Hot Praline Chocolate

Quick post so I don't forget the magic formula. I do that - I go through phases of making something regularly then several months later can't for the life of me remember the recipe.

This is *the* best hot chocolate I've ever tasted.

3 pumps Sweetbird Hazelnut Syrup

380ml Alpro Fresh Soya Milk

6 squares Kinnerton Dark Chocolate

3-4 Vegan Marshmallows

Soyatoo Squirty Cream

Chocolate Shavings

Any brand of syrup (most are vegan) will work, though I'm not sure if the pump amounts are the same. Praline is my favourite - I'm not a fan of 'toasted marshmallow' syrup or ones designed more for coffee (butterscotch, gingerbread etc). I've blogged previously about using Kahlua or Creme de Menthe instead which is also good, but alcoholic too.

Whilst you can make hot chocolate simply by heating milk; microfoaming it with an espresso machine's steam wand will give you a much better mouth feel. Always add the syrup to the milk before steaming - that way the foam contains the flavour and doesn't go all beany.

This recipe doesn't strictly need marshmallows, but they're a good addition if available. I've found its better to melt them in advance - otherwise you don't really pick up their taste and end up having to eat them separately at the end with a spoon. I use a blow torch because it's quickest and more fun than using a lighter. The best brand I've tried are Alternative Stores (sold online and in Vx). The only brand I wouldn't recommend is Anandas - all that we've tried (from One Earth shop in Birmingham) have tasted stale.

Kinnerton Dark is in most supermarkets, is cheap and has a fairly low cocoa content, making it less bitter than say 70%. You can use the chocolate of your choice, but the trick I learnt through trial and error it to not add too much. Otherwise it won't dissolve properly and you loose some of the hazelnut flavour.

If you've a food processor then I highly recommend using it to grate an entire bar of chocolate, then store it in a small tupperware and use it for icecream and topping hot chocolate. We recently acquired a bag of Montezumas hot chocolate shavings which give the same effect, though costs quite a bit more.

Method: Pump the syrup into a large mug, break up the chocolate and add, then cover with soya milk. Microfoam to about 70 degrees:

Stick a spoon in and give it a good stir under the surface so that the chocolate incorporates into the milk without destroying the foam:

Toast the marshmallows, then float on the surface:

Top with squirty cream and shavings:

Enjoy immediately! :-)

Carbonara

A long, long time ago this was a recipe blog. The more I started travelling the lazier I became, so it turned into a restaurant / cafe review blog instead. Why make yourself when someone else can do the work?

I still do a fair amount of cooking, but it tends to be highly reliant on finished goods (premade sauces etc) rather than from scratch. I don't blog recipes that aren't tried and tested - I've taken some great photos of attempts before that haven't quite worked out taste wise, so ditched them and continued experimenting.

This blog is useful for me too - though I go through phases of making something I'll then completely forget about it for 12 months, only to realise that I can't remember the recipe. Old age and all that. There are several things that I've made up and not blogged - now I'd have to start again from scratch! So, think of this as own personal cookery scrap book.

I've been experimenting with Carbonara for a few years, using different types of vegan cheese. I made pretty good stuff with Redwoods super melting, but it uses a whole block which is both expensive and horrendously fatty. Scheese will melt if you grate it finely enough and apply enough heat, but it's taste is too easily lost. Alpro cream works well, but needs thining. The new Tesco scheese will melt into sauce but causes it to set up as it cools.

What does work well is the new scheese cheddar spread that's sold in Tesco (see previous blog post for more). Combined with Alpro cream it tastes great, but isn't runny enough. Thinned with soya milk the taste is less intense, but the compromise is worth it.

Serves 2:

120g Tesco Cheddar Spread

125ml Alpro Fresh Single Cream

50ml Plain Soya Milk

4 Redwoods Bacon Rashers

Oil, Salt & Pepper

Slice the rashers into sensibly sized pieces and put enough pasta onto boil for 2. Spaghetti and linguine work well, shapes can be good too (except those designed to hold loads of sauce as there won't be enough).

Fry the rashers in a little oil until crispy, then add the rest of the ingredients to the same pan and whisk until smooth:

Add salt to taste, then pepper before serving. Vary the quantities of each ingredient to suit.

Vegan Baileys

Baileys is (according to their website) a combination of Irish whisky (produced from whey), cream, cocoa, sugar, vanilla, caramel and a vegetable oil based agent to prevent separation in storage.

There's no absence of recipes on-line for Baileys, however almost all contain ingredients not in the original, such as condensed milk, eggs, coffee, coconut milk, rum, kahlua, Scotch whisky, American whiskey and vodka. Whilst (some) may be great tasting drinks in their own right, their accuracy must surely be questioned - despite popular misconception Baileys is not a coffee based liqueur.

Unimpressed by recipes that I've tried (really I should have known better than to even try the coconut milk version), I have in my latest attempt gone back to basics and produced something from the actual ingredients (or as close to as possible), with Jameson's Irish whisky (produced from grain not whey) and Alpro fresh soya cream in place of dairy cream (as it's by far the closest I've found in taste and consistency).

The quantities of each ingredient isn't specified by Baileys, however the finished product is 17% alcohol by volume, which means that it must contain 38.6% whisky (if information from Wikipedia that 44% alcohol by volume whisky is used).

Using this knowledge and mixing 1 shot whisky, 1 shot cream and 1/2 shot cocoa-glucose syrup gives a drink that is far more like how I remember the original than anything else I've tried.
It's not right though - too chocolaty and not smooth enough, with a harsh alcoholic after-taste that some might like but would certainly put your average Baileys drinker off.

After a few attempts using part cocoa-glucose syrup, part simple syrup, a few drops of vanilla and varying the quantities I found what seems to be the closest to the original I've ever tasted:

• 1 shot Jamesons
• 1/3 shot chocolate syrup
• 2/3 shot simple sugar syrup
• 2 drops bourbon vanilla
• 1.5-2 shots alpro cream

I wouldn't like to claim it's a 100% reproduction of the original, as both my lovely assistant's memory and mine are probably slightly off. I'm also well aware that all alcoholic drinks taste better the more you sample! It is though honestly pretty good.

I used simple syrup purely as it's what I had to hand - we always keep a bottle made up in the fridge for emergency mojitos. I think it may be worth making syrup up for the purpose, using water, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla in appropriate quantities for a more accurate taste.

I'm looking forward to trying it out in some cocktails / food. As it's Christmas the first cocktail that I tried was:

• 2 shots 'baileys'
• 1 generous scoop vanilla soy ice cream
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

The cinnamon in it really works! It was a creamy, smooth, luscious consistency which went down very well drunk with some heated home-made mince pies and custard:

I'm excited by this as it means I can now start playing with cocktails and recipes that call for it, which for the past 10 years I've not been able to try. Kahlua is one of my favourite liqueurs, but Baileys it isn't.