How To Make Easy No Bake Chocolate Pots de Creme with Fresh Berries And Fruit Compote

A super duper easy dessert to make. Totally right up my alley.

Luscious chocolate, a kick of tartness from the compote and fresh summer berries.

Perfect.
Recipe
(adapted from May's recipes Chocolate Pot De Creme)
Serves 6 (but I made this into 4 bigger portions)
The chocolate
- 100g dark chocolate
- 1/2 tsp instant coffee
- 250 ml cream
- 30g white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp whiskey (omit if making for kids)
- a pinch of sea salt

Chop chocolate, place into mixing bowl.
Put cream and sugar into saucepan, add vanilla and salt. Bring to almost boil.
Pour into chopped chocolate, add instant coffee & whiskey. Set for 1 minute, beat until smooth and shiny.
Pour into ramekins, let cool, chill for at least 5 hours.

The fruit compote (optional)
- a handful of berries (I used 3 strawberries and 7 blueberries)
- a tbsp of water
- 1 tsp sugar
Chop berries, place in sauce pan, cook using low heat. Keep cooking until fruit became softened and produced some liquid. Add a bit of water if needed. Add sugar bit by bit until you achieve balance between tartness and sweetness. Let cool, add into chocolate pot de creme with fresh fruits...

...or eat with toasts, or croissants, or bacon... the sky is the limit really.

Now... dig into that luscious pot of chocolatey fruity goodness.

Happy summer!

How To Make Ridiculously Easy Cheat No Bake Chocolate "Cake"

I love anything cheat and anything lazy. Short cuts, I adore thee!
What else is new? :)
When I first saw the idea on TV (TLC, Buddy's cooking show), I fell in love with it immediately and decided that I HAVE TO make (an adaptation of) it! And here goes...

This beautiful gorgeous gorgeous "cake" isn't a cake. It's made of bread, soaked in chocolatey goodness. Uh huh! Oh yeah! So, pick a bread with desired texture, you can pick fluffy ones, or chewy ones... but make sure you pick one that can withstand liquid and won't turn into mush. I picked a chewy one made of mixed grains with lots of nuts in it. I love that it has a bit of saltiness in it. So, here's how I made this.

Recipe (Adapted from Kitchen Boss)
- Chunks of bread that you like, cut the crusts, I made two thick chunks
(if you wanna make more, adjust the liquid recipe)
- 100gr dark chocolate (or you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate - the world is your chocolate box)
- 1 cup coffee
- 2 tbsp sugar (you can adjust the sweetness)
- 2 tsp rum essence
- 1 shot vodka (you can use rum and omit the rum essence, I did this because I only had vodka)
- Strawberries (or fresh fruits of your choice to go with chocolate)

Cut chocolate into chunks (or you can use baking chocolate chunks), melt over double boiler. Add coffee, sugar, rum essence and vodka, mix well, take it off the heat. Cut crust off bread and cut into chunks. Soak bread in the chocolatey liquid, make sure the liquid gets all absorbed the inner parts of the bread. Baste them, flip them upside down. Once all the chocolate liquid gets absorbed by the bread, you can serve it.

On the TV show, it's served with whipped cream. Since I am not a fan of whipped cream, I planned to serve it with ice cream. But in an effort to be healthier, in the end I served it with fresh fruits instead.

Beyond yum and so damn easy. Perfect for me.

And here's a behind-the-scene shot of baby M "helping out" during the photoshoot.

He flipped the mirror around, took the mirror away, and threatened to touch the chocolate a few times :D

Have fun, hope you like the crazy lazy recipe.

Jean-Paul Hevin - All Day Afternoon Tea for Dark Chocolate Lovers

I love dark chocolate (who doesn't?), and if you loved chocolate so much and you want to have a very chocolatey afternoon tea as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then this is perfect for you :)

This is one of Jean-Paul Hevin's all-day afternoon tea sets. It has two chocolate cakes, two macarons, two chocolate bonbons and two chocolate coated almonds.

The chocolate cake in focus is voted the best chocolate cake in Japan!

I must admit that I've never loved macarons... to me, they are just way too sweet, until I tried Jean-Paul Hevin's macaron last year.

I love how they are not too sweet, and I love the dark chocolate ganache here.


One of the chocolate coated almond had a hint of Earl Grey Tea, which I love.

