Pistachio, Cranberry, and White Chocolate Bark

While I’m not a fan of white chocolate personally – though I always requested a white chocolate Easter bunny when I was younger – Michael is, so I when I want to make a treat that is just for him I often do so with white chocolate.

I snapped some pictures so I could throw together a recipe for the blog at the same time. 🙂 Though – a reminder to my lovely readers – I’m not a chocolatier, just an amateur enthusiast.

Pistachio, Cranberry, and White Chocolate Bark

200 grams (0.44 pounds/approx. 7 ounces) white chocolate*

1/4 cup pistachios (shelled) (heaping)

1/4 cup dried cranberries (heaping)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the chocolate to a large heat proof bowl. Set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir frequently until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove bowl from the heat, wiping the bottom (if you get any water in your chocolate it will seize). Stir chocolate until it is completely melted.

Mix in cranberries and pistachios.

Scrape the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, using the spatula to spread it to desired thickness. Sprinkle with extra nuts and fruit, if desired.

Refrigerate the baking sheet until the chocolate sets. Once the bark is firm, break it into pieces. Store in the refrigerator.

I had to shell the pistachios because I couldn’t find any unshelled! Remember that nuts do go bad so please use the freshest you can find.

*I used Zephyr by Cacao Barry (34% cocoa – a lightly sweet white chocolate with an intense milk taste). Feel free to switch out the chocolate but Michael gave this flavour combo a massive thumbs up.

More pictures:

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Chocolate Palettes

When I have extra chocolate in the house, or perhaps odds and ends of chocolate leftover, I occasionally make these Chocolate Palettes. I’m not a chocolatier – just an exceedingly enthusiastic amateur – and no matter how many times I try, or whose directions I follow, I can’t seem to properly temper chocolate. But since these tasty bits usually get eaten straight out of the fridge, I don’t worry about the grey streaks that can appear when you don’t temper chocolate properly. If you want them to continue looking pretty for guests, pull them out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Palettes

200 grams (0.44 pounds/approx. 7 ounces) dark chocolate, chopped*

various nuts, roasted**

various dried fruit, cut into small pieces***

Fleur du sel (optional)

Spoon chocolate onto prepared baking sheet by the teaspoon. Allow to cool more.

Dot rounds with nuts and fruit. Sprinkling with Fleur de sel, if desired.

Refrigerate the baking sheet until the chocolate sets. Makes approx. 26 palettes.

Store in the refrigerator.

As you can see by the pictures I’m fairly random with my various toppings. One nut with two pieces of fruit. Two nuts with two pieces of fruit. Sometimes I add sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Remember that nuts and seeds do go bad so please use the freshest you can find.

*I used a 85% cocoa and a 73% cocoa chocolate bar, plus Fleur de Cao from Cacao Barry (a 70% cocoa – strong cocoa flavour with subtle floral and fruity notes).

** I used pistachios and almonds

*** I used organic dried cranberries, dried pear, and dried plum. I soak the pear in pineapple juice for approx. 15 minutes before dehydrating it. So it’s pretty much candy. The plums are Early Italian, which I eat/dry about 40 pounds of each year. No, I’m not exaggerating.

In pictures:

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bar

Randomly on a Friday …

It’s been a tough week. I always have issues when writing first drafts – it often feels as if I’m forcing every word onto the page – but Reconstructionist 2 is heavily influenced by my personal history (though, obviously, a completely fictional, fantastical accounting) and I’m ending most of my writing stints in tears. So it’s been a slog. The second draft will be much smoother.

Yesterday, I took an hour off before dinner and made banana bread before the bananas were only good for compost, and I spotted an unopened bag of marshmallows in my baking drawer. We’d bought them to use for candied yams, then didn’t end up making any yams for Christmas dinner.

I immediately decided I desperately needed to make some marshmallow bar with this unexpected but welcomed bounty. And that, besides being tasty, the bars (and making of) would mollify my bruised soul, as chocolate always does.

According to my notes, I’d been working on this recipe in the Spring of 2015 but had yet to perfect it. I’m pleased to say my slight tweak last night made it perfectly sharable.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bar

1/8 cup/28 grams of butter

1/2 cup/120 ml peanut butter*

1 – 250 gram/8 ounce (?) bag of mini marshmallows

170 grams/6 oz of dark chocolate**

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add chocolate and peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Fold in marshmallows. Spread in a parchment paper lined 8- or 9-inch square pan. Chill until firm (at least 2 hours). Cut into squares, or rectangles, as preferred. Store in refrigerator.

The key with this simple recipe is to use the highest quality ingredients you can get your hands on. Butter, not margarine. Old-fashioned peanut butter (the type with no added ingredients that you need to stir the oil into), and, of course, quality dark chocolate.

*I might have heaped the peanut butter. 😀

**I used 72% cacao, single origin, Venezuela from Cacao Barry.

I find something joyful hidden in the texture of these simply decadent bars. And I believe I shall publish this post and eat another before dinner.

