Much of these past seven days has been spent finding ways of using up the platoon of nutty chocolate spread jars, amassed after the testing of a few weeks ago. Even though a friend, clearly with steelier will power than me, said that a spoonful of good-quality chocolate spread every 24 hours is like an inoculation against wanting more chocolate, I felt a need to lessen their number. The most successful experiment resulted in an Angel Delight light mousse made of one part nut chocolate spread (slightly warmed, then cooled to make it easier to work with) to two/three parts double cream (the more cream you use the lighter it is) and a good pinch of cornflour, whipped and then rosette-piped or dolloped into glasses.
Solace was also found in what might be, in chocolate terms, the opposite of that. Scarred but not scared by my forays into 100% cocoa last November, I hadn’t gone beyond 70% since. But you know, I eat a lot of chocolate for this column and even my palette gets jaded. A bar of Tosier (you may remember its dark chocolate with coffee was a stand out back in the summer) 90% Maya Mountain Belize (60g, £6.50)had been bought at a chocolate market just before Christmas. Tosier makes great, smooth, really well judged chocolate and this was exceptional: snappy, both rich and clean, and lively without being too fruity, which I am not keen on. Amazing what the addition of a little sugar does (10% here, so not too bad if you’re being careful). It’s perfect for when you want a grown-up, complex chocolate hit.
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