Yes, I know. I was supposed to post about the great freezer cook up - and I will, really I will, but the notes I took were atrocious (though I thought at the time they were great) and I’ve been very distracted by work (of which more below).

But I had to get this in - the J.D. Gross range of speciality chocolates are back at Lidl. Oh happy, happy day for chocoholics everywhere! The range has been expanded too, with several new ones alongside old favorites, including some very interesting looking fruit flavoured ones, which I haven’t tried yet.

As a lover of really, really dark chocolate I went first for the three bars pictured here, each of which cost €1.59 for 100g and all of which were sampled by a small group of chocolate lovers after dinner this evening.

Let’s take them from left to right.

San Martin 77% with Cocoa Nibs

This bar is studded with tiny nibs of roast cocoa bean, which give it a slightly coffeeish flavour. The chocolate is rich and smooth with a flavour that is deep but not bitter. When you bite on one of the cocoa nibs it’s like a small intensely chocolaty explosion in your mouth - sounds odd, but it’s very good!

This one was got the thumbs up from everyone.

I had one little niggle about chocolate from San Martin, which is, according to the package, in the north of Peru, close to the source of the Amazon. I just wondered were they growing their cocoa on areas of cleared rain forest, but it seems not. Apparantly this was an area where for generations a very different crop was widely grown - coca - but that has been pretty much entirely stamped out. So that’s good then.

Ambanja 72% with Red Pepper

Certainly different, this chocolate from Madagascar was not to everyone’s taste. I’ve had plain chocolate from Madagascar before and liked it - it has a naturally slightly fruity taste that’s very distinctive and very pleasant.

For some reason this bar has more of a minty flavour that the spicy one you’d expect from red pepper. Not entirely unpleasant, but sort of strange. The pieces of red pepper are quite large and a nibble that includes one is very different from one that doesn’t. I preferred the bits without.

I wasn’t really sold on it, but for one person it was the big hit of the three, so it really is a very personal thing. It’s certainly worth trying, if only for the novelty value.

Arriba Superier 81%

This is one for those who like their chocolate really dark - and I loved it! Arriba Superier from Ecuador is a king among cocoa beans and the quality tells in this bar. It is very intense and rich in flavour, but still smooth, with a sort of earthy taste.

If you are not a real dark chocolate lover though, it may be too much, as some found it this evening. But it would definitely be a fantastic bar for cooking and that that price no more expensive than the disgusting stuff often sold for that purpose.

This was the winner for me. It’s also very low in carbs for those for whom such things matter - even if you scoffed a whole bar at one sitting (which is unlikely, with chocolate this intense a couple of squares would satisfy most people) it would only be 22g of carb.

So, work. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working with the slave driver outrageously talented Sabrina Dent on the Curious Wines website which launched yesterday, in good time for you to go along and pick up a case or two of festive wines for Christmas.

I was, to be honest, too concerned with making the site work up to now to pay all that much attention to what was actually available there, but I took some time to have a good look at the wines themselves to-day. There really is some excellent value there and some very interesting looking wines - some made from grapes I’ve never even heard of but would love to try. Do have a look.

And I promise I’ll beat the freezer stuff into submission in the next few days!

Tags: Chocolate, Christmas, Wine
Posted in Chocolate, Wine | 11 Comments »

For all the excellent speakers and interesting talks at Podcamp in Kilkenny, I think few would disagree that among the biggest hits of the day were Deborah’s Chocolate Brownies, a huge pile of which disappeared with indecent haste!

Though they definitely are not low carb, I ate one (oh ok, two!) and all I can say is yum, yum, yum.

It sent me back to a recipe that resulted from a task that absorbed me off and on for months: to make a successful low-carb brownie. Not a pale imitation of what a brownie should be, but the real deal -succulent, rich, deep and luxurious.

It took a little experimentation, and a couple of almost inedible results, but these ones totally hit the spot. And they contain absolutely no flour or sugar.

