Chocolate A Love Story is a collection of 65 chocolate dessert recipes from Max Brenner's private collection. Max Brenner, at an early age of 10, read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and decided from that point forward, he was going to find a river of chocolate.
Max has locations in Philadelphia, New York City, Australia, Phillipines, Singapore and Israel and there are many products available at his online shop HERE. One product that Max is known for is the "Hug Mug" which is a coffee mug shaped to keep your hands warm. In NYC and Philadelphia, this is a great idea! If you are looking for a great gift with a chocolate or indulgence theme, this is your spot.
What I enjoyed the most about Chocolate A Love Story was Max's inclusion of himself into the various pages of this creative book. The artist, Yontan Factor, provides an interesting and unique perspective to introducing art into this clever display of mouthwatering chocolate creations. I have to admit, my first impression was one of confusion as I couldn't understand how this was a recipe book but after opening my mind, reading personally about Max and the artist, finally each recipe, I quickly fell in love with the concept of the book. I feel this would be a great gift to any chocolate lover, a chef, a novice or even as a romantic gift. This is not your run of the mill cookbooks as it's a piece of art on many levels from this chocolate genius.
I believe by reading Max's path towards his reality of bringing his chocolate to life, one can understand the passion behind the book, the recipes and the man himself.
"On the one hand, it is the most romantic gift; on the other hand, a commodity that is traded in the bourse. It is sold like precious jewelry that is picked carefully from a crystal glass, but also is an addictive snack in every corner kiosk. It is tasted like a fine wine and licked straight from the bowl...These diverse aspects of chocolate and of life are the inspiration for our book."
This is a sample of recipes:
*The Belgian Street Waffle <-- My Favorite
*Spy Thriller Chocolate Black Forest Cake
*Military Porridge
*Pretentious White Chocolate Panna Cotta
*Overwhelming Oriental White Chocolate Malabi
*Meaningless Sweet Spaghetti
*Home Industry Chocolate Cheese Pockets
The entire book if filled with mouth watering enticements which made me want to try nearly all of them. One thing to note, they are not all easy recipes and are involving with a variety of ingredients and a few steps but well worth it! This is a great way to either indulge yourself or someone else.
I tried the Belgian Street Waffles and loved them! I had to buy a few extra ingredients that I don't normally have on hand but most recipes are like that unless you are already a master chef. The bonus I like about Chocolate A Love Story is that Max describes how to display your own masterpiece on the plate for the final touch.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to cook and who likes chocolate. This makes a great table book or an addition to the recipe book collection. It's a beautiful display of creativity coupled with delicious recipes. Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner's Private Collection
This is a large hardcover cookbook with 65 recipes, not all of them strictly dessert recipes, but all involving chocolate in some way. And like most chef inspired cookbooks there are some recipes that you can use for every day indulgence, and some that require more effort that you might want to save for special occasions.
I loved looking through this book and decided that before I could write a review I needed to test out a recipe. Believe me it was no hardship :) There were so many that sounded yummilicious that I had a hard time deciding. Here are some of my favorite recipes:
* Veg-out chocolate cornflake TV wraps with lazy Brazil nuts and coconut sofa dipping sauces
* Control Freak chocolate spread with late night toasted almond splinters on a crispy munchy French brioche toast
* Parisian new life chocolate dream cake sprinkled in white powder sugar point of view
* Politically correct Sacher torte with a loyal good taste
* My lost childhood chocolate birthday cake sprinkled with shiny colorful candy tears
* A philosophical highly concentrated fudge brownie made of 70 percent dark chocolate thoughts
* A high school bonfire chocolate melting heart cake with a soft marshmallow first memory hidden inside
* Bad boy chocolate pizza with hazelnut spread, pure melted chocolate chips, and passionately roasted marshmallows
* Home industry chocolate cheese pockets filled with pears cooked in wine and made according to a cheesy chef's recipe
* and so many more that I can't list them all!
After much debate I decided to try the highly concentrated brownie recipe. For me there could be no better judge of the book than this recipe.
The brownies were relatively easy to make. It only took about 15-20 min to mix, about 30 min to bake, and the ingredients were not expensive. There were a couple of small drawbacks. First, it made a HUGE pan of brownies (13x18 pan) and second it recommended that you refrigerate the brownies overnight before eating to have them at their fudgiest best. You can't bake these for 30 min, drooling at the delicious smell the whole time, then tell me I can't try them until the next day! But I have to say they were better after being refrigerated, and a more chocolatey brownie you would be hard to find. I loved it, but friends who were not as much a chocoholic as I am thought they were too much. I say, just cut a smaller piece :)
I loved reading the recipes as well as the journal like musings accompanying some of these recipes. They were at times lyrical, insightful, poetic, frank and sometimes even sad. Let me give you an example:
"Night. Candles. Lots of warm yellow candles reflecting and shimmering in a shiny sauce poured over sweet desserts. Colorful alcohol served with incandescent straws, as on a tropical island. It is crowded. Everyone is handsome as movie stars in the dim light that flickers over their faces, hiding a magical intimacy behind twinkling eyes. A voluptuous smell whispers secrets that intoxicate the people. Peter Pan flies about among the guests. Adults revert to being children. The grand soiree of sweets releases inside us, as always, the most beautiful feelings." p. 76 from the recipe Forever young white chocolate custard perfumed with lemongrass and mixed with falling-in-love sweet wine lychees
This is a cookbook that I enjoyed reading if that makes any sense. I loved the commentary that went along with the recipes, and took almost as much pleasure reading the recipes as I did consuming these confections. It has a nice variety of desserts, soups, drinks, shakes and so much more. I only wish that it would have contained more pictures, rather than the artwork. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a chocoholic, or loves to cook. I think it would be a great hostess gift, or a gift to yourself. This is a book that I think I will end up keeping for a long time.
Not convinced yet, check out the Max Brenner sweets menu from his restaurant in NYC and get a peek at some of what's in this book.
Rating: 4.25 stars reviewed for Seductive Musings blog - Dessert - Cookbook - Brownies - Chocolate'
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