If you're looking for a nice quiet place to sit down with friends after (well, or before) a crazy shopping around Central, or a place to have dessert after an early bird dinner (just like me - a senior citizen who likes to dine latest by 6:30pm..), before clubbing, or if you just need a good dose of dark chocolate... (you don't need a reason to want chocolate, right?), then check the place out!

Christmas is around the corner, and I know what to get MIL (who's a dark chocolate maniac) for Christmas.

Oh hello, chocolate! Come to mama!

I want to keep the "rustic" wooden box.


And this will surely cure all kinds of Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday blues...

More photos on my Facebook page.

Jean-Paul Hevin
Address etc here.
Afternoon tea set: HK$168.
Chocolate cake: HK$58/slice
Macarons: HK$25/piece

Thank you Jean-Paul Hevin for the invitation! You've brightened up my gloomy weekday night.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Brittle - Couple Bet

There's a local bakery in my area that sells this fantastic peanut and dark chocolate brittle. Not too sweet, not too rich...crunchy and just perfect. We love buying a bit (HK$10 worth) for snacking when we had our post-dinner walks.

One fine day, we went to buy some, and SC asked me if baby M can eat this. I said no, because it has peanuts...and chocolate. Maybe after he turns 1, he can try a bit. SC proceeded to say that the thing has butter. I was not 100% sure, but I thought it didn't have butter. My palate is shit, but I couldn't taste butter in it. We proceeded to "debate" whether or not it has butter. SC (smugly) insisted that it must have butter, I insisted that it doesn't. Fine.

I proposed a bet. He needs to ask the owner if the brittle has butter. If it does, SC wins, if it doesn't, I win. The bet's HKD100.

Actually I had my doubts, but what the hell, I wanted SC to ask the bakery owner ^_^.

We went to the bakery, and SC cheekily asked the owner "Does this brittle have butter? I am OK with butter (suck ass), in fact I loveeeee butter (Almost implying that he wouldn't buy if there's no butter. Cunning!).

But...still...

I WON!
Bwaahahahahaha. HK$100, come to mama!
Look at SC's sosad face when parting with his HK$100 bill...
Well, at least he can have some delicious yet butterless dark chocolate peanut brittle to snack on while weeping his loss...

Yo Mama's Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

Have I not learnt anything from my previous fro-yo lesson? I did say that chocolate froyo doesn't taste like froyo right? But look at the above cup from Yo Mama! It's so dark! Black, almost. How could I not give it a try? I chose chewy mochi and oreo crumbs as toppings.

How was it?

It surely didn't taste like yogurt, it didn't even taste like dark chocolate ice cream...it's more like...chocolate paste.

Does it mean that it's bad?

It's not too bad, but if you're expecting a mix of dark chocolate & yogurt flavor, this is not it.
:)

...and please excuse me for posting this scary photo, but when you just had something sticky and dark, remember to check and clean your lips and teeth in the mirror before smiling.

Yikes!

Lindt Dark Chocolate with A Touch of Sea Salt

Chocolate and sea salt...are they really the best of friends?
Judging from this pack of goodness...yes! The touch of sea salt brings out the best out of the chocolate.
Give it a try :)

Easy Bread Pudding with Dark Choco Chips

One night...I just felt a really really strong urge.... to bake.
Something sweet and sticky...but most importantly something easy.
You see, I don't handle failures very well, especially close to midnight ^_*

On another note, you know that sometimes couples have differences.
Ahem. Nothing principal, just...reconciliable differences.
Such as...different air conditioning temperature, love/hatred towards durian, and stuff like that.
Speaking of differences and bread puddings...SC and I are different.

I like my bread pudding pale and soft...like this...


...and he likes his like this...

Golden brown, sweet and crunchy top, with soft and fluffy bottom.

How did we handle it? I cut a big chunk off the right corner when it was still pale, and dump the rest back into the oven to achieve SC's preferred state of bread-pudding-ness. It worked pretty well, we both got what we wanted :)

Now, how easy exactly is this bread pudding?

