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Hot Chocolate 3 Ways

I have to say that on the rare occassion that I drink hot chocolate I usually reach for the jarred variety and add a slug of whole milk to add richness and somehow lessen the guilt over my poor choice of “cheating” hot beverage. But eventually enough is enough & you have to take a stand & make something that you yourself could proudly share with a like minded foodie. So with this in mind I sat down with pen & paper & decided what my perfect hot chocolate would be be. Not necessarily an every day hot chocolate (I don’t think this should be) but something ritualistic, decadent & memorable. I decided that I could learn a thing or two from how custard is made & use an egg yolk to create something thick, rich & restorative.

The following recipe makes two small luxurious hot chocolates & is made very simply from dark chocolate, whole milk & one egg yolk.  Place 200ml of whole milk over a gentle heat & add 50g of grated 80% dark chocolate. I chose 80% dark chocolate because the remaining 20% is sugar and this is just enough. If you would like your hot chocolate a little sweeter simply select a 70% dark chocolate. What is very important though is that this hot chocolate deserves a high quality, characterful chocolate, ideally single origin. Stir frequently until chocolate has fully melted into the milk. Meanwhile, whisk one medium egg yolk in a small clean bowl. Whisk until smooth and pale. Once the chocolate has melted into the milk pour over the whisked egg yolk in a thin stream continuing to whisk as you do so to prevent the egg scrambling. Return the chocolate, milk and egg to the pan & heat gently stirring frequently with a whisk to ensure it does not catch on the bottom. Watch & whisk for approximately 5 minutes, the hot chocolate will begin to thicken & coat the back of a spoon. Pour the hot chocolate into small coffee cups & enjoy. For an added dimension add a measure of good rum, my choice is Sailor Jerry spiced rum…..

Alternatively, make the most of this decadent hot chocolate & pour over good quality vanilla ice cream & finish with a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds for an impressive but easy pudding.

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Baking the Blondie

So you may think that a Blondie is just a white chocolate brownie (minus dark chocolate or cocoa powder). I actually found it trickier to produce a good recipe for a Blondie then I did for my Brownie. The simplest way to describe a Blondie is that it is little more than a vanilla sponge cake with white chocolate chunks and so the first time I baked one I was a little disappointed. I stupidly assumed that I would achieve the same, velvet dense texture that I have with my Brownie. I had to start from scratch and the resulting Blondie had to be dense, caramelly, delicately chewy and satisfyingly dense. Here’s what I do. Of course you can tweak this recipe to suit you. I use a single origin white chocolate from the Dominican Republic for my blondies but as long as use a good quality white chocolate and avoid white chocolate chips for baking then all will be fine. So if you’d rather use white caster sugar, or add vanilla or leave out the salt then feel free. You can also switch the plain wheat flour for a gluten free one.

Preheat oven to 170’C fan. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Place 50g chopped white chocolate, 105g unsalted butter, 80g dark Muscovado sugar and 80g soft light brown sugar in a bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from heat and add 130g plain flour, 1/2 tsp of sea salt and 1 large egg and whisk. It will look split at first, just keep whisking and it will come together to form a smooth toffee coloured Blondie batter.

Add 80g of chopped white chocolate and fold through batter. Pour into loaf tin and smooth over. Place onto a baking tray on the middle shelf of oven and bake for 25 minutes. Check your Blondie, the centre should have a slight wobble, if very wobbly put back into the oven for a few minutes until it has firmed a little. Leave in loaf tin until cool. Cut into 8 or 10 pieces. Now enjoy.