AZTEC GOLD

                         

Another chocolate recipe? Well, if I must...! Despite the title, and the archaeologist within me struggling to assert herself, this is not going to be an history lesson on the origins of chocolate, though Wikipedia will give you a nicely condensed background should you choose to wander over there. The mood uplifting properties are well known, it's affinity with many other flavours, coffee, chili, orange, strawberries, need to be explored and yet, for those of us who have a deeply profound relationship with the stuff, the only questions that we need the answers to are: where? and when?

Despite my attempts at a cunning disguise I don't think I'm fooling anyone with my chocolate "muffin". It is of course an ice cream, or a sorbet to be precise. Inspired by the "Aztec" hot  chocolate served in Murphy's in Dingle and fuelled by a new book purchase, this chocolate sorbet has a warm spiciness that you don't sense until it melts down your throat, adding heat to the icy chill and damn is it chocolaty. Originally called Like Water for Chocolate (this book is on my must read list but I've never seen the film) it breaks the supposedly cardinal rule of not mixing chocolate with water, but as we all know rules were meant to be broken, especially when the result tastes like this. After following this recipe I visited Ice Cream Ireland and sure enough Kieran had a chocolate sorbet recipe from last year. His one contains cocoa as well as chocolate and demands a trial run.

For those without an ice cream maker, there is a freezer method which in the end I had to use as impatience got the better of me and I didn't leave mine to cool for long enough so it didn't freeze in my ice cream machine. This method does involve a food processor though. The cinnamon and cayenne are my way to add a little Aztec gold to the lily.

Oh dear look, my muffin is melting, I need to do a little deconstructive surgery...

This recipe is adapted from Sweet Alternative by Ariana Bundy (I'll be coming back to this book in the not too distant future)

CHOCOLATE SORBET

• 450ml filtered or mineral water
• 225g best quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 150-175g golden caster sugar, regular caster sugar can be used also
• cinnamon stick, cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

1. Heat the water with the chocolate and sugar until boiling. Remove from the heat and drop in a cinnamon stick and a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper. Leave to cool completely before removing the cinnamon stick and churning in an ice cream machine. If you don't have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture for a few hours until hard, then cut it up into chunks and whizz in a food processor until smooth. Then refreeze for another hour.
2. I scooped mine into silicone muffin moulds and froze for an hour before unmoulding and pouring over chocolate sauce. You should get six "muffins" from this recipe, just serving scoops I reckon you could serve four.

Serves 4-6

NIGEL'S CHOCOLATE SAUCE

• 90g chocolate
• 25g butter
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tbls golden syrup
• 100ml milk

1. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over barely simmering water. When melted, add the sugar and golden syrup and stir until dissolved. Now add the milk and continue stirring regularly until the sauce begins to thicken. Set it aside to cool until you are ready to use it. Any extra sauce can be stored in the fridge for several days until you think of something else to do with it.

In keeping with this recipe's cunning disguise I'm going to send it incognito over to Muffin Monday 03 which has a spicy theme. Hopefully it will be able to maintain it's cover.

Comments

[Kelly-Jane]

Oh my, that looks really very good! When and Where? :)

[Val]

jaysus again

[abulafia]

Excellent idea re blitzing the ice cream. Just might be the idea necessary to get me back into ice cream experimentation.

Stunning, once more.

[Jen]

The only word is YUM. that looks divine, I think I may need a choc hit.

[Kieran]

Mmmm. Pass the spoon!

[wow powerleveling]

Is it ice cream or a chocolate cake??Really delicious!