Yum yum pig’s bum as my Irish friend says. These little brownie cheesecake babies are delish. I’ve used my favourite Brownie recipe by Nigel Slater (minus slightly less sugar) ‘melanged’ with a creamy cheese dulce de leche mix.
The sweet deep chocolately taste combined with the tangy ‘slightly salty sour’ cream cheese made these little brownies go down a treat at the picnic I went to last week. Ahhhhhhhh all seems to be a long distance memory. I had to get out my 40 denier tights and boots out today. It’s so wet and cold in Paris. Good thing it’s holiday time soon.

P.S. These yummy brownies are taking part in the Brownie babe event hosted by Once upon a Tart. Check out the event for more delish brownie recipes.

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On Thursday we had our little ‘flowery’ event @ La Cocotte for the book launch of ‘Petits bouquets de cuisine’. There were flowery mocktails and these little raspberry dahlia mousses with mint choc leaves. Absolutely delish! I couldn’t stop eating the mint choc leaves. Think After eight but without the sweet filling and calories.

Just a tip if you’re going to use Dahlias to decorate make sure you use pesticide free (flowers from the florist are usually heavily sprayed).

Special thank you to Andrea (the La Cocotte mastermind) who spent the night making the delicious mint choc leaves.

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Tags: DMBLGIT

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything in life was as black and white as a recipe? Unlike most things, Pâtisserie is pretty much clear cut. If you don’t follow the recipe then it’s most likely to end up wrong different. But then again it’s usually from the mistakes you discover the most interesting things.
Thinking about it I’m glad life isn’t a 1940’s black & white movie (don’t get me wrong I adore Cary Grant & co.), life would be quite dull otherwise.

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As an English saying goes ‘A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. I’m sure you could say the same for women as long as some form of chocolate is involved. So for this Valentine’s why not try making some chocolate love heart macaroons.
To be honest I don’t think I’ll be parting with these. They’re way too good to be giving away.

Chocolate macaroon love hearts

300g ground almonds
300g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
icing sugar to dust
200g dark chocolate

Makes about 20

Heat the oven to 180°c. Beat egg whites until foamy. Mix together almonds and sugar, then fold in the vanilla extract and eggwhites to form a softish dough.
Use icing sugar to dust surface and roll out dough to about 2cm thick. If the dough is too sticky, chill it for a while. Cut out heart shapes. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for about 20 minutes depending on the size of hearts. They should be pale on the outside but still gooey inside. Be careful when you remove them. While they’re hot they’re still very fragile.
Melt chocolate over a ‘bain marie‘ and allow to cool a little. Dip each heart in the chocolate and leave on a wire rack to set. Alternatively use the melted chocolate to pipe a valentine’s message (Funny valentine poems/limericks).

It’s French exam time which means I’m having to put in some late night studying. Not being a big fan of the taste of coffee on it’s own and ‘the drink which gives you wings’ being illegal here, I’ve had to find another solution to keep me awake (if you’re having sleeping problems just try studying some French grammar, you’ll be sleeping like a baby in no time).

These brownies are seriously chocolately. The recipe is by one of my favourite food writers, Nigel Slater. I added two espresso shots and 20g of extra flour to make a ‘mocha’ brownie version. With a cold glass of milk, this goes down a treat.

Midnight munchie brownies