The 9 Best Chocolate Recipes Ever IMHO!

It being National Chocolate Week I think now is the time to share my 9 favouritest chocky recipes ever – all of these have been big sellers in the posh and not so posh restaurants I have cheffed in and also go down well with my real man (except the peanut butter tart ‘cos he can’t stand peanut butter).

Firstly some guidance on melting chocolate ...

Pin so you don't forget!

~   Break the chocolate up a bit. The easiest way to do this is to throw the cold sealed bar violently onto a hard floor or maybe bash it on the edge of the counter.  Unwrap et voila ...
~   Put the broken chocolate into a bowl and the bowl into a small pan of simmering water to come about a third of the way up.  Here’s a tip – stand it on a metal jam jar lid or similar to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

~   White chocolate is a little more delicate than dark and must be melted carefully over very low heat.

~   Don’t mess with the chocolate as it melts just let it sit till there till it’s ready then stir till smooth.

~   WARNING – if you get water into the melting chocolate it will go all hard, lumpy and useless.  For this reason Do Not Cover as steam will condense on the lid and fall back into the chocky.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream 

The optional brandy in this recipe benefits the ice cream in two ways; it will make it softer and also taste more alcoholic chocolatey.

200g/⅔ cup condensed milk

175g/1½ cups coarsely chopped dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cocoa

500ml/2 cups double cream

3 tablespoons brandy – optional but highly recommended 

~ Put the condensed milk, the chocolate and the cocoa into a small bowl.
~ Stand the bowl in a small pan of water as described above.
~ Simmer the water till the chocolate has melted and then stir smoothly into the condensed milk. This will be quite a thick mixture.
~ Cool slightly but not too much as it needs to be soft enough to fold into the cream.
~ Whip together the cream and the optional brandy till slightly thick.
~ Add the melted chocolate mixture and continue whisking till thick.
~ Freeze.

This is just one of over 100 ice cream recipes in my book Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine - including at eight more chocolate ice cream recipes and lots of ancillaries such as the cones and the sauce in the picture. 

Dark Chocolate & Kahlua Marquise

This is a classic and my sister and I made vast numbers of marquises in our Cornish restaurants. When I went to the Caribbean the slices seemed to soften quickly as we plated them so I took to serving from frozen, which worked really well – a kind of semi freddo by the time it reached the table!

You need 3 bowls and a loaf tin to make this, I prefer to use a silicon loaf “tin”.

200g dark chocolate
200g soft butter
40g caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa

3 eggs – separated in yolks and whites
another 40g caster sugar

275ml double cream
2 tbsp Kahlua (or other spirit or liqueur of your choice)

~   Melt the chocolate as above in the first bowl.
~   Whisk together the butter, first batch of sugar and the cocoa in the second bowl.
~   In the third bowl whisk the egg whites till still. It is crucial that you whisk these in a clean dry bowl or they won’t work.
~   Fold the butter mixture into the melted chocolate.
~   In the empty butter bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the second batch of sugar.
~   Fold this into the chocolate mixture.

~   Finally whisk the cream (together with Kahlua) and fold that into the mix till no streaks are left.
~   Decant into the loaf “pan” and either chill or freeze.

Serve thickly sliced, probably with more cream!

Chocolate Sorbet

This recipe is taken straight from my little book Sorbets & Granitas which gives the key recipe for sorbet , 40 more sorbet and granita recipes, ideas, serving suggestions and what to do with leftovers!

A lovely rich chocolate coffee mix. If you don’t like coffee use a plain syrup in the same proportions and add a drip or two of vanilla extract.

250ml strong hot freshly brewed coffee
125g sugar
150g dark chocolate – coarsely chopped

~   Stir the sugar into the coffee till dissolved.
~   Immediately (as it needs to be hot) pour the syrup over the chocolate and stir or whisk to melt and amalgamate.
~   Cool, chill, freeze, mashing scraping the sides of the sorbet to the middle occasionally and mashing to make a smooth sorbet.

