So the winner for the first Stop the Traffik chocolate competition is Stephanie from Whisk & Spoon with her very delicious White chocolate & almond tartufi (you can invite me over for dinner anytime A little fairtrade chocolate goodie bag will be winging her way soon.

Thanks again for everyone who supported this event. I was really impressed with effort and time people took. So much so that I’m thinking of hosting it again next year. So keep tuned!

Cantucci: famous tuscan almond biscotti

The last couple of weeks (or maybe months) have been pretty crazy, not just workwise but socially. I seem to be meeting a whole bunch of cool people every week. The obligatory ‘So what do you do in life?’ question crops up within 2/3 minutes of the first conversation. I usually say I bake biscuits, makes things a lot simpler (telling people you’re a food stylist, always involves a lengthy explanation). Then comes the ‘Can you make xxx?’ ‘Yes’ ‘Can you really?’ …and a demand of some proof of some sort.

All this socialising networking (it’s all about who you know, darrrrrrling) has had a few other side effects (less sleep, more make-up to put on in the morning) meaning I’ve resulted into drinking a coffee or two (normally I’m ‘a cup of tea’ gal) to keep me going during the day.

Now for me, a perfect cup of coffee (or tea, even a hot chocolate) must include some kind of dunkable biscuit (here’s a past recipe). And no, you don’t want some kind of pathetic biscuit which will give up on you half way through being dunked. ‘Cantucci’ or often mistakenly called ‘Biscotti’ (which is the general Italian word for biscuit) are perfect dunking biscuits. Crisp and crunchy before ‘the dip’ they handle any kind of liquid well.

If the thought of baking these little dunkable darlings is too much to handle. Pop by La Cocotte. The cantucci go by the name of ‘Biscocotti’ and are sold at 1.50€ a packet .

Don’t forget to vote for your favourite Stop the traffik chocolate entry. Deadline is Tuesday 16th October.

P.S. The absolutely awful pun (I know they are getting worse and worse. I will stop, honest!) is dedicated to a fellow foodie blogger I just met. Who knows, you might see a food blog cook/bake off in the near future.

Dulce de leche cantucci

270g plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
140g sugar

180g blanched almonds
3 eggs
200g Dulce de leche

Mix together all the ingredients apart from the Dulce de leche. Then roll out the dough and spread Dulce de leche on top leaving an 1 inch border. Roll into a sausage (this can be quite messy). Bake at 160°c 30-40mins. Leave to cool. Cut 5mm slices and bake 10-15 minutes or until biscuits are crispy and dry. Makes 40-50

Recette en français

Cantucci de dulce de leche

270 g de farine
1 ½ c. à café de levure chimique
140 g de sucre
180 g de amandes entiers
3 oeufs
200 g Dulce de leche

Mélanger tous les ingrédients sauf que le Dulce de leche. Ensuite, étaler la pâte et mettre le Dulce de lait sur le dessus laissant 3cm d’une frontière. Roulez la pâte dans une saucisse (ça peut être un peu difficile). Cuire à 160 ° C 30 – 40mins. Laisser refroidir. Couper en tranches de 5mm et cuire 10-15 minutes ou jusqu’à ce que les biscuits sont croquants et sec. 40-50 pièces.

Drum roll, please…here are the absolutely fantastic chocotastic entries for the Stop the Traffik chocolate competition. And what a range there has been. Each entry has had me licking my lips and going yum yum. Thanks to everyone who participated I’m truly impressed with all the effort everyone has made. If I’ve forgotten your entry or made an error, please let me know.

So start drooling over your keyboards (click on each image for the whole entry) and send me your votes to rkhooks@gmail.com by Tuesday 16th October.

P.S. Only one entry per person. I know you guys want to win the goodie bag

Today we have a *star* guest appearance (well for me, it is) on R khooks. I was absolutely delighted when my Mum sent me her entry for the competition (she was the one to make me aware of the cause). So I was only to happy to put her entry up on my blog. And what an entry it is! Yummy chocolate with a tangy orange kick, this bread will be giving the other choctastic entries a run for it’s money.

P.S. For all of you who haven’t had the time to enter I’m extending the deadline until Monday the 8th October. So go bake something chocolately this weekend!

My Mum’s Chocolate & Orange bread

This recipe required several attempts to get the chocolate and orange flavours right. I don’t think I’ve quite perfected yet. For my taste I would like the orange flavour to come through a bit stronger. But here it comes for what it’s worth.

Starter dough

200ml warm water
225g wholemeal bread flour
1tsp salt
1 ½ tsp dried yeast
1 tbsp Fairtrade cocoa powder (I used Green & Black’s Maya Gold)
1 tbsp melted orange marmalade

Mix all ingredients together. The dough will be fairly wet and sloppy. It needs some 5 mins beating away from the edges with a wooden spoon. Or if you feel like it you can give it a ‘squelching’ with your hands. Pretty sticky but works well. Rub off any dough from your hands with flour. Cover in a bowl with a wet cloth and leave overnight or about 8hrs.

In the morning mix the starter dough with the following ingredients:

225g unbleached white flour
1 egg (beaten)
140ml warm milk
50g melted butter
100g Fairtrade chocolate, melted (I used milk chocolate in this case but I think dark chocolate gives it a better colour and a bit more intensive flavour)
2 tbsp of melted orange marmalade
200g ground nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds will be find)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon – optional

Mix all the ingredients together with the starter dough. Again the consistence should be fairly sticky, not your usual bread dough. And give it a good beating with a wooden spoon or get your hands in there. Leave for 4 to 6 hours to rise depending on the temperature in your kitchen.

