Here are a few recipes that involve little more than melting some chocolate. They are also useful for using up what is left of dipping chocolate, as you usually need to melt more than you actually use.
Here in Holland, bakers, confectioners and elegant patisseries stock these chocolates and it continues to surprise me that people actually buy them – and not that cheaply, either – considering how quick and easy they are to make. I’m not a great fan of food colouring, but sprinkling on the brightly coloured hundreds and thousands is a very cheering task, even for me. The finished discs look like Aboriginal dot painting miniatures, with the added attraction of being edible. Simple though they are, the contrast of melting chocolate with the crispness of the hundreds and thousands provides a very pleasant sensation in the mouth. Needless to say, the quality of the chocolate will make or break them.
Makes 12 of each flavour
100 g/3½ oz/3½ squares dark chocolate
100 g/3½ oz/3½ squares milk chocolate
100 g/3½ oz/3½ squares white chocolate
100 g/3½ oz hundreds and thousands
Melt the 3 kinds of chocolate in separate small heatproof bowls over a pan of barely simmering water. As soon as the chocolate has melted completely, drop it by the teaspoonful onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. If the chocolate doesn’t spread out of its own accord, encourage it with the back of the teaspoon. You should aim for 12 coins per kind, each 5 cm/2 in in diameter.
Using a clean teaspoon, dip scant spoonfuls of the hundreds and thousands and scatter them as neatly as you can over each coin. If you hold the spoon close to the chocolate and shake gently, you won’t lose too much along the way. Leave to harden on the greaseproof paper and repeat the process with the 2 other kinds of chocolate.
When the coins have set properly, peel away the greaseproof paper. Store in a pretty glass jar or dish on the dining or coffee table. They will keep for a few weeks if well covered, but they don’t usually last that long.
As with the coins, these thicker chocolate discs are so easy to create at home. All you need to do is melt chocolate and decorate it with delicious and attractive morsels to give it your own special touch. Use one kind of chocolate, or make three batches using dark, white and milk chocolate ones. As far as the decoration goes, a few suggestions follow, but feel free to use your own imagination and taste.
Makes 8 discs, approx. 6 cm/2½ in in diameter
150 g/5½ oz chocolate, melted
Your choice of the following (or anything else you can think of):
few toasted nuts, such as pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamias, cashews and almonds
untoasted walnut halves
slivered candied orange or other fruit
chopped candied ginger
brightly coloured dried fruit, such as cranberries
silver balls
dried lavender
crystallised rose or violet petals
Spread a sheet of baking parchment on your work surface.
Deposit 8 generous spoonfuls of the melted chocolate on the baking parchment and spread lightly to form discs, about 6 cm/2½ in in diameter.
Decorate as you wish, using varying combinations. White chocolate simply begs for bright combinations like pistachios and cranberries, while dark chocolate will be happy with almost anything.
Leave to harden before peeling away the paper and arranging them on a serving plate. Keeping qualities will depend on your choice of decoration, but they should keep for at least a few days in an airtight container.
Makes 16 medium or 24 small clusters
125 g/4½ oz/generous ¾ cup skinless hazelnuts, toasted
1½ tbsp finely chopped candied orange peel
150 g/5½ oz/5½ squares milk chocolate
1¼–1½ tsp instant espresso powder*
*If using granules, crush to a powder before measuring.
Chop the hazelnuts coarsely with a large knife, leaving in the inevitable smaller bits and shavings. Mix in the peel and set aside.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and sprinkle the espresso powder over it. Stir well to combine before adding the nut and peel mixture. Give it all a good stir to coat the nuts well. They should all be thinly coated with chocolate, with no light surface area visible.
Use 2 dessertspoons or teaspoons to drop 16 portions (or the teaspoons to drop 24 portions) onto a sheet of greaseproof paper, dipping with one spoon and using the second one to slide the mixture off onto the greaseproof paper. Neaten if necessary and leave to set completely before removing from the paper.
Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 10 days.
It is almost embarrassing to add this quick-fix treat here, but I love them and would hate to withhold them from you. They are a good way of using up excess melted chocolate and sometimes I even melt some specially for the purpose. The chocolate is the star, but the Rice Crispies play an excellent supporting role and add a light and lovely crunch.
Makes 12 large clusters
125 g/4½ oz/4½ squares dark chocolate
25–30 g/1 oz Rice CrispiesMelt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and add as much of the Rice Crispies as it will take. (If you are using up leftover melted chocolate, simply add Rice Crispies as needed.) The Rice Crispies should all be thinly coated with chocolate, with no light surface area visible, neither should there be large blobs of chocolate.
Use 2 soup or large dessertspoons to drop 12 generous portions onto greaseproof paper, dipping with one spoon and using the second one to slide the mixture off onto the greaseproof paper. Neaten if necessary and leave to set completely before removing from the paper.
Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 10 days.
‘Panforte’ was originally an Italian Christmas delicacy, but can now be bought all year round. It hangs halfway between cake and confectionery and was supposedly introduced to Siena by monks more than a thousand years ago. This Tuscan city is reputed to have been one of the first Italian cities to adopt the use of sugar and spices, and up to today it remains closely linked with ‘panforte’. Local businesses cash in on the association, and towering stacks of ‘panforte’ in the shop windows tempt passers-by, who puff and pant their way through the narrow and steeply winding streets, to stop and try some. Dried fruit and nuts of all description, and varying combinations stud the discs and slabs that come in a variety of sizes. Spices are used subtly, flour is used sparingly, and a little cocoa is sometimes added to produce a dark version, ‘panforte scuro’. This quick and simple recipe is a cheat’s take on the original and needs no baking. The spices give it a decidedly festive flavour and all the good natural ingredients could almost make it qualify as health food. Substitute your own combinations of fruit if you prefer, but do so wisely. Candied ginger, for instance, should be used quite cautiously or it will dominate.
