Nice book, shame about the waistline!
‘Divine: Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with heart‘ by Linda Collister – www.absolutepress.co.uk
I had a birthday recently and my brother and family bought me a copy of this book, along with some Divine Fairtrade chocolate bars. A sort of starter pack to get me cooking, I assume.
The author has long been a supporter of fair trade and has collected and created the recipes in the book using Divine chocolate, which uses quality cocoa beans grown by the farmer members of Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana, West Africa, who get an internationally agreed fair price for their product. The story of this cooperative, who also co-own the company and share its profits, is told in an illustrated introductory section. Also in this section is a guide to the unusual Adinkra symbols which feature on the cover of both the book and Divine chocolate wrappers.
Once past some basic ‘how to’ pages the recipes start, organised into nine gloriously mouth watering chapters. Some are reasonably simple: ‘Luxurious Flapjacks’, ‘Divine Brownies’, ‘Chocolate Stuffed French Toast’ or ‘White Chocolate Strawberry Cream Cake’. Others are a little more complicated: ‘Black Forest Roulade’, ‘Creamy Cappuccino Cheesecake’, ‘Bourbon Street Beignets’ or the ‘Deliciously Different Christmas Cake’. And of course, there are those with intriguing names: ‘La Torta di Cioccolata’, ‘Orange and Chocolate Jackson Pollock Cake’, ‘Zebra Mousse’ or ‘Red Hot Chilli-Pepper Chocolate Cake’. Towards the end there are even a few savoury chocolate recipes, including ‘Mole’ (the famous Mexican dish of chicken with bitter chocolate sauce). There is something here for all types of chocoholic, whether ‘quick fix’ or more adventurous!
All royalties from the sale of the book and sales of Divine chocolate benefit the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo and their company, guaranteeing a fairer deal for thousands of cocoa farmers. Divine is available in bars of Plain, Milk or White chocolate.
‘Sticky upside down chocolate pear gingerbread’, anyone?!
This review was written for and first published in the Parish of Walthamstow Magazine.
Thought I’d better read your review as you alerted me to it. Well done for getting it published. I think this is a great book. I shall soon be posting about one of the recipes it inspired me to make yesterday.
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Thank you Choclette. It was not difficult to get my review published in our church magazine as I am on the editorial team! I have just been given another great looking book using Fairtrade Chocolate: ‘Green & Blacks Chocolate Recipes by Caroline Jeremy’, which I notice you also have in your booklist. I will keep a watch for the recipe are going to make and post from the ‘Divine’ book.
h/e