Recipe
(adapted from allrecipes.com)
- 2 slices of bread
- salted butter/margarine
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/3 cup sugar
- a dash of vanilla
- a dash of cinnamon
- a couple handfuls of dark chocolate chips (optional, you can use raisins)
- maple syrup for glazing (optional)
- chocolate syrup and condensed milk to serve with (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Slather bread slices with butter, super generously ^_^ and tear down into pieces (doesn't have to be very small). In a mixing bowl, mix beaten eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and milk, whisk (or use a mixer) until well combined. Add bread pieces into the batter and let the bread soak all those eggy creamy goodness. Grease a baking pan, pour batter with bread, add dark chocolate chips here and there, and bake for 20-30 minutes or until it springs back when touched. If you want the golden brown, ultra crispy finish like SC, slather maple syrup on the surface, crank up the oven to 200C, place bread pudding on top shelf and bake until golden but not severely burnt. Serve with ice cream, chocolate syrup, condensed milk or devour as is. It is good enough. No. It's beyond!

I am sooo gonna make a savoury version soon ^_^
Stay tuned!

Very Chocolatey Dark Chocolate Steamed Milk Dessert

Never thought that I could make a chocolate steamed milk dessert chocolatier than that of Yee Shun Milk Company's. But I think I just did.

How?
I started with dark chocolate milk instead of normal full fat milk ;)
I used 1 cup.


and to make things even more chocolatey...

Unsweetened chocolate powder and Hershey's dark chocolate chips.

I can't call this post a "recipe", since I really didn't measure stuff exactly...

To blend everything, you'll need to heat up the milk.
Heat the milk on stove top, add chocolate powder, chocolate chips and sugar, whisk everything until combined. Taste and adjust until you achieve what's yummy to you.

OK, we're done with the most difficult part of the "recipe" :D
Wow. Is it really that easy?
Yeah, otherwise, with my track record of failures, I wouldn't have even considered trying it.
Next, crack and beat two eggs.


Wait until the chocolate milk batter is just warm (so the eggs won't get cooked), pour into the beaten egg and whisk until all combined.

Hmmm, if I didn't think of the raw egg, I would've said cheers and drunk the whole thing. Run the batter over a fine sieve and pour into molds.

I just used my every day blue and white humble little bowls.

Place them on a plate for steaming.
If you have a steamer, congratulations, I envy you. Grrrrr.
I just used my wok.


In a wok, bring water to boil, add metal stand or you a plate/bowl placed upside down.

Oppps, forgot to tell you to cover the bowls with aluminium foil...please do so.

Place in the wok, cover wok and steam for about 15 minutes.


The surface should be a little jiggly....I think I've overdone mine a little, steamed for 20 minutes. Don't to what I did, guys.
But still...look at this...


A little spoonful of heavenly, silky, creamy, chocolatey deliciousness.
A little bokeh won't hurt, right?


Serve them hot, warm, or cold....but I just couldn't wait.
Some like it hot :)

BBQ Dark Chocolate Stuffed Bananas - It's Complicated

So, what's new from last BBQ?
These barbecued dark chocolate stuffed bananas.

Actually this is nothing new to us, but we haven't done this for quite a while....because...

It's complicated.
Don't we loveee making things complicated.
You'll see.

First, stick a large banana with BBQ fork.
BBQ it until the banana skin turns black and the flesh gets mushy.

WARNING: Not for the impatient!

Such as sous chef.
He kept flipping and fiddling the banana, impatiently, it slipped away from his fork, right onto open flame.
Two tongs came to the rescue.


Banana was saved! Thank God! All rejoice!
Our BBQ banana master said that the banana wasn't done yet, but sc was having none of it.
He couldn't wait any longer.


Annie si-fu (Cantonese for master) started "processing" the banana.
She "operated on" the banana, in one swift movement, she sliced the banana open.


See that gap? We need that surgical-perfection gap.
We had people wiping sweat off Annie si-fu's forehead during the "surgery". Kidding!


Now, break some dark chocolate into chunks that will fit the banana.
We used Lindt's 70% Dark Chocolate. Rich, chocolatey and thin.
Thin pieces are better for the impatient. They melt faster.


Over to sc, back to the grill.
See how the chocolate pieces were starting to melt?
We see a promise.

Whatever you do.
Don't drop the banana now, or the sacrifice of your sore arms would be totally worthless.


Most of the chocolate pieces have melted into gooey chocolate goodness now.


Lay it gently on a plate...light your incense sticks and worship it.
It is worthy of praise!


The banana grilling prodigy wanted to pose with his master.