This is what you need:

• 100g ground almonds
• 100g Linwoods milled Flaxseed, Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds *
• 10g Splenda
• 20g unsweetened cocoa powder (Green & Black is best, Bournville will do)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bread soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80 mls cream
• 40g dark chocolate (ie. 4 squares Lidl Ecuador or Fair Trade dark chocolate)
• 1/4 lb butter, cut into dice
• 3 eggs

* The milled seeds are essential - I tried several versions using just ground almonds as the ‘flour’ and they were not good. The seeds are available in most supermarkets but are usually cheaper if you buy them in a health food store.

Mix all the dry ingredients (down to the salt) together.

Put the cream into a bowl with the chcolate and warm in a microwave for about 20-30 seconds. The chocolate should then dissolve into the cream with a little stirring. Add the butter to this and stir until the butter is soft, it doesn’t need to be completely melted.

Beat the chocolate mix into the dry ingredients. Beat in the eggs one at a time. You’ll end up with a slightly granular mixture.

I use this octagonal silicon tray which is 9″ in diameter for these, but any baking tray of about that size will do - the bigger the tray the thinner the brownie. I like ‘em deep as the picture shows!

Bake at 180° for about 30 mins - the centre will set but yeilding to the touch when they’re done.

The icing is sort of optional, but to my mind if you are going to be self-indulgent, don’t half do it! For it you will need:

• 40g dark chocolate (as above)
• 2 tablespoons cream
• About half an ounce of butter
• 125g Mascarpone cheese
• 1 dessertspoon Splenda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or real vanilla)

Melt the chocolate into the cream in the microwave to the point where there are still a few lumps in it. Stir to melt these. Add the butter and stir to melt. Beat the chocolate mixture and the splenda and vanilla into the mascarpone. Spread over the brownies in the tray when they have reached the point of being just warm.

The icing will take an hour or two to set, so leave the brownies uncut in their tray for this time.

This makes about 16 large or about 20 smaller brownies, depending on how you cut them.

For those interested in such things, they come out at just a little more than 2g net carbs per brownie - not bad for such a luxury and well under 10%, perhaps as little as 5%, of what’s in a ‘normal’ brownie of the same size. You can get them down to 1.5g if you use Lindt or Green & Black 85% chocolate. There is a tremendous amount of fat in them as you can see, so if low fat is your concern, these are a big no-no.

They are however horrendously expensive to make, no getting away from it. Compared to using flour, almond and milled seeds cost a LOT. Getting the chocolate, mascarpone and cream in Lidl helps, but doesn’t make them a bargain by a long shot.

Still, life isn’t ALL about bargains!

Tags: Brownies, Chocolate, Treats
Posted in Chocolate, Low carb, Recipes | 2 Comments »

After the chocolate tasting I had most of three bars of chocolate left over, so it was time to make a really intensely chocolaty dessert. And these rich and delicious logs fit the bill perfectly.

It’s a sort of an all day project to make them - though each stage is simple there is waiting time along the way. But they are well, well worth the effort.

This is what you do, in the order of doing it:

1. The nut base

• 60g whole hazelnuts
• 20g butter
• 1 teaspoon sugar or splenda
• 10g of chocolate, which is one square of Lidl’s Ecuador or Fair Trade chocolate.

Put the hazelnuts in a preheated oven (180° C) and roast for about 5 minutes. Remove and while still warm but 2/3rd of them into a blender with the butter, chocolate and sugar and whizz till quite fine. Then put in the rest of the nuts and whizz again just enough to chop them into smallish pieces.

Liberally smear whatever container you are using with butter (even if it is non-stick). Press the hazelnut mix into the bottom of the container. Return to the oven and cook for 5-10 minutes until nicely brown. Watch it carefully - it’s very easy to burn.

Leave to cool fully.

I made these in the silicon tray on the left, which I picked up in TK Maxx a while back - I love the kitchen stuff you find there. But you could equally make them in a tray with round cups.

However it is best if whatever container you use has fairly straight sides. You may get four portions rather than three with different sized containers.

2. The Hazelnut Filling

• 2 heaped dessert spoons of Hazelnut butter
• 1 heaped dessert spoons of sugar/splenda
• 1 inch of vanilla pod (or 1/2 teasp vanilla extract)
• 1/2 envelope of powdered gelatine (or a bit less)
• 100mls boiling water (a bit less than half a cup)
• 20g chocolate
• 50 mls cream
• 1 teaspoon strong instant coffee (I used Gold Blend)

Mix the hazelnut butter and sugar together well. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix through.

