With Valentines Day upon us, I thought it would be fun to make some delicious and healthy rose chocolate. What shows you care (for yourself or someone else) more than a treat that is good for the body and soul. Dark chocolate boosts your mood, rose and vanilla soothe and calm, while cinnamon and cayenne pepper support heart health. Making chocolate is a lot of hard work if you do it right from scratch (as I discovered on a trip to Mexico, Guatemala & Belize back in 2015). But you can … [Read more...]
Making chocolate from scratch
My last post on making homemade chocolate reminded me of when I had a go at making chocolate from scratch. Back in 2015 my mother Gill and I travelled through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize and we visited a chocolate shop in San Ignacio, Belize for the full chocolate making experience. It is a lot more intensive that when starting from a kit! Next stop is the A’Jaw Chocolate shop – it was a bit hard to find but definitely worth a visit. It is owned by a local family who have relatives further … [Read more...]
Homemade Raw Cacao Chocolate
An Easter weekend in lockdown seemed like the perfect time to try making chocolate. I had bought a Homemade Raw Cacao Chocolate Kit from Mad Millie when it was on special and had been saving it up to make. The kit comes with everything in it that you need to make 8 bars of dark chocolate - recipe booklet, chocolate moulds, wraps and labels, and of course the ingredients. If you decide to make milk chocolate or some of the other recipes you will need to supply some extra ingredients … [Read more...]
Chocolate Orange Sherbet Slice Recipe
My navel orange tree was laden with fruit this year so I was searching for as many different orange recipes as I could find and this Chocolate Orange Sherbet Slice recipe grabbed my attention. Chocolate and orange go so wonderfully together and sherbet is the stuff of childhood memories so I had to give it a try. I stupidly didn't read the ingredients carefully and assumed that 500g dark chocolate was the amount in a packet of chocolate melts - it wasn't! The packet only had 400g so my … [Read more...]
Chocolate Cherry Tart Recipe
Chocolate and cherries are a match made in heaven and this chocolate cherry tart recipe is perfect for a special occasion. I made it for Christmas day and served it surrounded by lovely scrumptious fresh cherries that had just come into season and with some frangelico cream on the side. Be warned though, the dark chocolate makes it an extremely rich dessert so you only need a tiny piece. Even my nephews had to admit defeat - although it was at the end of a long afternoon of Christmas … [Read more...]
Black Forest Jam Recipe
Cherries and Chocolate - a match made in heaven! This year I made the most of a good supply of cherries (sadly not from my garden) and froze them (taking the pits out with an olive pitter). Now I have the luxury of trying different cherry recipes when I feel like it. When I saw this Black Forest Jam recipe I knew that I just had to make it (with a few adaptations). It has a lovely rich black forest flavour, not too chocolatey, not too sweet. 1 kg sweet black cherries (stones removed, … [Read more...]
Chocolate Apple Cake
Although my ballerina apple trees only produced 4 apples this year, it was enough to make my favourite chocolate apple cake. It is light and moist, and easy to blitz together in the food processor. It is great as a cake or as a dessert. 2-3 apples 125g butter (melted) 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 cup flour 2 tbsp cocoa 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking soda Food processor - chop unpeeled apples, add remaining ingredients in the order given. Process in short bursts until combined. Turn into … [Read more...]
Hot chocolate drink recipe
After helping make chocolate from cocoa beans on my recent trip to Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, this seemed like a perfect gift for friends and family. Indulgent, decadent and comforting, perfect for winter. Warm, rich and creamy with a bit of a zing from the chilli and ginger. 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 2/3 cup Dutch cocoa powder* 3/4 cup icing sugar 1/4 tsp salt 2 tbsp cornflour 1/4 tsp chilli powder 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon Add all … [Read more...]