Namachocolate (生チョコ): For every chocolate lovers (in the world!)

Yesterday, I received an e-mail, it comes from one of blog readers. I read it as usual well, I love to read it, when someone talk about the food or the sweet (most of them sweet), that they make using the recipe that I posted in my blog.  

But this time, it's request, I have to admit that I got a lot of request, and I will do it as soon as I can if it's possible for me to make it or test the recipe at that time.
Like this one, the 生チョコ (Namachoco - it means fresh chocolate), it's not hard to make at home if you have the right ingredient. And the key for success is "the chocolate". The quality of the chocolate is the most important, actually I didn't talk about the price of it, but I talk about the taste of the chocolate. Be sure to use the chocolate that you really, really love the taste of it, because most of the taste of this sweet is the chocolate itself !!!


The cocoa powder is important too, it's the same as the chocolate, use the one that you can dip your finger into and eat it, haha, actually I'm not kidding. 
This time I use 50% cocoa mess dark chocolate, which I think it's good when you want the taste of the namachoco to be smooth, not too sweet and not too bitter (remember that you will cover it with a lot of cocoa powder).
This kind of chocolate will stay soft even after refrigerate and with each bite will make you say "Ummm................" with a lot of delicious chocolate flavor.
So, the key to success is the chocolate, and the most important thing in this recipe is the chocolate, so if you are a chocolate lover, grab your beloved chocolate and follow me, when you start with the right chocolate, you can't go wrong!

Namachocolate (生チョコ)

Makes 12 pieces

160g ................................ Dark chocolate, chopped if you use a big chunk
90ml ................................ Whipping cream
10g ................................... Unsalted butter
10g ................................... Glucose syrup
5tbsp ............................... Cocoa powder


Line 2 of small jelly molds (14.5X8.8 cm) with baking paper.

Put the chocolate and butter into a medium bowl.
Pour the whipping cream and glucose syrup into a saucepan, put the saucepan over medium low heat, stir until the glucose melt and the mixture boil lightly.
Pour the whipping cream mixture over the chocolate, stir until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared molds, and smooth the top, then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Take the chocolate out of the molds and cut into pieces.

Sift the cocoa powder into a pan and place the chocolate over the cocoa powder, turn the chocolate over to coat them completely with cocoa powder.
Refrigerate until ready to serve, can be kept for 2-3 days (if you can resist it, ^^).

Namachocolate (生チョコ): 
For every chocolate lovers (in the world!)

Fig and white chocolate cookies: New and delicious combination!

I don't know where to start, the book or the cookie, because I love both of them ^^. And now you already know that this recipe comes from my new book again, right?

May be you heard about the book ........  which I got it just before going on my vacation and I really wanted to try the recipe.


So, when my sister told me that she want a cookie (Again? haha), I grab this book suddenly ^^, hehe, this time I could try. I started to brows the book, it full of delicious idea, and I notice that most of the recipes are homey and wholesome. The author use many kinds of nut, fresh and dried fruit in her recipe, anyway I had to choose one of them first, haha.
And I had my eye on this cookies, Fig and white chocolate cookie, I think it's a new combination (for me, ^^) and the other reason is my sister love white chocolate, she won't say not too this for sure.
  
After baking it, I really love the texture of this cookie, well it's not soft but it's not hard, just the right cookie to eat with a cup or glass of anything that you like too, ^^. And for the fig, if you don't have it, just use other kind of dried fruit that you love, the white chocolate is the same, you can use dark or milk, the limit is only your imagination.
So, this cookie recipe can be a good basic recipe for cookie jar's cookie, haha, and I think that you might want to have one jar of them on your counter too.


Note: I just try only one recipe so, I will talk about the book again after I try more recipe on the savoury  part of the book.

Fig and white chocolate cookies

Makes about 15

50g .................................. Butter, soft
80g .................................. Golden caster sugar
.......................................... A few drop of vanilla extract
1 ....................................... Egg
70g .................................. Soft dried fig, chopped
50g .................................. White chocolate, chopped
130g ................................ All purpose flour
1½ tsp ............................ Baking powder


Preheat the oven to 160 °C
Line 1-2 baking pan with baking paper.
Sift the flour and baking powder together.

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and mix well. Stir in the fig and chopped white chocolate. Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. 

Take a generous teaspoon of the biscuit dough (dailydelicious note: I use #50 scoop) and place on one of the prepared pan. Flatten slightly, then repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the dough balls well apart as they will spread when they are baking.


