Almond and Chocolate Tartlets

Last week I bought myself a Kenwood Chef. Not as good looking as a KitchenAid, but it's performance is better (I realise that may sound a bit bias). And, after giving it pride of place in my kitchen I was itching to use it.

Now, I've got loads of ground almonds in the cupboard, so the challenge was to find a recipe that meant I could use both the almonds and the Chef. Luckily, my Mum and sent me some food magazines that I subscribe to, but hadn't changed the delivery address yet. In Delicious., happened to be a recipe for Amandine Tart - basically a fancy Bakewell Tart without the jam.

Chocolate Workshop

I always knew that working with chocolate took a lot of care. But I never knew just quite how much. Even if you want to simply melt some chocolate for a cake, there are very precise temperatures required to produce a glossy finish. The first workshop was aimed at getting an appreciation of this by making chocolates filled with a ganache. 

Thankfully, we have the option of using readymade chocolate shells, provided by Hotel Chocolat (with whom this project is based around). These will be the same ones that Hotel Chocolat use in their own product development. 

They also provided us with a couple of recipes that they use. One was for a basic chocolate ganache. And I use "basic" as a very loose term. When a recipe calls for measurements down to 1/100th of a gram I think it becomes a bit more than basic.

Still, we managed to make these chocolates pretty successfully. Though we may have got a bit carried away with making some of them look nice. I've also discovered that I'm not that fond of ginger flavoured chocolate. 

What flavours do like or dislike when it comes to chocolate?

Hotel Chocolat

This week saw the start of my lectures, for my final year at university. Amongst the various modules, I have one called Product Development. Each year our tutor brings in a different company to set the class a brief. This year, we're very lucky to have Hotel Chocolat.

One of Hotel Chocolat's product development team came in to talk about the company and what would be expected. She also gave us lots of chocolate to try from their Spotlight On range. Usually, I'm not a fan of chocolate that has other flavourings (with the exception of nuts). 

So, I was surprised when I had a Midnight Mint and found it wasn't too bad at all. The mint flavour was not overpowering. The Rum Truffle and Whisky Truffle, though, were another story. The flavours were so strong, but not nastily so. I think this was credit to the high quality ingredients that they use.

The only ones that I really wasn't keen on, were the Rose & Violet Crèmes. Their floral flavours just didn't sit right on my tongue and I found myself reaching for another Midnight Mint. 

Our brief is to basically develop a product to extend this range of chocolates. It's going to be tough work. Especially the tasting sessions. But, I think I can handle it.

What's your favourite chocolate brand? What flavours do you love and hate? What flavours would you like to see Hotel Chocolat do?