Chocolate Nut Biscotti - Chocolate With Francois

Happy New Year Everyone!

Chocolate With Francois was supposed to be posted yesterday but lately my favorite expression seems to be better late than never. Better late than never certainly applies to this biscotti, it's some of the best I've ever made. The recipe calls for aniseed, I didn't have any so I omitted it. Also, the nuts used is the recipe are supposed to be a combination of hazelnuts and pistachios. I only had pistachios, so I just used a few more of them. Despite the changes and omissions, the flavor is a nice, slightly orange and chocolatey. These were a perfect sweet treat with my coffee this morning.

Chocolate Nut Biscotti
Recipe courtesy of Francois Payard

Makes 25 Biscotti

3 tablespoons unsalted Butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon aniseed
1 cup shelled pistachios, toasted
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the butter, sugar nad orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until the ingredients are about halfway combined. Add the pistachios and hazelnuts and beat until everything is just combined.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour and remove the dough to it. Roll the dough into a log 12 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. Using your rolling pin, slightly press the log down to flatten its top. This will help the dough spread, to make long biscotti. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the biscotti feels firm when you press on its top. Remove from the oven and let the log cool to room temperature on the baking sheet. Do not turn off the oven.

Using a serrated knife, cut the log diagonally into 1/2 wide slices. Place the slices back on the baking sheet, cut side down and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. The biscotti will crisp up as they cool.

Once completely cool, store them in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You can also store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw completely in the refrigerator, overnight, before serving.

Spicy Chocolate Pots De Creme - Chocolate With Francois

Here I am again, at the last minute, baking Chocolate With Francois. We've been in our house 6 weeks, so I can't play the moving card. We did just return from spending Thanksgiving in Los Angeles with my son Justin, so I am going to say I am baking at the last minute because of traveling. Really I am baking at the last minute because I procrastinated before we left for LA.

I love all things chocolate which must be why I chose to start Chocolate With Francois. One of my favorite chocolate desserts is a simple Pots De Creme. When I saw this recipe for Spicy Chocolate Pots De Creme, I was intrigued and chose it for this months recipe.

I halved the recipe and ended up with four 5 ounce ramekins. A little hesitant about using too much pepper, I used a scant 1/4 teaspoon. I think I would increase the amount slightly next time. I loved these silky, chocolate desserts. This recipe is a keeper, so many possibilities for adding different flavors to the base recipe.


Spicy Chocolate Pots De Creme
3 1/3 cups heavy cream
7 ounces 72% chocolate (I used dark chocolate)
1/2 teaspoon pimete d'espelette* (I used red pepper flakes, finely ground)
1 large egg
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons of sugar

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 300.

Combine the cream and chocolate in a large saucepan over medium low heat and heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate has melted. Stir in the piment d'espelette.

Whisk together the egg, egg yolks and sugar until well combined. Whisk the mixture into the chocolate cream. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher or a bowl.

Pour the liquid into six 6 ounce ramekins. Place the dishes on a rimmed baking sheet and pout about 1/2 inch of hot water into the bottom. Cover the dishes with a large sheet of aluminum foil and bake for about 1 hour, until the custards are very lightly set.

Remove from the oven and let cool, without removing the foil. Once cool, transfer the dishes to the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

These can be made ahead and kept, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.

*Piment d'espelette is a type of pepper used in Basque cuisine. Payard says it has a distinct, yet delicate, heat which is perfect for dessert. You can substitute finely ground red pepper flakes.

I am linking this to Full Plate Thursday and Foodie Friday.

Chocolate Ginger Angel Food Cake - CWF

I spent all day yesterday unpacking the last of the moving boxes. The moving boxes that really needed to be unpacked, that is! The good news is I did it! The bad news is that didn't leave me a lot of time to bake for Chocolate With Francois. It's a proven fact if I wait till last minute to bake for one of my baking groups, the recipe won't turn out quite right. Once again, that's the case. I baked this cake after work tonight, yes the last minute! I am not sure if I didn't let it bake long enough or what but it didn't come out of the pan quite right. The texture is unlike any angel food cake, I've ever had before. The cake is very heavy and dense, not light and airy like I think of when I hear angel food cake. I omitted the candied ginger because I didn't have any and it wasn't in the cards to make some tonight. The flavor of the cake itself is good but I can't get past the texture!



