Luscious Chocolate Desserts

by Lori Longbotham, William Meppen (Photographer)

Overview

Sexy, rich, and good in bed—chocolate is the ultimate indulgence. And Luscious Chocolate Desserts is the ultimate chocolate cookbook. Lori Longbotham, author of the best-selling Luscious Lemon Desserts, delivers more than 70 of the best recipes for tantalizing cakes, sumptuous tarts and pies, velvety puddings and soufflés, plus melt-in-your-mouth cookies, ice cream, and candy—all with enough chocolate to satisfy even the deepest craving. Recipes run from simple-to-prepare chocolate pound cake and chocolate mousse pie to more elaborate desserts such as chocolate profiteroles with chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce and the decadent mocha tiramisu. For those who don't know their cocoa from their cacao, this compendium for chocoholics educates readers from bean to bar, including how to choose from the many forms of chocolate available in today's markets, plus the basics of storing, chopping, melting, and—the best part—tasting them. Luscious Chocolate Desserts is pure chocolate satisfaction for proud chocolate lovers everywhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452123974
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	11/20/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	193,104
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lori Longbotham is a former food editor for Gourmet and a frequent contributor to magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, Food & Wine, Good Housekeeping, and the New York Times Magazine. She makes her home in New York City.
William Meppem is originally from Sydney, Australia and is now a New York based photographer. His work appears in Food&Wine, Martha Stewart Living, and Vogue Entertaining, and in A Beautiful Bowl of Soup (0-8118-3528-6) and Modern Greek (0-8118-3480-8).

Table of Contents

	Introduction	8
	A Short History of Chocolate	10
	From Cacao to Chocolate	12
	The Forms of Chocolate	16
	Chocolate and Health	20
	How to Taste Chocolate	21
	Chocolate Basics	22
	Baking Basics	24
	Simple Chocolate Garnishes	28
1	Cakes	31
	Luscious Chocolate Layer Cake	32
	Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes	35
	Divine Devil's Food Cake	37
	Magnificent Mousse Cake for a Party	38
	Mocha Brownie Pudding Cake	39
	Classic Chocolate Pound Cake	40
	The Original Chocolate Decadence	42
	Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cake	45
	Chanterelle's Chocolate Souffle Cake	46
2	Pies + tarts + a cheesecake	49
	Perfectly Simple Dark Chocolate Tart	51
	Deep Dark Chocolate Cream Pie	52
	Chocolate Pecan Turtle Tart	54
	Mom's Chocolate Angel Pie--and Then Some	57
	Brownie Pie	60
	Killer Chocolate Cheesecake	63
	Quickest, Easiest Chocolate Mousse Pie	65
3	Chocolate special favorites	67
	Luscious Chocolate Fondue	68
	Hot Chocolate Sauce with Croutons	69
	Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread on Toast with Nectarines	71
	Chocolate Profiteroles with Chocolate Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce	72
	Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake	74
	Grilled Chocolate-Stuffed Bananas	75
4	Puddings + custards + a souffle	77
	Chocolate, Dried Cherry, and Pistachio Bread and Butter Pudding	78
	My Favorite Chocolate Pudding	80
	Luscious Mocha Tiramisu	81
	Very Chocolatey Pots de Creme	83
	Chocolate Jelly	84
	Creamiest Chocolate Mousse	85
	Chocolate Panna Cotta	87
	Ultimate Chocolate Marquise	88
	Bittersweet Hot Chocolate Souffle	90
	Black Velvet Chocolate Mousse	93
5	Cookies	94
	Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Cookies	97
	Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dried Cherries and Pistachios	98
	French Chocolate Macaroons	100
	Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies	103
	Chocolatiest Crinkles	105
	Buttery Chocolate Wafers	106
	Mocha Shortbread	107
	Katharine Hepburn's Brownies	108
	Nib Nougatine Brownies	110
	Ganache-Filled Brown Sugar Bars	111
	Turtle Bar Cookies	112
6	Frozen chocolate desserts	115
	Nib Nougatine Chocolate Ice Cream Sundaes	116
	Luscious Chocolate Custard Ice Cream	118
	Chocolate Creme Fraiche Ice Cream	119
	Bittersweet Chocolate Gelato	121
	Brownie Hot Fudge Ice Cream Sundaes	122
	Chocolate Sorbet	123
7	Confections + a drink	125
	Luscious Hazelnut Truffles	126
	Irresistible Chocolate-Pecan Caramels	128
	Nib Nougatine	129
	Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries	130
	Nib Truffles Squared	131
	Bicerin	133
8	Sauces	135
	Simple Hot Fudge Sauce	136
	Creamy Chocolate Sauce	136
	Chocolate Creme Fraiche Sauce	137
	Deep Dark Chocolate or Mocha Sauce	137
	Chocolate Cherry Sauce	138
	Blackberry, Strawberry, or Raspberry Sauce	138
	Chocolate Caramel Sauce	139
	Cherry Sauce	140
	Chocolate Syrup	140
	Chocolate Whipped Cream	141
	Chocolate-Balsamic Drizzle	141
	Index	142
	Table of Equivalents	144

Editorial Reviews

There's no shortage of chocolate cookbooks out there, but this volume stands out for its user-friendly nature and the sheer deliciousness of its recipes. Longbotham (Luscious Lemon Desserts), a former food editor at Gourmet, clearly knows her material: she provides a concise history of chocolate, a description of the journey from cacao pod to hot cocoa, and a brief glossary explaining the myriad different forms chocolate can take. She even includes a short discussion on the health benefits of chocolate consumption, which should come as a relief to anyone tempted by fat and calorie-laden recipes like Killer Chocolate Cheesecake or Luscious Chocolate Custard Ice Cream. Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes have become a restaurant cliche, but made at home, they regain both their originality and their integrity. And Luscious Chocolate Layer Cake, a birthday classic, is rich, gooey and satisfyingly all-American. Some of the best recipes are the ones that mix fruit with chocolate; Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread on Toast with Nectarines is like Nutella to the nth power, the nectarines a perfect foil for the chocolate spread, and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dried Cherries and Pistachios are wonderfully crunchy and chewy at the same time. The dried cherries provide a terrific sweet-tart kick. The diversity of the recipes, along with the photographs of all these heartbreakingly gorgeous desserts, make this the perfect cookbook for any chocolate fanatic those who love to eat chocolate and those who just love to read about it. -Publishers Weekly

Whoever said single-subject cookbooks were tiresome? I think it was me, but that was before Lori Longbotham's homage to chocolatey treats crossed my path.

I practically fell face first, mouth wide open into the gorgeous color photographs by William Meppem. His glossy pics of chocolate souffle cake, chocolate panna cotta and chocolate ice cream sundaes with nib nougatine made me want to try every one of Longbotham's 65-plus recipes.

The recipes themselves are just as inviting. All are plotted out in a straightforward manner and rely on easy-to-find ingredients. Nothing daunts, not even the restauranty Ultimate Chocolate Marquise.

Longbotham also provides a short discourse on the history of chocolate, a glossary, a section on chocolate's connection to good health and a primer on tasting chocolate. -San Diego Union Tribune

From the Publisher