After it’s doubled in size knock back and transfer into lined baking tin. Leave to prove for about 30 mins while oven is pre-heating (200C/400F/Gas6). Bake for 10mins and then turn temperature down to 180C/350C/Gas4). Bake for a further 30mins. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

The chocolate bread should be soft, moist and really yummy, just a slight sweetness from the chocolate and the marmalade. It makes a really good alternative to cakes or tea bread.

I chocolate especially dark chocolate. There’s nothing more satisfying than unwrapping that gold paper ‘Willy wonka style’ and taking a large bite out of a chunky bar of dark chocolate. It’s pure, quite egoistic, self satisfaction but always tainted with that slight feeling of guilt (why is there no such thing as a decent ‘light’ chocolate bar?). Having now found out about the trafficking involved, eating any ‘regular’ chocolate bar is stained with even more guilt.

Fairtrade products have been around in the UK for quite a while now but France only seems to have caught up in the last couple of years. The ‘commerce equitable’ section seems to be getting bigger and bigger every time I pop by my local supermarket. No excuse anymore for me not to buy ‘guilt free’ chocolate. It is a bit more expensive than the Lindt chocolate I usually go for but worth it. Quality and taste wise I think it definetly matches any of the higher end chocolate brands.

We had a ‘Tiramisu‘ booklaunch at La Cocotte last week. So I took a leaf out of the author Laura Zavan’s book and came up with my own version* of a tiramisu. Quite chocotastic with a chocolate sponge and mascarpone cream and some raspberries to cut through the richness of the cream and chocolate.

*A traditional Tiramisu will also include eggs.

So come on guys, try and match this. You’ve got ’til Friday Monday 8th. Let the chocotastic battle begin!

Dark chocolate and raspberry Tiramisu

200g dark chocolate (fairtrade of course!)
500g mascarpone
500g raspberries (I used frozen)
Small chocolate sponge cake* (preferably in a loaf shape)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
100g sugar
250ml water

* I made a chocolate sponge cake but you could use a bought one to save time.

Ceramic rectangle dish (roughly 25 x 15cm)

Place the raspberries with the water and 50g sugar (if your raspberries are very acidic add extra sugar) in a pot. Put the pot on a medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.
Cut the chocolate cake into 2cm thick slices. Layer the slices so they cover the bottom of the dish. Pour on the raspberries with the syrup. Making sure you soak all the cake. Cream the rest of the sugar, cocoa powder and mascarpone together. Chop up half of the chocolate into small chunks and mix into the mascarpone. Spread the mascarpone on top of the raspberries. With the rest of the chocolate make the shavings using a potato peeler. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Just a quick reminder for all those chocholics! Don’t forget to send me your entries for the Stop the traffik chocolate competition. Deadline is next Friday 5th Monday 8th October.

P.S. If anyone can guess correctly what I made (see photo above). I’ll send you a fairtrade chocolate bar

Everyone loves chocolate (O.K. there are a few oddbods who aren’t chocolate fans).The amount of chocolate we consume is astounding. The Swiss (at 22.36 lbs/yr per person) come tops in chocolate consumption, followed by the Austrians (20.13 lbs/yr per person)…the States are 11th with 11.64 lbs/yr per person (for more stats click here). That’s one hell of a lot of chocolate.

Recently I was made aware of the child slave labour that is involved in chocolate.

“Nearly half the world’s chocolate is made from cocoa grown in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa.
The 2000 US State Department Human Rights report said “It is estimated that some 15,000 Malian children work on Ivorian cocoa and coffee plantations. Many are under 12 years-of-age, sold into indentured servitude for $140, and work 12-hour days for $135 to $189 per year.”

The stop the traffik campaign is trying to get Chocolate companies to use a label to show they don’t support slave labour. There are more and more companies which produce ‘fairtrade’ chocolate. In the UK there’s Oxfam, fairtrade, Green & Blacks Maya Gold…more examples here. In the French supermarkets I’ve seen “le commerce equitable chocolat”. And I had a quick look on the net and in the States I found fairtrade products. If any American readers know anymore companies let me know…

So I’m calling all you chocoholics. Whip up your best chocolate recipe using slave labour free chocolate and send me your entries.

I will be sending the winner a little ‘traffik free’chocolate goodie bag.

Make sure to come back to check out the results and to vote (around about the 10th Oct.)

To participate:

- Post* your best/favourite ever chocolate recipe (using Fairtrade/slave labour free chocolate)
- Include in your post a picture of the chocolate brand you used and a little background info on the product (i.e. where you bought it, was it easy to find, the taste, what you thought of the chocolate…)
- Include a link to www.rkhooks.net and if possible use the stop the traffik logo on your site (download from here)

- Finally:
Email me rkhooks@gmail.com by October 5th Monday 8th of October with the following information:

Subject line: Stop the traffik chocolate campaign
Your name
Your blog URL
Link to your post
Name of dish
100×100 pixel photo of your dish

*If you don’t have a blog just email me @ rkhooks@gmail.com by October 5th with the following information:
Your name
Name of dish
Recipe
100×100 pixel photo of your dish