By Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen

Well, holidays are long over. The month of January has plunged us back into reality and became a month of reflection about our past excesses. But the good news is, February is here and it is time to think about chocolate and the Month of Love!

There are very few people I know that do not like chocolate. In fact, I know only of two – whose names or relationship I will not mention here for fear that they will suffer eternal ridicule. But seriously, isn’t chocolate the Foods of the Gods that are available to us humans? So I say let’s indulge!

When I was younger, I adored milk chocolate but as years passed I began craving the unadulterated taste of chocolate unblemished by copious amounts of sugar. Thus began my love affair with bittersweet chocolate.

Technically, chocolate should be made up of only three things: Dry cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar or in the case of unsweetened chocolate just the first two. Some additives like lecithin might be added as an emulsion stabilizer to reduce the possibility of the white film you sometimes see on chocolate known as “chocolate bloom”.

I think it is important to use good quality chocolate. We are lucky nowadays to have premium chocolates like Scharffenberger, Valrhona and Callebaut made available to the ordinary home baker. If you still do not have any of these chocolates in the supermarket, Chocosphere has an extensive line and so do Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma.

So with Valentines Day less than two weeks away, I now bring you a decadent selection of this ultimate food group, and a mainstay of the season of love.

First, from my archives and an all-time favorite - Intensely Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé. A recipe by the Queen of chocolate herself, Alice Medrich, this remains to be a popular choice for dinner parties because I can easily prepare it ahead of time and just pop into the oven after dinner and between washing the dishes and preparing tea or coffee.

The Essence of Chocolate is a book by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger. The collection of recipes are wonderful, the photographs droolworthy - and my dear friend Anita of Dessert First has made two recipes from this book which I have yet to attempt.

Before the chocolate soufflés, I was all about pots de crème – I even bought the covered porcelain pots that they traditionally are made in. I had the best one at a restaurant called the Fifth Floor in San Francisco. They are almost like chocolate pudding but a good pots de crème is just that…creamy, silky and just plain melt in your mouth sinful just like what Helen, my baking guru, has on Tartelette.

There are some blog entries that are simply unforgettable. Such as Nicole of Pinch my Salt’s Naughty Ice Cream Sandwiches. I have yet to make these tempting heart-shape brownie ice cream sandwiches but I’m sure it will be soon!

No roundup of chocolate is ever complete without Chocolate cookies so let me bring you the cookies with the mostest - Chocolate decadence cookies from Joycelyn of Kuidaore. More brownie than cookie, the secret is to chop the melting chunks of chocolate between 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch cube – any left over shards should be mixed in with the main cookie batter. Click here to receive your prescription strength chocolate fix.

You can also search FoodieView for tons of chocolate recipes, including Chocolate Pots De Creme, Chocolate Souffle, and Chocolate Cookies.

Veronica has lots more fiendishly delicious recipes perfect for Valentine’s Day on her blog Veronica’s Test Kitchen.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 9:39 am and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.