Pure Chocolate

The most stylish, approachable, and mouth-watering chocolate cookbook ever, from award-winning chocolatier Fran Bigelow In 1982, Fran Bigelow proudly opened the doors to Fran’s Chocolates, a boutique storefront styled after European chocolate salons, where she could showcase the pure flavors of the exquisite confections she had spent years perfecting. Chocolate lovers in Seattle immediately beat a path to Madison Street to taste desserts as wonderful as anything in Paris or Belgium. Over the past two decades, Fran Bigelow has grown into a world-class chocolatier, operating two elegant shops that enjoy cult status in Seattle and beyond, by way of her mail-order and Internet business. Now, in her debut cookbook, Fran reveals the magic behind her addictive creations: how she manipulates a few ingredients—butter, cream, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and nuts—to create sublime textures and highlight pure flavors in her elegant modern desserts. The seventy-five recipes included here range from extravagant celebration cakes and holiday specialties (White Chocolate Torte or Souffléd Chocolate Mocha Roll); to European style fruit and nut tarts (Chocolate Cherry Tart or Milk Chocolate Crème Fraîche Tart), soufflés, cheesecakes (White Chocolate Brie Cheesecake, a Fran specialty), homemade ice creams (Dark Chocolate and Ginger Bombe), and extraordinary renditions of American classics, including brownies, chocolate cookies, the ultimate hot fudge sauce, and a chocolate milkshake that will instantly transport you back to childhood. Fran also tells you everything you need to know about chocolate, from the different styles of chocolate-making employed in Europe, South America, and the U.S. (and how each result in different flavors), to deciphering labels (which ingredients enhance meltability, for example), and how the amount of cocoa in different brands and styles of chocolate influences the final taste of a dessert. You will learn how to taste a truffle—preferably in two bites—and the language of chocolate “signs,” the squiggles atop candies. Recipes for some of Fran’s award-winning confections are also included here: chocolate cherries and nut clusters; chocolate stuffed fruits; easy cocoa-dusted truffles; and more ambitious dipped truffles featuring liqueurs, coffee, vanilla, and other chocolate-friendly ingredients; and chocolate fondue, a perfect party dessert for children and adults alike. Whether you are a cocoa connoisseur or devotee of the cacao bean with cravings that won’t quit,Pure Chocolateis a must-have for any chocolate aficionado.

Are you still looking for that seemingly elusive diet that will make you lose weight but still allow you to enjoy the food that you like best? If you want to find out about a diet that not only allows you but even insists that you eat something that most people regard as indulgent, decadent, and heavenly, keep on reading! If you are like most people, you probably equate going on a diet with suffering, giving up food that you enjoy eating, and having to practice white-knuckled willpower. You probably associate it with going hungry and forcing yourself not to indulge in food that gives you comfort and pleasure. Most people see food not only as fuel but also as a source of satisfaction, comfort, and enjoyment. It is difficult to deprive yourself of good food; it takes immense, extraordinary willpower that most people don’t have. It comes as no surprise, then, that 40% of people who diet give up during the first week! Many diets are just too difficult to sustain. They are too drastic or too strict. They expect you to make extreme and immediate changes in the way you eat. They have a lot of constrictions that lead not only to hunger pangs but to headaches, irritability, fatigue (both physical and emotional), and feelings of resentment and deprivation. They make you feel so constrained and helpless that you end up going on food binges and abandoning your diet. This Dark Chocolate Diet Plan is unlike many diets in so many points. Read the book and discover the following: You CAN eat scrumptious dark chocolate – oh, yes, you CAN! Why dark chocolate is an essential part of this diet. How to enjoy and savor good food, including dark chocolate! How to feel that you are in control of food. You have the option (and the ability) to make food choices that are both pleasurable and healthy. There is NO need to go hungry. There is NO need to feel deprived. How eating “nutritious” food can feel great. You don’t have to rush and feel stressed about making changes in what you eat. Why making stark and radical changes in your diet don’t work. Why it is better to embrace SMALL changes.

