COCOBEAT

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Panna cotta “Cooked Cream” is an Italian dessert that is easy to make and great for spring and summer. It has a custard-like texture but contains no eggs, so using good quality cream is essential. There are many recipe variations, but traditionally it contains cream, sugar, vanilla and almond extract and gelatin. If using all heavy cream is too much for you, try using ½ cream and ½ milk, ½ milk and ½ buttermilk, or a non-dairy product such as almond milk or soy milk. It all works well. My recipe is in the middle: It uses 50% cream and 50% milk. Panna cotta goes well with chilled sweet wine. It’s perfect for summer b...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] In the Bay Area, we are still enjoying a long, mild spring. Normally the hills are already completely dry by now, like a golden carpet of rolling hills, but not this year. Green grasses are still all over. However the temperature is warming up; summer is in the air and local farmers markets are getting plenty of bright summer fruits and vegetables. Apricot, nectarine and peaches are not very good yet, but strawberries are at their best, and plenty of juicy, tasty cherries are available as well. Now through early summer is fruit tart season, and I am craving them, especially berry tarts. The classic fruit tart has a ...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] I don’t see savarin or baba au rhum often in pastry shops in America, but baba au rhum has been my favorite (with chocolate eclair a close second) since I was a kid. It’s an irresistibly moist cake that has been soaked in plenty of liqueur-flavored syrup and often decorated with whipped cream (sometimes filled with pastry cream) and seasonal fresh fruit on top. I confess that I was more hooked on the flavor of the syrup than the cute looks. Baba is normally sold in a small aluminum or plastic cup, allowing enjoyment of every last drop of the sweet syrup. My grandmother often warned that I “should not have alcohol at...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Fraisier, the elegant and colorful traditional French strawberry cream cake, is available all year round in Paris, but it is especially luscious in late spring and early summer, when local strawberries are in season. If you love strawberries, this is the cake for you… and it is perfect for a Mother’s Day dessert. When I saw this cake for the first time at Stohrer (the oldest pastry shop in Paris… since 1730), I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was beautiful with an elegantly classic look. Being a big strawberry fan, I decided immediately I must purchase it from among all the many fantastic looking pastri...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]   Crème caramel, flan and custard pudding are basically all the same thing. It is a simple baked dessert with only a few ingredients (egg, milk, sugar and vanilla), and you can enjoy it any time of year. What it is called depends on where the recipe comes from: Crème caramel (French), flan (Spanish), custard pudding (English); each has hundreds of recipes/variations. Most recently I was invited to dine at a popular local Mexican restaurant where the flan was highly recommended. But it wasn’t very impressive. The caramel was a bit burnt and the custard was too sweet and overcooked (dense, eggy and with many hole...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Likely originating in England, the charlotte may have been dedicated to the wife (Queen Charlotte) of King George III (Edwardian). In France, it was made initially with a base of bread and apple, then Antonin Carême, a genius of Classic French Cooking, briefly a chef for Tsar Alexander I in Russia, created the charlotte with biscuits. In Paris he baptized it first as “charlotte à la parisienne“ and then “charlotte à la russe” (biscuits/ladyfingers with Bavarian cream ) . There are many versions of the charlotte today. One of the most popular is made with raspberry Bavarian cream and topped with whipped cream an...

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] HAPPY CHOCOLATE NEW YEAR! Chocolate Truffles are simple way to enjoy rich chocolate flavor. You can choose whatever chocolate you prefer, milk, dark and very dark  such like chocolate has cacao contents more than 70%. All you have to do is chopped chocolate and pour hot cream over it, and melt them until smooth. That is it. You may add small amount of quality butter, liquor, vanilla, tea and or mix in chopped nuts if you wish. And then mixture of the melted chocolate (ganache) refrigerate until firm about 30 minutes. When it has come firm enough to handle the ganache, you make round ball or rock shape, or ...