The scenes after this were too barbaric to post.
Think 8 spoons fighting for a piece of that gooey melted dark chocolate and banana goodness.
It was brutal to say the least.

On second thought, do you think we can achieve the same by nuking banana flesh and dark chocolate together in a microwave?
Don't tell si-fu and sc I said so.

Dark Chocolate Loacker Quadratini Wafers

As if the dark chocolate milk post haven't tortured you, dark choco lovers enough...
I've purchased another dark chocolate goodies.
This time, it's Loacker Quadratini Dark Chocolate Wafers.
I spotted these baby at Prince's building's Mannings when shopping for...err...secret!
Let's just say...when you're looking for one thing, you might end up with other (better) things ^_^

If you're lucky and this pack is available anywhere near you.
Grab them before they discontinue them.

"Because good things don't last"
Obviously, chocolates did not make me any less pessimisstic.
:p

Dark Chocolate Milk and Soy Milk

Another thing I love about Hong Kong.
People here love their chocolate rich and dark....and food manufacturers and marketers responded to customers' demands very well.

I am not a big plain milk drinker, and chocolate milk to me...well, most of them are just like sweetened milk with a tiny hint of chocolate, which is not enough. I love my chocolate to kick me hard in the butt. Super strong, almost bitter.

The first dark chocolate milk I noticed was this Deluxe Chocolate Low Fat Milk Drink from Kowloon Dairy. Love love loved it. Don't be fooled by its "low fat" label, it tastes fantastic. Rich, creamy, and super chocolatey. More brands came up with their versions of dark chocolate milk, but this one's my favorite so far.

Sooner of later...of course...Vitasoy must do their version of dark chocolate soy milk.

Unfortunately, despite the convincing packaging, it's not chocolatey enough. It is just a slightly better version of their previous chocolate soy milk. I hope they'll go darker.

Chocolate...it makes everything more bearable, doesn't it?

Chocolate & Hungry Monkey Sherbet

Have you tried living near your parents?

OK, we all love our parents very much, but I am sure that some of us have experienced the usual...
- non stop nagging
- unsolicited advice
- meddling
- surprise visits, just in time when your flat is at its dirtiest and messiest state
we know that all of the above came outta love, but sometimes it could be a bit...ehm...too much, no?

However, it's not all bad...there are so many perks of living near the parents, such as...
- asking them to receive deliveries for us when we're at work
- food
- more food
- and we shall never go out of food

SC's parents live nearby and they have easy access to my flat. Thus, sometimes when I get home, I'd find some surprises, such as...
- a container of frozen curry beef shin in my freezer
- a bowl of jellyfish salad in my fridge
- a plate of fresh fruits on my kitchen counter
Sweet, right?

Indeed. This is also why I try to reciprocate, by trying to make them some delicious treats whenever possible. SC's mom loves loves loves chocolate (but then again, who doesn't?), so when I saw David Lebovitz' Chocolate Sherbet, I knew it would be the perfect treat for SC's mom.

Although the recipe sounds so easy, but knowing my inability to follow recipes properly, I fully expected a failure, and in case the said failure did happen, I'd just go for plan B, which was to bring a bottle of red wine over when showing up for dinner ^_^'

So, I gave it a go.

Look at the way I gave my sherbet an ice bath, it looked rather dangerous, didn't it? I should've put more ice and less water.


Amazingly, successfully followed a recipe this time! Yay! The chocolate sherbet turned out excellent! It was really rich, chocolatey and light at the same time. It quenches my thirst for chocolate, yet still refreshing enough for summer.

Visit David's blog for the recipe, find out how to make ice cream without a machine, and you'll also learn the differences between sorbet, sherbet and ice cream.

It was so good, SC's mom agreed to keep the whole container.
It was so good, I had to make another batch and decided to improvise by adding a couple of bananas SC's mom left on my kitchen counter the other day.

Hungry Monkey Sherbet

I simply added a couple of mashed bananas into the original recipe. Bananas and chocolate, they couldn't go wrong, could they?

Although I still prefer the original all chocolate version, this hungry monkey wasn't too bad at all.
At least I wasn't making another banana cake...yet again :p

There's a danger to this experiment.
It made me wanna buy an ice cream maker.
Hello, more ice cream, good bye kitchen space and waist line.