The perfect primer to all things dark chocolate, plus an array of indulgent recipes to satisfy all your dark chocolate cravings. Deep Dark Chocolate is overflowing with irresistible recipes using bittersweet and semisweet chocolate, cacao nibs, and beans—the darker the better. These sinfully decadent desserts include such indulgences as Black Magic Chocolate Espresso Cookies and Crunchy Nut Bittersweet Caramel Bars, and that is just the beginning. . . . Author Sara Perry tells you everything you need to know about the types of dark chocolate in the marketplace, what the percentages mean, and which ones are best to cook with. And each recipe showcases dark chocolate at its very best. Papa Haydn’s Chocolate Gateau will make your loved one feel extra special. The deceptively simple A Little Chocolate Cheesecake with Mocha Affogato will turn your dinner part into something spectacular. Dark chocolate is always the star here whether it is making an appearance in cookies, cakes, custards, pies, drinks, or sauces. So, start your day with a Chocolate Dream Scone with Mascarpone Spread or end it with a Clean-Chic Chocolate Martini nightcap—every day is brighter when you include a bit of dark chocolate. And with Deep Dark Chocolate, you’ll always keep your bittersweet-tooth satisfied. “A winning take on everyone’s favorite sweet. . . . While there are already more than enough cookbooks devoted to the topic, the approachability and breadth of Perry’s sweet, inventive collection make it worth the indulgence.” —Publishers Weekly

From nationally-lauded San Francisco chocolate maker, Dandelion Chocolate, comes the first ever complete guide to making chocolate from scratch. From the simplest techniques and technology—like hair dryers to rolling pins—to the science and mechanics of making chocolate from bean to bar, Making Chocolate holds everything the founders and makers behind San Francisco’s beloved chocolate factory have learned since the day they first cracked open a cocoa bean. Best known for their single origin chocolate made with only two ingredients—cocoa beans and cane sugar—Dandelion Chocolate shares all their tips and tricks to working with cocoa beans from different regions around the world. There are kitchen hacks for making chocolate at home, a deep look into the nuts, bolts, and ethics of sourcing beans and building relationships with producers along the supply chain, and for ambitious makers, tips for scaling up. Complete with 30 recipes from the chocolate factory's much-loved pastry kitchen, Making Chocolate is a resource for hobbyists and more ambitious makers alike, as well as anyone looking for maybe the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe in the world.

Have high blood pressure? Try a square of dark chocolate. Worried about cardiovascular disease? Snack on some dark chocolate chips. From the time of the Aztec Indians, the cocoa bean has been cherished as a food of the gods. They may have been on to something because in this book, George Rapitis shows how dark chocolate contains powerful flavonoids that can help promote heart health. This book is filled with delicious recipes such as that are low in calories and filled with antioxidants coming from dark chocolate.

"From its origin as the sacred, bitter drink of South American rulers to the familiar candy bars sold by today's multimillion dollar businesses, people everywhere have fallen in love with chocolate, the world's favorite flavor...Join science author HP Newquist as he explores chocolate's fascinating history."--

The petite shell-shaped cakes known as madeleines are versatile, pretty, and absolutely delicious. Made famous by Marcel Proust in his novel In Search of Lost Time, this classic French treat is now loved the world over. Beautifully illustrated and lovingly researched, Madeleines features recipes for an incredible variety of flavors and combinations, including such decadent desserts as Dark Chocolate Espresso Madeleines, savory appetizers like Pesto and Pine Nut Madeleines, and showstoppers like Cheesecake Madeleines with Lingonberry Preserves And making these adorable cakes has never been easier—author Barbara Feldman Morse has developed a unique quick-and-simple method for baking perfect madeleines again and again. Pour a cup of tea and enjoy this quick trip to France with Madeleines!

Latina culinary arts student, Bo Benitez, becomes a fugitive when sheÍs caught stealing a cacao pod from the heavily-defended plantations that keep chocolate, EarthÍs sole valuable export, safe from a hungry galaxy. Forces arraying against her including her alien boyfriend and a reptilian cop. But when she escapes onto an unmarked starship things go from bad to worse: it belongs to the race famed throughout the galaxy for eating stowaways. Surrounded by dangerous yet hunky aliens, Bo starts to uncover clues that the threat to Earth may be bigger than she first thought.