Put the boiling water into a cup and sprinkle on the geletine. Leave for about 2 minutes before stirring, then stir very well. Don’t worry if it does not all dissolve, you really just need whatever amount does dissolve. Mix this gradually into the hazelnut mix, passing it though a small seive to remove any undissolved geletine.

Put the chocolate and the cream into a small microwave proof bowl and zap for about 40 seconds at high. Stir to fully dissolve the chocolate. It it’s still in lumps return and zap for another 10-20 seconds. When the mix is fully smooth, add the coffee and stir to dissolve.

Blend the chocolate/coffee cream into the hazelnut mix very thoroughly. I used a stick blender to do this.

Pour the filling into the containers over the nut base, filling them right to the top. You may well have a little filling left over - that’s the cook’s bonus, just let it set and eat it up!

Put the container into the fridge and leave to cool and set for at least 3-4 hours.

3. The Chocolate Topping

• 50g chocolate
• 40 mls cream
• 20g butter at room temperature

I didn’t add any sugar to this, there is enough in the filling and biscuit to offset the rich darkness of the topping, but you could add a little if you wanted to.

Remove the logs from their containers carefully - you may need to loosen them by running a knife around the edges of the container first - as the nut base can be a little delicate. Place them on parchment paper, well separated so that they are easy to work with.

Melt the chocolate into the cream as you did earlier when making the filling. Stir in the butter little by little until it is all dissolved.

Using a spoon, divide the chocolate between the logs equally, pouring it over the tops in a thick layer. It will start to pour down the sides - help it, using a knife to spread it out so that all sides of the logs have a good covering of chocolate.

Don’t worry about getting it perfectly smooth or even - it really doesn’t matter - but it should be a fairly thick layer.

4. Serve and Eat!

The logs need another hour or two in the fridge before they are ready to serve, but will also keep perfectly well overnight, so you can make them a day ahead.

I served these very simply, with a dollop of vanilla cream. You can also slice them and arrange the slices on a plate, which looks very nice and has the advantage that you’ll probably be able to get more portions. These were large portions - but funnily enough nobody complained.

Tags: Chocolate, Hazel Nuts, Recipes
Posted in Chocolate, Recipes | 8 Comments »

If you’re looking for ‘experts’ to taste test chocolate, where better to go than the school gate? After all everyone knows that it’s a scientific fact that women not only want but actually need chocolate. Or at least if it isn’t it should be.

They may not be nerdy connoisseurs, but if the mummies say it’s yummy, that’s good enough for me. So the other day when doing the school pick up, I brought along bags containing small pieces of these three high cocoa chocolates, marked simply A, B and C, and held an impromptu tasting session.

Fifteen people tasted, thirteen mummies, one teacher (who is also a mummy!) and one daddy, and this is how it came out.

Chocolate A: Green & Black 70%

Price: €2.90 for 100g

This came last. I admit I was surprised as I like it and often buy it. Others were equally surprised when it was revealed which was which.

The one person who liked it best liked it a lot but several people had a “yuck” or “This tastes weird” reaction - which nobody had to either of the other two.

Origin: No country specified, but website states cocoa beans mostly come from Belize and the Dominican Republic

Organic? Yes Fair Trade? No

Cocoa Beans: Trinitario.

Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Mass, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract.

Nutrition (per 100g): 551 kcal; Protein: 9.3g; Carbohydrate: 36g; Fat: 41.1g.

Chocolate B: Lidl’s 70% Ecuador Chocolate

Price: €1.49 for 100g

This was the favourite one for six people. Several people asked for second samples in order to finally decide between this one and C - or at least that’s why they said they wanted more!

Whatever about it’s popularity with these tasters, there is no doubt that Lidl shoppers love this chocolate. It is recently often sold out and when a box is opened it disappears very, very fast.

Origin: Los Rios, Ecuador.

Organic? No Fair Trade? No

Cocoa Beans: Arriba.

Ingredients: Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifying agent: Soya Lecithin, vanilla.