An excellent chocolate mousse recipe

I decided a few weeks ago that it had been far too long since I’d tried to make a great chocolate mousse (and failed miserably). Some Googling a few days ago led me to Gourmantine The Blog, and specifically, this post on the best chocolate mousse recipes.

I was intrigued by the ‘winning’ recipe by pastry chef David Lebovitz – especially because it didn’t call for the traditional heavy cream – so I grabbed a screenshot and whipped it up this afternoon.

I followed the recipe as written, though the yolk really didn’t want to be ‘whisked’ into the chocolate, so I just stirred vigorously. I also might have over stiffened the whites slightly. I used sea salt.

A recipe in pictures (with commentary):

I used a mixture of these three chocolates by Cacao Barry to make up the 200g. The resulting mousse was quite dark, so I could have used slightly less of the Tanzanie (75%).

‘Stiff peak’ egg whites. Remember to bring your eggs to room temp before whipping. I think these might be slightly over whipped.

I managed to get chocolate everywhere, of course and always.

The recipe made six mousses that perfectly filled my six glass ramekins.

After three hours of chill time. Dense but fluffy. Creamy and rich. Almost too dark (my fault). I would suggest serving the mousse with a dollop of whipped cream or some fresh berries for balance.

I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. It’s brilliant.

What’s in Meghan’s Mug?

UPDATED OCTOBER 2019: I use a Milk Cafe (affiliate link) instead of a pot and stirring myself (this is not a recommendation. I’ve had to replace mine twice, but it still makes a great hot chocolate). My current chocolate mixture is 30g of Manjari, 10g of Tanzanie (Cacao Barry), and 10g of Saint Dominque.

ORIGINAL POST (CIRCA 2015)

So yesterday Jamie asked me for my hot chocolate recipe, and I had to tell her that I didn’t actually have one because I usually wing it.

Then Aja shared this meme with me:

And I laughed and laughed, then felt guilty about not having a recipe to share. So I pulled out the scale and the liquid measuring cup today, and voila!

MCD’s Daily Hot Chocolate Recipe

Ingredients

Approx. 2 cups skim milk [so just shy of 500 ml]

40 grams of Manjari [approx. 1.4 ounces] (64% single origin from Grand Cru; Valrhona)

20 grams [approx 0.7 ounces] of Saint Dominque (70% single origin; Cacao Barry)

A pinch of Fleur de Sel (optional) [I use this if I feel the need to sweeten the chocolate]

Instructions

I fill my travel mug with skim milk [turns out this is about 2 cups or 500 ml], then I dump this milk into a small pot and heat it to the point before scalding (but not actually scalding).

While the milk is warming, I toss the chocolate into a regular-sized mug or bowl (because that is easier to stir than the deeper travel mug). Usually, I don’t weigh the chocolate. I simply toss in a bunch of my go-to chocolate, Manjari, then add a smaller amount of my secondary chocolate-of-the-month.

If I’m adding salt to sweeten, I do so at this point. But I usually don’t need to with the Manjari base.

I pour approx. 1/3^rd of the hot milk over the chocolate (filling the mug about halfway), then let it sit for about two minutes.

Then I stir. Vigorously. First in one direction; for approx. one minute. Then, in the other direction; for approx. another minute.

Yes, I stir for that amount of time. Sometimes even longer. Don’t judge me. I love my hot chocolate. It’s a daily ritual. A moment I take each day.

I add a bit more of the hot milk, enough to almost fill the mug; stirring again. Yes, again. Seriously.

Then I pour the chocolate mixture into my travel mug, setting it aside.

I add the remaining hot milk to the now empty, but still chocolate-coated, regular mug (or bowl, if that’s what you opted to use). I also place the chocolate-coated spoon in the hot milk. Then I wait another two or so minutes, allowing the remnants of the chocolate to melt off the spoon and bottom of the mug. I stir this as well, scraping the bottom of the mug and mixing in as much of the residual chocolate as possible.

Then I pour everything into the travel mug.

And stir one more time. Carefully now, because the travel mug is usually pretty full by this point.

Yes.

Stir one more time.

It’s totally worth it.

Notes

If you want a richer hot chocolate, you can sub half of the skim milk for cream or whole milk.

This recipe calls for a large amount of chocolate, so you can totally back off on that.

Try blending a bunch of different chocolates until you come up with your favourite taste profile. This month I’ve been switching the Saint Dominque back and forth with Inaya, a 65% pur noir from Cacao Barry.

What is your favourite ‘beautiful chocolate’? 😀

Tasty!

Banana Bread and Tanzanie

I tossed a couple of handfuls of Tanzanie by Cacao Barry in the banana bread I made last Saturday for our anniversary. Then, with too many indulgences in Vancouver already, we didn’t eat any of it until yesterday morning.