You can check out the other CWF baker's cakes here. You'll find their cakes look much better than mine did. The recipe should be up over at Leslie of Lethally Delicious' blog sometime soon. If not and despite my not so great review, you want the recipe, just send me an email! Next up for CWF is Spicy Chocolate Pots De Creme!

Chocolate Rice Krispie Bars - Chocolate WIth Francois

Things have been a little crazy around here lately, I will share more once we know how it all shakes out. Needless to say, I was thrilled with this month's Chocolate With Francois recipe. Rice Krispie Treats, seriously? Way too easy for Francois. Of course, he just had to add an element to differentiate his from those Rice Krispie Treats we all know and love. His recipe calls for the Rice Krispie treats to be shaped into round spheres.

I made a half recipe, took the easy way out and used a 9 x 9 glass pan. Sometimes regular Rice Krispie Treats seem too sweet. You know when it's so sweet your teeth hurt? The cocoa in these seems to cut the sweetness making these delicious.



Thanks to Linda of Diva Weigh for choosing this month's recipe. You can find the recipe on her blog!

I am linking this to Foodie Friday, Full Plate Thursday and Sweet Tooth Friday!

Chocolate Rice Pudding - Chocolate With Francois

I've never made rice pudding. Chocolate Rice Pudding seemed like a great first time! As far as Payard's recipes go, this is one of the easier ones. Most of the time is spent with the rice in the oven. The recipe calls for an hour's baking time, stirring every 20 minutes. Mine was beautiful after the first and second 20 minutes. I should have checked it again after 50 minutes instead of letting it go the full hour. Mine ended up over done and a little dry. The orange and chocolate flavors of this recipe are delicious and leave your kitchen with a wonderful fragrance.




Chocolate Rice Pudding was the recipe choice of Peggy of Pantry Revisited. You'll find the recipe over at her blog! Her pudding looks beautiful, just as Payard describes.

My Favorite Flourless Chocolate Cake - Chocolate With Francois

I think my first experience with flourless chocolate cake was twenty or so years ago when I worked with a girl who had gluten allergies. Unlike today, when it seems everyone has some sort of food allergy, no one had ever heard of someone being allergic to flour.

As I was preparing to make this recipe, I realized I didn't have the bottom for my 9" springform pan. I think I left it at my mother in laws when I made her a cheesecake for her birthday. I did some research on using an 8" for a 9" recipe. 10 cups for an 9" and 8 cups for an 8". Perfect, I can put the extra in my mini cheesecake pans and save the balance to serve for dessert when friends come over next weekend. When I poured the 8 cups into the cheesecake pan, I didn't feel like there was enough batter in the pan, so I added one more cup. In the end, I think I could have used it all since these cakes don't rise.

Watch your cooking time very closely, flourless cakes can be dry. I tasted the mini one on the day I made it. It was just okay, a little sticky and not as rich in chocolate as I would have liked. I froze the larger one for about a week. This resulted in the perfect flourless chocolate cake, moist and fudgy, like a decadent chocolate brownie. This recipe is a keeper. It's easy and can be made in advance, the perfect dessert to serve at a dinner party.


Joanne at Apple Crumbles is our host this month. You can find the recipe on her blog.

Yogurt Parfaits with Chocolate Granola - CWF

If you follow Chocolate With Francois, you know we all talk about the difficulty and complexity of many (most) of the recipes. As I was flipping through the book trying to decide what to choose for the May recipe, I knew it needed to be an easy one. The posting date would fall just after Michael's graduation and Memorial Day weekend. As a child I remember my mom saying "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today". I really wanted to make this recipe before we left town for the long Memorial Day weekend. I bought the ingredients I didn't have, read the recipe, left the cookbook on the counter and still didn't get it done until we got home. I don't think I listened to her advice as a kid either!!!

