chocolate lovers rejoice: francois payard is back!

I’m mad for chocolate. Seriously. Truly. I’ve been known to nosh on a bar of Vosges milk chocolate and bacon bits. I’ve been seen scurrying out for a little ribboned box of Leonidas confections. And I’ve been caught red-handed, in a meeting, with shoving a truffle in my mouth. When it comes to chocolate, I am an unabashed disciple, a pusher (give me one good reason why you don’t want this piece of chocolate-covered espresso truffle?!!), so imagine my thrill when my friends at Random House sent along master pastry chef Francois Payard’s (a man who says he grew up covered in chocolate, literally) new cookbook, Chocolate Epiphany.

To be blunt, this sleek book is nothing short of remarkable. Crack for the baker, if you will. Criminal for anyone who’s addicted to that little bean, and doesn’t have time to lock themselves in their kitchen and delve blissfully in. Cripe, I’m sobbing into my sleeve paging through the book, howling over the delicious photographs (it’s porn, I tell you! porn!). Simply put, this is a cookbook for anyone who takes pleasure in rolling a truffle in cocoa powder or those who want to refine their tempering technique. You’ll learn how to incorporate this delicious confection in everything from breads and brunch dishes to custards, mousses, and meringues, to the finest of cookies (chocolate-orange ginger moelleux is a standout). You’ll learn how to perfect the flourless chocolate cookie (scrumptious!), to tackling a honey & saffron apple tart with chocolate chiboust (a combination of pastry cream and Italian meringue). The recipes are inviting, the instructions, easy and the photographs, inspiring.

I cannot wait to crank up the oven, plug in the stand mixer and revel in all my chocolate shavings!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under foodie gal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.