Bake for 25 minutes or until the biscuits are pale golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. 

Fig and white chocolate cookies: New and delicious combination!

Strawberry and Mascarpone Cupcake: cute little cake with a review of the book, ラブリー！ハッピー！贈るお菓子

ラブリー！ハッピー！贈るお菓子 (講談社のお料理BOOK)

Lovely! Happy! Sweet for Gift is the name of this book and from the name you can imagine that most of the sweet in this book is great for giving ^^.

Actually I fall in love with the look of the book (well, I order it from Amazon, without seeing the inside of the book, but the cover says it all for me), and the author is famous for her books and her baking class.

Anyway, for me this is the first one of her book that I bought, and I have to say that it's very beautiful!!!!! You know that I love beautiful books ^^.

The book divided into 5 chapter, start with 1. A Gift for Thanks, 2.A Gift of Hello, 3.A Gift of Congratulations, 4.A Gift of Merry Christmas and the last one A Gift of Love. Plus the last chapter, how to make the base for all the sweet and the Q&A.

All of the chapter have the many kinds of sweet, cakes, roll cakes, cheese cake, marshmallow, scone, jam  cookies, pies, jelly, quiche, choux, and chocolate. I love the decoration, they are so cute and the packaging idea is good too. 

In each kind of sweet, there will be a instruction for making the decorating item, like this one is how to make the iced flower.

You can see that the photos are great too, only looking at all these lovely photos makes me happy ^^. She show us how to turn some simple sweet into something special, like the cut out cookie that turn out to be super cute cookie!

The decoration for the Christmas chapter is great too, very seasonal, and giving some of these sweet will surly make the recipient smile. 

The last chapters, A Gift of Love, most of the sweets are chocolate, with lovely decoration, and a lot of "Love", you can give them to anyone you love, not only your boyfriend or girlfriend ^^. They are cute enough to show anyone who received them, that you really care for them.

The last parts of the book are the photo instruction for making all kind of base (because most of the basic is the same), like how to make genoise sponge, puff pastry , butter cake and how to tempering the chocolate.

For the Q&A section, the questions come from the pupils in her class or from the e-mail. Like how to prepare the sweet if you don't have enough time, ingredient and equipment guide.

I really recommend this book if you love to decorate your sweet, love to make a lovely packaging and most of all love to give your sweet as a gift!, this one is made for you.

The cupcake is a basic butter cake, the texture is soft and moist with a piece of strawberry inside. Anyway,  I fall in love with the frosting , it's delicious and very easy to work with, if you love mascarpone you will feel the same, haha. For the buttercream rose, you can use any recipe for me I use the Italian meringue buttercream, or you don't have to make the buttercream at all,  only the cake and the frosting are very good. 


So, you can make this lovely cake in any occasion, as a gift for someone you love or as a gift for yourself, and your heart will feel great to have a delicious and cute cupcake as an afternoon treat, who say you can't give a gift for yourself, haha.

Strawberry and Mascarpone Cupcake

Make 7 (7cm cupcake)

50g .................................. Butter
80g .................................. Sugar
1 ....................................... Egg
.......................................... A pinch of salt
60ml ................................ Half and half
100g ................................ Cake flour
1tsp .................................. Baking powder
½tsp ................................ Vanilla bean paste
4 ....................................... Strawberry, cut in half


Mascapone frosting
200ml ............................. Whipping cream
35g .................................. Sugar
50g .................................. Mascarpone cheese
1tbsp ............................... Lemon juice


 Preheat the oven to 170 °C

Place the baking paper in to the cupcake tins.

Sift the flour and baking powder together.

Beat the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy, add the vanilla bean paste and beat to combine.

Put the egg in to the batter and beat until combine. 

Divide the flour mixture into 3, put 1/3 of the flour mixture into the batter, stir with a spatula, when combine, add half of the half and half, follow with 1/3 of the flour, stir again then add the rest of the half and half. Finish with the rest of the flour, mix to combine.

Scoop the batter into the tins, add the strawberry half in the center.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake is spring when touch lightly.

Let the cake cool completely before frosting it.

Beat all the ingredient together and put the frosting into a piping bag.
Frost the cake with the frosting and decorate as you wish, ^ ^.

Strawberry and Mascarpone Cupcake: 

cute little cake with a review of the book, ラブリー！ハッピー！贈るお菓子