Chocolate granola seems a bit counter intuitive since I think of granola as somewhat healthy. I see this recipe for dessert rather than breakfast. The granola is easy to put together, uses ingredients most of us have in our kitchens and is delicious!

To make the parfaits you layer brown sugar glazed bananas, yogurt with orange zest and the chocolate granola. I love brown sugar glazed bananas but didn't care for them in this recipe. As well, I thought the orange zest overpowered the simple flavor of the vanilla yogurt. I think this would be best served with just the vanilla yogurt and the chocolate granola. There's too many flavors going on to really enjoy the yummy chocolate granola.



If you're curious what the other CWF members thought of this recipe and I know I am, you can find the links to their blogs here!


Yogurt Parfaits with Chocolate Granola
Serves 8

Chocolate Granola
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins

Yogurt
One 32 ounce container vanilla yogurt
Grated zest of 1/2 orange


Bananas
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4 inch slices

Make the granola. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, walnuts, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Stir with your hands or a spatula to make sure everything is evenly distributed. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the honey over the mixture, and mix with a silicone spatula until it is well incorporated. Spread the mixture in the prepared baking sheet, anthd bake for 15 minutes, without stirring. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the chocolate chips, raisins and the remaining tablespoon of honey. Add the cooled granola and toss the mixture together, slightly breaking up the granola. The granola can be stored in an airtight contained in a cool, dry environment for up to 1 week.

Make the yogurt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange zest and yogurt until combined. Keep the yogurt cold until ready to use, up to 2 days.

Make the bananas. Put the butter in a large saute pan over medium high heat, and let it melt until it just begins to brown. Add the brown sugar, and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the sugar is melted. Add the bananas, and cook them until they pick up a little bit of color, about 1 minute.

Assemble the parfait. Place a spoonful of warm bananas (the equivalent of 1/2 banana per glass) at the bottom of a tall glass. Place 1/2 cup yogurt over the bananas, and top with the granola, just before serving. Repeat for the remaining 7 glasses.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tuesday's at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesday Night Supper Club.

Chocolate Tiramisu - Chocolate With Francois

The past couple of CWF recipes have been "easy" in comparison with most of our CWF recipes. While I wouldn't say this month's recipe was particularly difficult, it did have the typical CWF characteristics. The recipe was made up of lots of steps and an equally large amount of bowls and utensils. I made it over two nights, not sure how long it took but let's just say this isn't a quick dessert to put together!

Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts. It's one of the ways I judge an Italian restaurant, great Tiramisu is a sign of a good Italian restaurant. Now I am not sure I've ever had Chocolate Tiramisu, so I guess I would consider myself a Tiramisu purist. Traditional Tiramisu is made with lady fingers and doesn't have any chocolate. I was curious if chocolate could make one of my favorite desserts even better.

Knowing it was very rich and having read some of the other CWF baker's comments about how delicious it was, I made a fourth of the recipe. The cake requires both egg whites and egg yolks. My egg whites never quite reached the stiff peak stage. I even tossed in a pinch of cream of tartar but still no stiff peaks. I decided to go for it and luckily my cake turned out fine. The ganache called for chopped chocolate. I think it should have said finely chopped chocolate. My chocolate wasn't melting when I combined it with the cream. I put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds and the chocolate melted perfectly. Once you have the cake, ganache and marscapone mixtures made, it's a relatively easy dessert to assemble.



Payard says the dessert gets better after sitting overnight, which makes sense as this gives the flavors a chance to meld. I tried it the night I made it. I thought it was good, not great. Of course the ganache was amazing but isn't it always!!! Thanks to Sandy of Seattle Pastry Girl for choosing this month's recipe. You can find the recipe on her blog! You can check out the other CWF baker's Tiramisu here!!