Nutrition (per 100g): 533 kcal; Protein: 7.6g; Carbohydrate: 31g; Fat: 42g.

Chocolate C: Lidl’s Fair Trade Dark Choclate (70%)

Price: €1.49 for 100g

The narrow but decisive winner, with eight people choosing it as the tastiest. Most of those who found it hard to choose between B and C, and took a second taste of each, plumped in the end for this one.

This was the only chocolate of the three that anyone described as tasting creamy, which strikes me as odd as it’s got the lowest fat content and is the only one with no vanilla, so I’d have expected it to be the most ‘dark’ tasting.

Origin: Ghana.

Organic? No Fair Trade? Yes

Cocoa Beans: Not Specified.

Ingredients: Cocoa Mass, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin.

Nutrition (per 100g): 525 kcal; Protein: 7.7g; Carbohydrate: 33.1g; Fat: 40.2g.

Which one is my favourite? I like them all but probably would go with the majority and pick the Lidl Fair Trade. But my favourite chocolate of all remains the ultra dark 85% cocoa from Green & Black.

Tags: Chocolate, Taste Test
Posted in Chocolate, Taste Test | 11 Comments »

About 20 minutes before RTE arrived yesterday, they called me up and said “We think it might be good to film you cooking.” YIKES!

I had easily the least well stocked fridge I’ve had in months, no time to shop or defrost anything and no idea what I could possibly cook.  When I calmed down I realised all I could do was work backwards - look at what was there and then figure out what to make with that.

I had chocolate, cream, walnuts and mascarpone. Ok then, I’d make a chocolaty, walnutty…something.

I don’t know how the TV chefs do it, because I can tell you I didn’t find it one bit easy to cook with a great big camera in the kitchen. I was just thankful that, in the absence of taste-a-vision, it didn’t really matter how it turned out.

In the end they turned out fine, were eaten and enjoyed and will henceforth be known as RTE Cakes.

It’s a type of dessert I make fairly often, because it’s quick, can be made in advance and if you take some time to dress it up nicely can look quite impressive.

50g Walnuts
4 squares JD Gross Ecuador chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 oz butter
125g (half a tub) Lidl Mascarpone
50 mls cream
2 dessert spoons of castor sugar (or equivalent Splenda)
Raspberries

1. Make the nut base

Spread the walnuts on a baking tray with about a third of the butter and put into a medium oven for 5-10 mins, or until the nuts are getting slightly brown. Stir them well to coat with the butter about half way through.

Put the toasted nuts with one dessert spoon of sugar in a bowl and crush very finely. You can use a pestle and morter to do this, I use a stick blender, but you’ll need a high sided bowl or the nuts go everywhere.

2. Make the chocolate topping

Put the chocolate, cream and the rest of the butter in a microwaveable dish and microwave for about 30 seconds, until the chocolate has just melted. Mix until it is completely smooth.

Beat together the mascarpone, vanilla and the remainder of the sugar. Add the chocolate to this and beat together.

3. Assemble

To assemble the cups, divide the crushed walnuts between 4 cake cases* and press down firmly. Top with the chocolate mascarpone mixture. Then put into the fridge for at least 3-4 hours - overnight is also fine.

4. Serve

To serve, peel off the cake cases, surround with raspberries (or make a coulis if you are feeling more creative), top with cream and grate over a little chocolate.

* You can use paper cake cases, but I use silicon ones that are available in Dunnes at €4 for 12.

This isn’t the cheapest dessert you’ll ever have, but it tastes like it costs multiples of what it actual does. Here’s what it cost me.

Cost: Walnuts 50c; Chocolate 60c; Mascaprone 75c; Raspberries €1.00; sundry cupboard items 20c.
Total: €3.05 or just over 75c per portion.

The walnuts, chocolate and mascarpone are all from Lidl, but the raspberries were bought from a local grower and are a truly superior raspberry and exceptional value at €2.50 for a big punnet. If you live near Kilkenny, or are visting for the Art’s Festival, take yourself out to Purcell’s in Dunmore, on the road to Castlecomer, and get yourself some of these beauties.

Tags: Chocolate, Recipes, RTE, Walnuts
Posted in Chocolate, Recipes | 5 Comments »