Sunday, August 27, 2006

Nibby Scones


Once upon a time, long (not so) long ago, Bittersweet had a little chocolate nib scone that had quite a few fans. We're not making the Nibby Scone at the moment, but for all you who miss it, here's a way to try it at home! Have fun...

608 g flour
100 g sugar
2 t baking powder
.5 t baking soda
.25 t salt
227 g butter
230 g nibs
500 g heavy cream

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cube the butter to 1" squares.
Pour dry ingredients into a bowl and add butter, the flatten the butter into disks using your fingers.
Toss in nibs.
If the ingredients are warm, refrigerate until cool.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the heavy cream, then mix well until moistened.
Pour the crumbly dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Shape using a bench scraper into a rectangle and then roll. Laminate this mixture 4 times. you will start with a crumbly dough and end with a smooth striated dough. If the dough is soft after shaping, then refrigerate.
Roll the dough to 11" X 7" and trim the edges.
Cut the dough into six equal squares, about 3" X 3.5", then bisect the squares into triangles.
Brush the trops with egg wash and sprinkle with rough sugar.
Distribute evenly on a cookie sheet, place in the preheated oven and immediately reduce heat to 300 degrees. Bake from 18-22 minutes.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Drink your Chocolate!

Thinking of swapping your favorite coffee with a hot, rich, thick chocolate drink? Go right ahead...

According to a new study published in the August issue of the Journal of Hypertension, flavonol-rich chocolate drinks could offer powerful cardiovascular benefits for the nearly 78 million baby boomers in the United States these days.

Check out the rest of the article here

In other news, Bittersweet got a nice mention in the most recent edition of the San Francisco Not for Tourists.
Go ahead and read it for yourself!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Venezuelan Organics

For those of you interested in Venezuelan cacao (and organic chocolate in general!), here's a nice piece from the BBC:
Venezuela's Chocolate Revolution