CREPES A LA BASTILLE: Bastille Day!

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, so you'll want to make something "French." I have lots of 'French' recipes, but what could be more French than Crepes for Bastille Day? Just as the bricks came tumbling down when the French stormed the Bastille, ice cream and chocolate will tumble from your fork when you cut into these fabulous Triple Chocolate Crepes for the Bastille Day Holiday. Triple Chocolate Crepes a la Bastille!

CREPES A LA BASTILLE

Crepes

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
2 eggs
2-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 ounce dark chocolate (65-75% cacao), melted
1-1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup high quality DARK cocoa 
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Making the Crepes
Melt butter & chocolate together, mixing to combine and smooth out chocolate. 
In large bowl, combine milk and eggs. 
In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Whisk together milk and eggs with dry ingredients, continue whisking incorporating butter and chocolate mixture.
Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, or overnight. 
Be sure to re-whisk batter before cooking the crepes.

Cooking the Crepes
Butter a hot frying pan (small or medium) or crepe pan, then wipe out excess butter with paper towel so it is sort of dry. 
Pour in small amount of crepe batter and tilt pan as needed so batter spreads and covers bottom of pan. As edges begin to turn up, flip crepe with spatula for few seconds to cook other side.

Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp honey
3 ounces Dark chocolate (65-75% cacao), chopped

Directions
Combine cream and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 3 minutes or until tiny bubbles form around edge of pan, stirring frequently (do not boil).
Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate until smooth.

Fill Crepes with Dark Chocolate Ice Cream or Chocolate Ganache and Drizzle with Chocolate Sauce.

Viva La France!

Parisian Chocolate Truffles

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. -Gertrude Stein
A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life. -Thomas Jefferson

I am so saddened by the horrific destruction of human life last night in Paris. What a blow to humanity. So senseless. Paris, the City of Light, represents art, culture, beauty and so much more. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Paris ... and the people of this world.

PARISIAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES 

Ingredients
10 1/2 ounces superior-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 3/4 ounces crème fraîche (or whipping cream if you don't have crème fraîche)
1 3/4 ounces soft sweet butter

Directions 
Put finely chopped semisweet chocolate in heatproof bowl. Bring cream to full boil.
Remove from heat and pour over chocolate pieces. Let sit for 30 seconds, then add butter and stir until you have smooth mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
When set, using teaspoon to form small balls. Then roll by hand. Balls can be lumpy. Real French truffles are shaped irregularly like the famous mushrooms they’re named after.
Put shaped truffles in refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes.
Melt bittersweet chocolate by placing in small bowl over a pan of water over low heat.
Using fork, dip truffles one by one in melted chocolate and immediately roll in cocoa powder.
Store in cool place. Do not refrigerate.

Chocolate Paris

As if I really need a reason to visit Paris, Hotel Fouquet's Barriere in Paris on the corner of Avenue des Champs Elysees and Avenue George V has a chocolate-themed package for Easter. Guests staying in the upscale hotel from April 10 to April 13 can se the mood with chocolate treatments in the hotel spa, as well as lessons in the art of gourmet chocolate-making taught by pastry chef Jean-Luc Labat. Package includes an overnight stay, continental breakfast and lunch or dinner for two. Rates start at $1,105 for an overnight tsay based on double occupancy. For more info, go to: Fouquets-Barriere.com

Also, sorry for the lack of postings. Just getting back into the swing of things after the San Francisco Chocolate Salon this past Saturday. I'll be posting shortly with pictures. Winners will be announced by the Salon this week. Being a judge was hard work, but someone's got to do it. Needless to say, I ate a lot of chocolate.

Chocolate French

It's just about Springtime in Paris, and on my other Blog: Mystery Fanfare, I've been writing about authors who set their mysteries in Paris and France. Chocolate, although not the theme of any I reviewed, appears in at least two of them.

When I was a student, I survived in France on wonderful fresh bread with chunks of dark chocolate and a Eurail pass. What a way to travel. Eventually I graduated to better food--Paris has the most divine restaurants, of course, but I'm still a sucker for a good pain au chocolat. That's why I love the book Chocolate French: Recipes, Language, and Directions to Français au Chocolat by A. K. Crump. This book should be on every chocolate lover and Francophile's shelf.
It's a great guide to 'French' as it takes you through an intimate relationship between international French culture and global chocolate cuisine. There are some really amazing recipes from all over the world including Chocolate Bread Pudding, Chocolate Mousse Charlotte, Couscous with honey, raisins and cacao. There are also wonderful photographs of French life, patisseries, chocolatiers, as well as musings on chocolate.

Chocolate French traces the French love of chocolate from its beginnings in the mid-17th century to present-day France. There's also lots of other cultural information on chocolate in film, literature, fashion and life, as well as the exportation of a chocolate loving tradition to other French-speaking countries and colonies, as well as international locations. Don't miss the Napa Valley method for preparing a dipped Camembert and chocolate sandwich.

If you 'study' the vocabulary section, you'll amaze your friends with your 'expert' knowledge of chocolate. Put Chocolate French on your booklist now!