COCOBEAT

Spring is in full swing in California. Warm and fresh, with bright green everywhere. Unlike during the last few years of our record-breaking drought, we had decent rainfall over the past few months, which has made a big difference this spring. It seems trees and plants are growing faster and taller than ever. The old plum tree in my backyard will have a lot of fruit this year… probably the first time in 5 years. Spring may be at its peak now, but needless to say it is fantastic to be having a real “spring” again!   This chocolate mousse is simple but very light – perfect for the season. You will never get tired of it or of a lush, verdant spring.  SIMPLE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE — Light for Spring This recipe is from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé , a very famous French pastry chef, with a great dessert writer, Dorie Greenspan. It is very important when making this mousse to use good quality chocolate and very fresh eggs. Recipe and anecdote adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

The Jumbo Molten Chocolate Macaron from Trader Joe’s weighs a whopping 100 grams (3.5 oz.). It is dangerously delicious and costs only 4 bucks for two macarons. Does that sound good? I’m addicted and have been trying to hook my friends and neighbors. I am not always such a frugal person, but who can resist a bargain-priced quality product?                           Last week I served one to a chocolate-lover friend. She could not finish it, but asked if I had another one she could take home. It’s that good. Everyone loves it “quietly,” because nobody wants to share it. I like that I don’t have to “bake” it to impress friends (unless that includes warming it in the microwave until the filling starts oozing out). You can find them in the Trader Joe’s freezer along with the Molten Salted Butterscotch flavor. They are made in France. I love TJ’s!         Macarons have a simple recipe but are a bit tricky, particularly the first couple of times. They are fun to make, because you can create

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] I met a pretty young woman during my recent field trip in Caribbean. She introduced me to a rustic coconut confection called Cucurucho , in which shredded coconut is cooked with honey, raw sugar, papaya and guava and then wrapped in a cone shaped palm leaf. It is a fairly dense cake that can keep for more than a few days under hot and humid conditions. Local people cook them at home and sell them at the roadside. I saw them near bus stations and markets along the way to a cacao farm. They also tie them two together, which makes them easy to carry and to hang on a hook inside a bus.   [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://cocobeat.net/wp-content/upload