Charlie's Afternoon Pudding Cake - CWF

If you've read my CWF posts over the past year or so, you know they've contained more failures than successes. This month's recipe, however, was actually what I would call EASY! This cake didn't have any unusual ingredients, take forever to make or require several days to assemble. I read the recipe a couple of times to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

I cut the recipe in half and used an oval pan I had purchased when I took my cake decorating classes. It was the perfect size for a half recipe and the oval shape is great for the Easter season!!!




The next time you're looking for a chocolate cake recipe, give this one a try. It's so decadent and did I mention easy to make? The cake has a dense, fudgey texture and is very chocolately. I think I may have baked mine a little too long, although it doesn't taste overbaked. What a perfect dessert for entertaining!

You'll find the recipe on Peggy's blog, Pantry Revisited. Thanks, Peggy for choosing such a fabulous recipe. This could be my favorite CWF recipe so far!!! If you'd like to see what the other CWF baker's did with this recipe you can find the links to their blogs here!

Cracaos - Chocolate with Francois

One of the things I like about Chocolate With Francois is it challenging my baking abilities! Boy does it challenge my baking abilities! If I look back over the past months of Chocolate With Francois, I've had more failures than successes. However, those successes are fantastic. what keeps me coming back is hoping that month's recipe will be another success. Unfortunately, this month's wasn't that next success.

Payard's explains Cracaos are a traditional European cookies. There isn't a picture of these cookies in the book. Being a visual person, I searched for Cracaos. Nothing, except a reference to the recipe in this book. Interesting! I am not sure I have ever baked anything that you can't find on the internet.

The recipe goes together easily. The challenging part for me began with the shaping of the cookies. Francois instructs the baker to roll the dough to 6 x 5 1/2 x 1 1/2, chill and then cut into 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1/4 strips. I realized you have to cut the dough in half to get to 1/4. I decided to cut mine into stars. The dough was hard to work with and tricky to cut into shapes. I halved the recipe and ended up with 12 stars. The recipe calls for a baking time of 10 - 12 minutes. I think because of the larger shape of mine, they required a little longer baking time. After about 17 minutes, I opened the door to pull them out and check on them. I touched my forearm on the oven door. Hot oven and my reflexes made me jump. All but three cookies were either in the oven or on the floor in pieces.

I picked up the pieces, salvaged the good ones and placed them on a rack to cool. Once they'd cooled, I tried a couple of the pieces. I thought they were blah! Not at all what I expected. Since these cookies have toasted pistachios and walnuts, I thought they would be packed with flavor.



I am looking forward to seeing what this month's host, Astheroshe and my fellow CWF bakers thought of these and how their Cracaos turned out.

Chocolate Nut Loaf - Chocolate With Francois

Most of the recipes we've made so far from Chocolate With Francois have been shall we say a little challenging. I was thrilled when I read this month's recipe. The recipe read like a basic quick bread recipe and except for the almond paste, I had all of the ingredients on hand.

I decided to make my own almond paste, of sorts. I combined the "dust" from the almonds I had chopped for the bread, with a teaspoon of almond extract and a little powdered sugar. As well, I substituted macadamia nuts for the hazelnuts. The baking time for this recipe is 50 - 60 minutes. When I checked my bread at 45 minutes, the butter was bubbling around the sides of the pan and had run over in the oven. Fortunately, I use an oven liner. If you don't have one, I strongly recommend buying one!!! After the bread cooled, most of the butter seemed to absorb back into the bread. It did create an interesting crisp edge around the bread. I decided to skip glazing the bread. The bread was moist and the combination of nuts were delicious.


Thanks to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for hosting this month. You can find the recipe on her blog. The links to the other Chocolate With Francois Bakers can be found here!

Chocolate Pecan Tart - Chocolate With Francois

Am I the only one who's on sweet overload? All of these holiday treats, it's no wonder everyone's New Year's resoltution is to lose weight! This month's CWF recipe, Chocolate Pecan Tart was chosen by the talented baker and blogger, Susan of Baking with Susan! You can find the recipe on her site.

