Somewhere while tripping through the food-blogosphere I ran into Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran's Chocolates. After I apologized to the book for the nasty bump I immediately added it to my wish list, intending to purchase it. As with most things, that never happened, but I was pleasantly surprised when I unwrapped it as a Christmas present from my mother-in-law (Thanks Mom!). I call this a dangerous book because 1) it makes me want to make everything in it and 2) Fran of Fran's Chocolates doesn't skimp on fat, sugar or the titular ingredient. None of the recipes seem particularly difficult, especially if you are a reader of the English language. Every recipe is well explained and several include pictures and diagrams where necessary. The pictures themselves look good enough to eat.

To date, in the two weeks I've had this I've made three deserts, more than I've made in as many months. A few of the recipes require "special" kitchen implements, like a quarter sheet pan or a tart pan. All of them recommend high quality ingredients (naturally) and she lists some specifics. In addition there are also sections on how chocolate is made and on a few special techniques, like how to temper chocolate. At no point did she talk over my head, so if you've a sweet tooth, particularly a chocolaty one you should go get this.

I made a chocolate torte (a very dense cake), a semisweet chocolate sorbet that was smoother than Bill Clinton's pick up lines, and a white chocolate/key lime/ginger ice cream. And no I'm not sharing.

So last night I got a wild hair (hare?) and decided to whip up some more recipes. I fixed up a batch of Truffle Brownies, Meringues and Chocolat au chocolat ice cream. I love to cook, it's good for my soul. Not so much my wasitline, but I brought several samples to work today and got quite a bit of positive feedback. The ice cream is all ours though. It's kind of hard to transport.

The truffle brownies turned out great. I used bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate, so the flavor was intense. They were somehow dense and light at the same time. The meringues were MESSY, especially since I didn't have a tip big enough, or didn't chop up the chocolate finely enough, or both. They were interesting to make because once piped out onto the baking sheet (via a ziploc baggie with the corner snipped off) I baked them in a 200 degree oven for an hour, turned the oven off, and left them in overnight. They were crisp and incredibly light. They also weren't overly sweet. I'm really looking forward to the ice cream though. The base is pretty much a hot cocoa flavored custard with semisweet chocolate and Kahlua mixed in.

Next up, truffles!