Makes 1 slab
100 g/3½ oz dried figs, chopped
50 g/1¾ oz dried apricots, chopped
25 g/generous ¾ oz candied orange peel, chopped
25 g/generous ¾ oz dried cranberries
50 g/1¾ oz hazelnuts, lightly toasted
50 g/1¾ oz walnuts
25 g/generous ¾ oz pistachios
200 g/7 oz/7 squares dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
5 tbsp runny honey
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
Line a medium-sized loaf tin with non-stick parchment.
Place the figs, apricots, orange peel and cranberries in a bowl. Chop the hazelnuts and walnuts very coarsely and add them to the fruit along with the pistachios and give it a few stirs to distribute everything well. Set aside.
Put some water to boil in the bottom part of a double boiler, or select a saucepan and a medium-sized heat-proof bowl that fits snugly over it. The bowl should not touch the water. Place the chocolate in the top part of the boiler or bowl along with the honey and spices. When the water comes to the boil, reduce the heat and place the top/bowl containing the chocolate over it. Allow the chocolate to melt and stir to combine with the honey. Stir in the rest of the chopped ingredients, remove from the heat and scrape into the prepared tin. Level the top, pressing down well to make a compact slab.
Allow to set before cutting into cubes or small squares. Serve them on a pretty plate or present them in paper cases.
15 August 1502 During his fourth voyage of discovery, Columbus captured two huge canoes belonging to the Maya and seized their cargo: fine cotton garments, war implements, copper bells and foodstuff, including ‘almonds’. The almonds were, of course, cacao beans. The Maya and their neighbours the Aztecs enjoyed their chocolate in fluid forms ranging from a bitter foaming liquid to a maize-thickened gruel. Flavourings included vanilla, chillies, allspice and annatto (which also provided a rich red colour) as well as fragrant flowers.
1506 Christopher Columbus died without apparently having tasted chocolate; neither did he take it to Europe.
Early sixteenth century Cacao beans were also used as currency. Nicarao Indians of Nicaragua were equating ten cacao beans with one rabbit and one bean with two sapote fruits. A prostitute could be engaged for eight to ten beans and if one saved up long enough and managed to amass 100 beans, a slave might be bought with them. The cost of living seems to have been higher in the Aztec lands. Shortly after the fall of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan to the Spaniards in 1521, a porter in central Mexico earned 100 beans a day. A document drawn up in the native language Nahuatl in central Mexico in 1545 shows considerable inflation. Here, a large sapote fruit cost 1 cacao bean; a turkey cock was valued at 200 beans and a turkey hen could be bought for 100 plump beans or 120 shrunken ones. A hare was worth 100 beans, but a small rabbit was cheap by comparison at only 30.
1544 Chocolate is believed to have arrived in Europe with a delegation of Mayan nobles, who were taken to Spain in 1544 by Dominican friars. Among the many gifts they presented to Prince Philip were containers of beaten chocolate and while he may have been gracious enough to taste it, chocolate was not an instant hit or hype.
Seventeenth century Slowly and gradually, chocolate began to make its presence known and by the mid-seventeenth century it had gained wide acceptance at the Spanish court and spread to the rest of Europe. Chocolate houses, where patrons could enjoy a cup of the delicious liquid and socialise with their friends at the same time, soon sprang up in all major European cities.
1727 A disaster all but wiped out the Criollo plantations in Trinidad. New plants of the hardy Forastero variety were brought in to replace them and they hybridised with what few Criollo plants remained to produce the Trinitario, a bean with many of the fine flavour qualities of Criollo, while the trees showed all of the sturdiness of the more common Forastero.
1778 Frenchman Doret invented the first chocolate press. Eating chocolate was dribbling into Europe, made by the Spanish nuns in Mexico whose coffers were soon brimming from the profits. This luxurious and novel confectionery would have been rejected by the modern taster as a gritty, greasy and often bitter mouthful. The chocolate press was to change all that.
1828 Coenraad van Houten invented a wooden screw press that extruded the cocoa butter from the beans and left behind a fatless mass that could be pulverised to produce what we now know as cocoa. He further refined the cocoa by adding potash, which neutralised the acid and gave a less astringent taste, an idea he is said to have copied from the Native Americans, who used wood ash in their chocolate drinks to make them milder. This process is known today as ‘Dutching’ and produces a more mellow cocoa than non-alkalised versions. Coenraad sold his invention to other European manufacturers, opening the way to the production of an improved kind of chocolate in which cocoa butter was an important ingredient.
1868 In Great Britain Dr Joseph Fry produced the first confectionery bars in the mid-19th century and the company started manufacturing boxes of fancy chocolates in 1868.
1879 Swiss chemist Henri Nestlé, who had already discovered a way to make powdered milk, joined forces with chocolate manufacturer Daniel Peter to make milk chocolate. In the same year, Rudolph Lindt invented the process of conching: chocolate was passed for 72 hours or more between granite slabs and rollers to produce a smooth and silky confection, especially when extra cocoa butter was added.
Twenty-first century Criollo remains the King of Beans and accounts for just ten per cent of world production, followed by the almost equally wonderful Trinitario at twenty per cent; both are sought after by those with discerning palates. Most ‘ordinary’ chocolates are made from pure Forastero or a blend. Cocoa butter continues to be a prized ingredient.