Pecan is Tim's favorite pie. Knowing we didn't need an entire tart, I decided to make 1/4 of the recipe and ended up with one mini tart. Many of the recipes we've made from Payard's book have been really difficult. This is one of the first recipes we've made that I would consider a "normal" recipe. A novice baker could make this recipe. By the standards set in Payard's book, this recipe was almost "easy". Even though I made the tart for Tim, I had to at least try it so I could write about it. This tart is so DELICIOUS, a perfect balance of chocolate and pecans. I will be making this recipe again.

You can find the links to the other CWF bakers tarts here.

Coconut Rochers - Chocolate With Francois

Many of the recipes in Francois Payard's recipes aren't for the faint of heart. The require multiple bowls, baking over multiple days and complicated processes. Fortunately, this month's recipe wasn't one of the complicated ones!

This month's recipe, Chocolate Coconut Rochers was chosen by Joanne at Apple Crumbles. These would make an interesting holiday cookie. Check out the recipe over at Joanne's site. I was curious. What's a rocher? Rocher means boulder in French. You can find the other CWF bakers rochers here.

As the egg whites were whipping, I went to the pantry to grab the mini chips. Guess what? Yes, you guessed it, no mini chips. I ended up using dark chocolate regular size chips. Payard suggests using a small ice cream scoop to shape the cookies. I used a regular size cookie scoop. The recipe says to take them out when the outsides are crisp. Mine never did get what I would call crisp. If you like coconut and chocolate and want an easy yet delicious cookie, give these a try.





I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Chocolate Honey Madeleines - Chocolate With Francois

With all of the pumpkin, squash and apple recipes on blogsphere, I am ready for a chocolate recipe. How about you? We've been baking along with the book, Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard for a year. It was my turn to choose the recipe for October. Since many of the recipes have been more than a little challenging, I decided to choose one that was easier to put together. This is my second time baking madeleines. The first time was this Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe. When I first read the SMS recipe, I wasn't sure what to do because I didn't have a madeleine pan. Naturally, I'd passed up at least one or two at Goodwill BEFORE I knew we were baking madeleines. Now I'd like to find one, there's none to be found. A mini muffin tin, although not as pretty, makes a good substitution.

This recipe goes together quickly and most likely uses ingredients you have on hand. This batter was much thicker than the Chestnut Honey Madeleine's. It reminded me of a sponge cake batter. Unfortunately, I overbaked them. Seems like I say that quite often? I was pretty sure I set the timer for 8 minutes, went to hang laundry and came back to the kitchen, time had expired. Did I forget to set the timer? Francois says these are best eaten the day they are made. Seriously, why are all of these recipes better eaten the day they are made? He's right. These have a much different texture, almost tough the next day. I was hoping these would have a nice deep honey flavor. The orange zest, while a delicious flavor, overpowered they honey. These are wonderful served with a cup of tea.




Chocolate-Honey Madeleines
4 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
Grated zest of 1 or 1 1/2 oranges, to taste
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
Softened butter and flour, for the molds
Batter
Combine the eggs, sugars and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 15 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
While the eggs are in the mixer, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt over a bowl of piece of wax paper.
Combine the butter and honey in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and let the butter melt. Stir so the honey is well combined. Remove the heat and once the egg mixture is ready, stir about one tenth of it into the butter, to lighten the butter.
With a silicone spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in two or three increments. Fold the butter mixture into the batter until well combined. Cover and refrigerate the batter overnight or for up to 3 days.
Bake
Place a rack in the upper and bottom thids of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush the tins of two large madeleine molds (my note...or mini muffin tins) with butter and dust with flour. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
With a silicone spatula, gently stir the batter to remove the excess air. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag, or resealable plastic bag, and cut a 1/2 inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe the batter almost to the top of each tin.
Bake for about 8 minutes, without opening the oven, and immediately unmold them by tapping the molds against the prepared baking sheet. The madeleines should fall from the tins onto the baking sheet. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature.

