just dreamy

Not long ago I Instagramed a picture of The Mast Brothers Chocolate Cookbook that I received as a birthday present and I have been drooling over it. Seriously, when I was analyzing each recipe, my mouth literally salivated and I had to get into my chocolate stash immediately. This book is for die-hard choco-holics.

Mast Brothers Chocolate is a New York based company that makes high-quality chocolates and personally partners with the cocoa farmers. I've seen their chocolate sold at various boutiques and the packaging alone has lured me in. I've only had the pleasure of sampling their chocolate but alas, have not purchased any for myself yet. It can be pricey, so I used my favorite standby for this recipe.  

I made this for a dinner party and everyone loved it. The soft, lightness of the whipped cream complimented the silky, rich ganache. The crust was good, but I think you could make your life easier and buy a pre-made cookie crust (or make your own with crushed up chocolate wafers) and then then you'd have a nice crunch to compliment the rest of the pie. I'll probably do that the next time I make this.

cha-cha-cha-churros!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I thought I'd celebrate the day with some churros... but these are wonderful any day of the year. There's something really amazing about these. I can't decide if it's the soft, pillowy center of the churro, the crunchy sweet texture of the cinnamon sugar or if each bite drenched in dark chocolate sends me over the moon. It's probably all of the above.

I'll admit, deep frying is not in my comfort zone but these are easy to make and fry up quickly. These would be great to make for your family, or during a party, because you can create an assembly line of helpers. Have someone rolling the hot churros in cinnamon sugar, another person putting the chocolate in small bowls and then everyone gets to enjoy the process of making and eating fresh, hot churros.