range of flavoured chocolate (lavender dark chocolate is especially nice), but their masala spiced version is milk choc, unfortunately for me. And I don't know if they are fair trade.
The way I do dark chai truffles is to infuse the cream for the ganache with a little tea and the spices (cardamom, cinnamon stick, coriander seed, rosepetal & a bit of chilli) and letting it sit to 'brew' before the chocolate meets it—you could go quite mad with this as a cake drizzler or a sauce.
Now you have me wondering if a masala chai chocolate frozen parfait might be a nice family Christmas dinner contribution.
Post a Comment