You can find the links to the other CWF baker's here! Next up for CWF is Chocolate Coconut Rochers chosen by Joanne at Apple Crumbles . We'd love to have a few more baker's join us for Chocolate With Francois. We bake once a month and post on the last day of the month. Interested? Send me an email!

Pink Saturday & Chocolate With Francois

It's not often that I have two blogging events on the same day! Today's one of those days. Both of these events deserve their own post. However, this blogger saved Chocolate With Francois until the last minute and after a long week at work didn't have the energy for two posts.

First we have Pink Saturday! Today I am featuring a beautiful pink flower from my garden. I have seen these called "Dinner Plate Hibiscus". This description is so fitting, these flowers are the size of dinner plates.

Now we're switching from beautiful pink flowers to delicious chocolate treats. This month's Chocolate With Francois creation is Chocolate Beignets. I love beignets but I have never made them. They're actually on my Top 50.

Since these need to be eaten right away, I decided to make 1/4 of the recipe. I had a little trouble with my math skills and ended up making the yeast mixture three times before I got it right. I know my division was accurate but the batter was way too thick. There was no way you could dip anything into the mixture. I added more beer until it was the consistency of a batter to be used for frying. I didn't feel like my ganache set up like it should but that could have been because of the heat and humidity. Once the ganache is set you roll the balls in egg, dip them in bread crumbs and then in the batter. This seemed more like something you would do for a main dish than a dessert but I assume it's to help keep the chocolate together while frying in the oil. The recipe called for a creme anglaise as a dipping sauce. It was already getting late so I skipped the creme anglaise.

Finally after an hour in the freezer, time to fry them. A couple of mine, exploded in the oil, maybe I didn't get enough bread crumbs around the chocolate? I had quite a bit of leftover batter. I put it in the fridge and am hoping to thin it down just a bit and make onion rings tomorrow night.

The verdict...I liked them but I didn't love them. They didn't really taste like a traditional beignet.This recipe is the pick of Julie from Always Leave Room for Dessert. If you want to give these a try, you'll find the recipe on her blog. Stop by Chocolate With Francois and see what the other members had to say!

Chocolate Blini's - CWF

In my quest to try and use the ingredients I have in the house, I wanted to figure out what to substitute for the hazelnut flour. I was searching the internet for substitutions when I had one of those aha moments. There were hazelnuts in with the mixed nuts we had in cabinet. After shelling the hazelnuts, you blanch them. To me blanching has always been in a pan of water. I read you could do it that way but it seemed the recommended way was to bake them in a 325 degree oven for up to 25 minutes. Keep an eye on them, so they don't burn. Remove them from the oven, wrap them in a towel for 5 minutes and then use the towel to rub off the skin. It was really easy and so much less expensive than buying shelled hazelnuts or hazelnut flour.

I was thinking blini's were like crepes or blinzes but they're more like pancakes, only a little smaller. I was excited about making this recipe. The topping possibilites are endless! Also, it looks easy enough maybe this one will be a success? I haven't had the best luck with some of Chef Payard's recipes.

I halved the recipe and ended up with at least 10 blini's. The recipe says you may need to flatten the batter with the back of a spoon after you put it in the pan. Not my batter. My blini's were flat on their own. Something about me and folding in egg whites, I can never seem to keep their height. The instructions were to cook these on low. I turned them up a little because I didn't feel like they were getting done. Other than not being as puffy as pancakes, this recipe turned out great. I topped mine with nutella and sliced strawberries. YUM!!



This delicious recipe was chosen by Linda at Diva Weigh. You can find the links to all of the other Chocolate With Francois bakers here! I can't wait to see what everyone did with their blini's.

Chocolate Mousse (CWF) - Foodie Friday

When Moogie sent me her choice for this month's Chocolate With Francois, she suggested everyone find a creative way to present their mousse. Sounds easy enough! I can do this! Or so I thought!

