Brownies. Odd things when you think about it. One basic recipe with one perfect outcome, but variations abound. Some use nuts, others just fruit, others fruit, nuts and marshmallows. Everyone seems to have a slightly different take. For example, Paul A. Young’s slightly over the top killer brownies – an occasional treat (for a family of four) and representing the pinnacle of brownie making. If you like a smooth, dense darkly sweet chocolate brownie with no bits. If you happen to be an afficianado of the nutty, fruity brownie then no amount of waxing lyrical about ingredients and texture would ever sway you into thinking that something like that could ever be a brownie.
Well, my new friends at Gü make brownies, and they’re available in supermarkets so everyone can try them – assuming you enjoy a brownie with a sprinkling of pecans. As you can see from the photo (using the Chocablog 20p standard unit of comparison) they’re a respectable size. They’re also fairly dense, as a good brownie should be.
When it comes to the tasting, these brownies have that classic slightly crisp layer on the outside. It’s not quite biscuity but it has that crumble, and it paves the way for the heart of the brownie. With 50% cocoa chocolate and a good showing of pecans the inside of this brownie has that smooth, deeply flavoured melting texture that goes so well with so many things. Furthermore, you get eight of these for less than the price of one of the Brownie King’s creations, and while these may not have the power to stop you in your tracks and transport you to some other dimension for a few moments, they will satisfy your lust for something chewy, chocolatey and nutty. As brownies go, these are some of the best I’ve seen on sale in large supermarkets.
I’ve been enjoying dressing these up before serving. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or some fresh fruit and cream, and create interesting variations (and a bigger dessert!) or just take one to the office for that mid afternoon pick-me-up.
To celebrate the fact that we’ve reached 1,000 fans on our Facebook page, we’re giving away a chocolate stash to one lucky fan!
All you need to do is become a fan of Chocablog, then ‘like’ or comment on one of our Facebook posts in the next week (just so we only pick someone who is active on Facebook and wants to win the prize). On Saturday 24th April, we’ll collate everything, remove any duplicates, put everyone into a big list, then use this random number generator to pick a winner.
This is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, just as long as you have a postal address and can accept a package full of chocolate! We’ll message the winner on Facebook to get the details, and announce the winner on the Facebook page.
Note: The pic above is not the finalised ‘stash’ (just because we don’t know what new chocs we’ll have by next week!), but is representative of the size and variety of it.
A little bit of St Lucia came to London’s Borough Market this morning. A new chocolate shop, bringing a little warmth to a rather cold spring day.
If Rabot Estate sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the name of Hotel Chocolat’s plantation on the West Indies Island. The new shop aims to bring the best of the Estate’s cacao directly to heart of London’s foodie district. But this is no ordinary Hotel Chocolat shop.
The decor is rustic to say the least. The place is furnished with tables and display cases apparently made from unfinished offcuts of wood, while barrels, packing containers and cacao sacks are strategically placed throughout.
The products on sale are primarily Rabot Estate branded – broken slabs in a wide range of flavours, stuffed into plastic bags seems to be the main order of the day. But there’s also a lot of Hotel Chocolat branded products on sale as well. Although they’re trying to create a distinct brand and image for this venture, it’s good to see they’re not completely hiding their Hotel Chocolat roots.
The Rabot Estate is also a cafe of sorts, selling a variety of simple cacao-based dishes and drinks, both sweet and savoury. The non-cacao ingredients for all the dishes are all sourced from the market itself, which is a nice touch. Everything I tried was delicious, but the unsweetened cacao tea was a particularly useful pick-me-up given the weather.
It’s the cafe-aspect that’s the most exciting for me. I’ve got a few samples of the packaged chocolate that I’ll be reviewing soon, but I think it’s the freshly prepared dishes that are going to get people coming back regularly. I’m looking forward to paying another visit in a couple of months to see how things have developed.
You can find the Rabot Estate shop on Stoney Street in Borough Market, close to London Bridge Station. Here’s a handy map, if you’re planning on visiting.
Cheese may be a slightly odd thing to put into a bar of chocolate, but it’s not quite as odd as bacon. And besides, some of us eat cheesecakes every day, so it can’t be that bad, right?
Still, Austrian chocolate maker Zotter clearly enjoy playing with flavours – and people’s minds – and I’m pleased to say this bar is no exception.
As you can see, the format of this bar is the same as the Bacon Bits bar – a thick slab with lots of filling and only a thin layer of dark chocolate.
The filling is a slightly odd colour for something that’s meant to be cheese. But it has a nice, soft, light cheesecake-like texture, and at first that’s just what it tastes like. But after a few seconds, the other flavours start to come through, including a subtle but noticeable cheesiness!
It’s a little bit of an odd experience at first, but after a couple of pieces, it starts to become really quite moreish. That’s when you start to notice some of the other flavours too. The fruitiness of raisins, the nuttiness of the walnuts a slight pepperiness; a quick glance at the ingredients reveals the presence of birds eye chilli in the mix. But there’s also apparently lemon concentrate, grappa and apple balsamic vinegar in there too.
So there’s quite a lot going on in this bar, but the flavours do seem to work with each other and against each other. The thin layer of 60% dark chocolate may not be the most sophisticated or flavour-rich chocolate in the world, but in a bar like this, it doesn’t need to be. It serves its purpose and holds the bar together in more ways than one.
I’ll certainly be looking out for this one again.