It’s insanely good. I’m not a fan of the Tanzanie on its own or as a hot chocolate. But it’s amazing in the Chewy Gooey Chocolate Cookies and now in banana bread.

By the way, Michael cut this insanely thick slice for breakfast, not me. 😉

Dowser 5: chocolate

I’ve had a few requests to post a list of the chocolate eaten or mentioned in the Dowser books, so I thought I would dash off this blog post so if you wanted to get your hands on any of this chocolate before the release date for Dowser 5 (July 23, 2015) then you would have a bit of time to do so.

Inaya chocolate discs from Cacao Barry — a 65 percent blend of intense but balanced cocoa. Purchased at Chocolate Arts in Vancouver along with chocolate for my stash (in the bag) and a seriously yummy bittersweet hot chocolate (in the pig mug).

The holy trinity of chocolate bars — aka Loma Sotavento from the Dominican Republic, Gran Couva from Trinidad, and El Pedregal from Venezuela by Valrhona. Purchased from Xoxolat.

Ritual Chocolate – 75 percent Madagascar, made-in-Colorado chocolate bar. Purchased from Xoxolat.

Lindt’s 70 percent Madagascar – I wanted to add a bar that I thought most of the Dowser readers might be able to get their hands on. This was a gift from my sis-in-law, Cindy. 🙂

^^^ And a little something it’s good for all of us to remember! ^^^

<3 <3 <3

The Dowser 5 ebook will be available THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015 on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, B&N, and Smashwords. The paperback will follow about two weeks later. The preorders should start going live around July 9 or 10th.

To help celebrate there will be two large giveaways. One the week before (July 15 – 18) and one the week of the release (July 20 – 23).

Don’t want to miss the release day? Please make sure you are signed up for my mailing list.

Don’t want to miss the giveaways? Please subscribe to my blog via the link second from the top on the righthand side of this page.

Chocolate before 9am

I was just sucking away on some deliciously smooth Boa Sentenca (Cacao Barry) while I cleared out my inbox when it occured to me that it might be a little early in the morning for chocolate, no matter how tasty. And yep, turns out it’s 8:56am as I type this blog post.

Chocolate before 9am is early even for me.

But I figure, since the fire alarm went off to tell us the power was BACK on at 4:40am, and I – ignorant of the time – remained awake and rewrote the entire ending of Dowser 6 while lying in bed, that it’s actually way passed regular chocolate-imbibing time. You know, technically.

Seriously though, why can’t I just plug a computer into my brain? I’ve known how Dowser 6 was going to end for a year now. And, though I’ve tweaked and fleshed out the idea over the last 12 months, the core ending remains the same. The frustration is that it’s still in my head, still haunting my early morning hours … along with my late evenings. To compound that frustration, I have a novel to finish (Dowser 5) and a novel to write (Oracle 2) before I can even crack the spine on a new notebook for Dowser 6 (beyond the pages and pages of notes and scenes I already have jotted down).

All I can hope is that the end result is worth the sleepless nights. For me and Dowser Series readers.

Of course, by then I imagine something new will be haunting me … from inside my own brain.

I guess that’s just normal around here.

Okay, well then. Back to work.

4-week old Swedish Flower Hen cockerel. For you. Just because. Now stop pointing that big red-encased iPad at me and get back to work! — 4-week and two-day old Swedish Flower Hen cockerel. For you. Just because.

Kelly’s box of chocolate

I have been exceedingly blessed in the last few years by lovely readers who have become supportive friends, some of whom I haven’t even met in person yet. I’ve talked about Gertie and her cupcake support committee here, here, and here (one for each Dowser book). I also still have Karen’s trinket hanging on my monitor where I get to see it every morning.

And then there is lovely Kelly. She sent this:

<3 I’ve made a screensaver out of the above image <3

I knew a treat was coming, because Kelly and I had been trying to meet for a hot chocolate last month – yes, we know each other in real life, however our paths do not naturally cross 🙁 But life was insanely busy with moving and family. Kelly finally convinced me that she should just mail the package to me as a house warming gift.

This is what was so brilliantly packaged inside – yes, brand new chocolate!!!

Five freaking kilograms of Ocoa by Cacao Barry to be exact!! That’s 11.02 pounds for my American friends. I, of course, immediately opened, poured, and tasted 🙂

This huge box of “support” will get me through writing a couple of more Dowser books, at the very least. I’m thinking of making brownies, cupcakes, and perhaps some Chewy Gooey Chocolate Cookies with it.

In fact, I’m designing up some new cupcakes for Dowser 4 and I’m seriously thinking of using this chocolate to make them, then sending tasters to Kelly for her approval. That won’t even dent this box of goodness – yes, I’m greedy and selfishly-bent when it comes to good chocolate.

Thank you Kelly, for all your support and the chocolate. It is – you are – very appreciated and cherished!