Earlier this week I read over the recipe to make sure I had all of the ingredients. I was thrilled to find that Payard had given the measurements for a half recipe. Since we have WAY too many sweets in the house, I usually cut the recipes in half. That can present some challenges, like how do you cut an egg in half? Perfect, the measurements for half a recipe are in the book, this is going to be so easy! Or so I thought!

Last weekend while we were in Kansas City, I stopped by one of my favorite stores, Crate & Barrel. Crate & Barrel has been one of my fav's for years. I used to travel to Chicago and always made a stop at their store on Michigan Avenue. This was before carryon's were limited, so I could easily bring those goodies home with me!! I found the cutest pink silicone flower shaped cupcake liners, butterfly and daisy cookie cutters. I suppose about now you're asking what that has to do with this Chocolate Mousse? My plan was to pipe the chocolate mousse into the pink cupcake liners. How cute and easy would that be? Or so I thought!

I did the mis en place thing and arranged all of my ingredients. Or so I thought! I used the 1/4 cup water from the FULL recipe instead of the 2 tablespoons from the half recipe. The mousse was too thin to pipe into the cute cupcake liners.

So sorry Moggie, no creative presentation for me! This mousse reminded me a lot of the Chocolate Mousse we made a few weeks ago for Sweet Melissa Sunday's. Just like the the SMS mousse, I ended up with little chocolate pieces in the mousse. This recipe is easy to put together and has a wonderful chocolate flavor!






Stop by Chocolate With Francois to find the links to all of the creative CWF members!!

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

Chocolate Canneles - Chocolate With Francois

I haven't been a very good Chocolate With Francois blogger. I've missed the past two months. My fellow bloggers have baked some beautiful dishes. I am sure this month will be no exception. Sarah at Teapots and Cakestands chose this month's recipe. When she first made her pick, she was quick to note if we didn't have cannele molds, this could be made in a muffin tin.

Canneles are a specialty of southwest France. I can't say that I've ever eaten one, so I was anxious to try these. I decided to make this in my mini bundt pan. We've had plenty of sweets at our house lately, so I chose to cut this recipe in half and in half again. My idea was to get two cannales. This batter looks devine, almost like creamy hot chocolate.

This recipe is quick and easy to put together. However, it does require a little planning because it has to chill overnight. The recipe calls for baking these 60 - 75 minutes. I checked them after about 50 minutes. They appeared to be done and as I looked closer, I was afraid they were overdone. As I removed them from the pan, my fear was confirmed, they're overdone!

Not sure if it was because these were overdone but they were terrible. They were very dry, which I know was because they were overdone. The flavor wasn't what I would have expected from the wonderful chocolate batter. I am anxious to see how my fellow CWF bloggers fared with this recipe.

Chocolate Pets De Nonne

Traveling home from our cruise today so my Chocolate With Francois post will be delayed!!

Pets De Nonne means nuns farts. Check out the blog of this month's hostess Maggie at The Other Side of 50, I am sure she has a hilarious story for us about her choice. You can find the links to the other Chocolate With Francois bloggers here.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

As I was making these cookies, I was thinking we've had two easy recipes back to back, when might this end? This recipe is so easy. One bowl and a few ingredients and you have cookie batter.

Unfortunately, mine didn't come together as easily as the recipe described. The recipe says after mixing for 3 minutes, the batter will thicken slightly. Mine didn't thicken. I kept wanting to add flour to make it thicker but flourless means no flour, right? My cookies were so thin I was worried about the batter running off the cookie sheet and into the oven. Fortunately, that did not happen but as you can see they did not turn out. Looks aren't everything though, right? So I thought the taste of these might make up for the appearance. Nope not so much, I didn't like the flavor either.



This month's recipe was chosen by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More. You can also find the links to the other Chocolate With Francois bakers here. Hopefully their cookies were scrumptious and beautiful, as the recipe describes.