Easy Peasy or what? I also make wicked chocolate ice creams which are also based on a genius key recipe but whilst it is another favourite recipe it’s a bit too much to go into here. 

My book, Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine, explains how this quick, easy, no churn method works and gives over 100 ice cream recipes plus ideas, suggestions, recipes for accoutrements such as cones, sauces and inclusions.

Chocolate Mousse

Or in more detail from an old meu long ago and far away ... 

See here for the recipe plus a great photo of a Dalek on holiday. 

Chocolate Topped Peanut Butter Mousse Tart

You need a 24cm (9½”) pre-baked (preferably by you but bought in is fine too) tart case, either pastry or a crumb base as with cheesecake.

120g smooth peanut butter
50g soft light brown sugar

100g cream cheese

½ tsp vanilla extract + see below

180ml double cream + see below

150g dark chocolate

another 80ml double cream

another couple of drips of vanilla extract

~   Whisk together the peanut butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract till combined.
~   In a separate bowl whisk the first batch of cream till thick.

~   Whisk ¼ of the whipped cream into the peanut mixture.
~   Fold in the rest of the whipped cream and put it into the tart case, levelling the top.
~   Chill.

Now for the chocolate bit ...

~   Chop or break the chocolate into pieces and put it into a bowl.
~   Bring the second batch of cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate together with the second vanilla extract.
~   Allow to sit for a few minutes (during this time it is advantageous to make yourself a coffee to accompany scraping the bowl).

~   Stir till smooth.
~   Pour the chocolate gently over the peanut mousse and smooth the top.
~   Chill till needed.

White Choc Mousse

200g white chocolate
15ml water
75ml sour cream
juice of ½ a lemon
240ml double cream

~   Melt together the white chocolate together with the water as instructed above.
~   Mix together the sour cream and lemon juice.
~   Fold the cream mixture into the melted chocolate.
~   Whisk the cream till thick and fold into the chocolate mixture.

 A Wonderful Thing to do with Chocolate Brownies (and a wooden spoon!)

~   Make a batch of your favourite recipe brownies.
~   Whilst they are baking also make a batch of the chocolate ganache topping in the peanut butter tart recipe above. 
~   Turn the brownie out onto a rack and then take a wooden spoon and lightly butter the handle end! 

~   Carefully insert the spoon handle straight down into the brownie at 1” intervals twisting gently it on the way in and out twisting to form lots of deep little wells.

~   Fill each little hole with chocolate ganache and then allow the brownie to cool completely before cutting into squares.

This is lovely served at room temperature, gorgeous chilled and if you heat before serving the ganache melts and you get a self-saucing brownie which is also utterly wonderful.  

Gorgeous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 16 fairly large cookies so serves 1!

I make these sporadically and then try other things and then go back to these.  They really are the dog’s thingies!  People keep asking for the recipe – so here it is for everyone.

125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
225g self raising flour

a pinch of salt

200g dark chocolate – thrown onto the floor and any larger lumps cut into smaller pieces

OR

a similar quantity of chocolate chips

~   Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~   Cream together the butter and sugars.
~   Beat together the egg and vanilla and then add it to the butter mixture together with a spoonful of the flour (this helps stop the mixture curdling).
~   Stir (or munge) in the flour, salt and chocky, it is pretty thick so easiest with your hands.

~   Roll into walnut sized balls and place well-spaced on ungreased baking trays.

~   Bake for about 8-10 minutes till just gold round the edges (if you want them squidgier cook a little less).

~   Cool on a rack.

  

The dough can be rolled into a sausage shape and frozen and then it is possible (if you are careful and use a sharp knife) to slice off just as many cookies as you need and bake them from frozen. Useful in emergencies.

Chocolate Quesadilla

This is not actually a time honoured recipe of mine, just a Really Good Idea I had a couple of years ago and wrote about see here for how to make your own chocolate quesadilla.

And here’s another thing I like to do with chocolate; try it you might like it!