Chocolate time! Recipes from Paul A Young

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - if you popped by over the weekend you'll know that this week is officially Chocolate Week!

We've already brought you a round up of some of chocolate experiences that you can indulge in this week....but today we thought we'd share some fab chocolate recipes from Paul A Young that you can try at home. So, if you haven't heard of Paul before he really knows his stuff when it comes to chocolate! Paul’s passion and creativity have won him numerous awards and led to him being ranked amongst the world’s best chocolatiers.

Paul A Young

Paul has several shops in London, where he and his team make all their creations completely by hand in the kitchens at each shop, in small batches and at every stage using fresh ingredients. If you haven't visited one of his shops and love chocolate you should definitely make a trip!

Now, in our eagerness to bring you these recipes we haven't actually tried them out at home yet...but they looked so good we wanted to share them with you straight away. Take a look...you'll see what we mean...

Chocolate bramble cocktail

From Paul A Young - I came up with this version of the classic bramble cocktail one evening when the air in the city changed from warm and balmy to the first cool breeze of autumn.

Chocolate bramble cocktail - Paul A Young

makes 2 cocktails

FOR THE CHOCOLATE LIQUOR

300g unrefined golden caster sugar

150g 70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

FOR THE REST

Juice of 1⁄2 lemon

100ml gin (I prefer Tanqueray or Plymouth Dry)

25ml Crème de Mûres (blackberry liqueur)

8 blackberries

Lots of crushed ice

2 squares of your favourite dark chocolate

First, make the chocolate liquor. Put 150ml water in a saucepan along with the sugar and bring to a simmer. Allow to rest for 2 minutes, then pour over the chocolate pieces in a bowl. Whisk well and leave to cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, place 2 martini glasses in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to get the frosted effect.

In a cocktail shaker or jug, place the lemon juice, gin, Crème de Mûres and 6 of the blackberries. Muddle and mix well until the blackberries burst slightly.

Place a pyramid of crushed ice into each glass and pour over the blackberry mixture. Now top up each glass with the chocolate liquor, then place a blackberry and a piece of dark chocolate on top of each ice pyramid.

Venezuelan chocolate pancakes with chocolate maple syrup 

From Paul A Young - This recipe is my homage to Sunday-morning brunch, which is one of those occasions when anything goes; in other words, be as indulgent and naughty as you like because it is certainly not the time to count calories or grams of fat. 

Feel free to add blueberries, nuts and sultanas if the fancy takes you. The syrup can be made days or even weeks in advance and stored in the fridge. 

Venezuelan chocolate pancakes  - Paul A Young

Makes enough pancakes for 4 people 

FOR THE PANCAKES 

25g Venezuelan 100% dark chocolate, grated 

200g buckwheat flour, or spelt 

1 free-range egg 

45g light muscovado sugar 

350ml milk 

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

25g unsalted butter, for frying 

FOR THE SYRUP 

Pinch of sea salt

250ml dark maple syrup 

100g 70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces 

Place all the pancake ingredients (except the butter) in a blender or food processor and whizz until a smooth, thick batter is formed. Leave the batter to rest while you make the syrup. 

To make the syrup, dissolve the salt in 50ml water in a saucepan over a gentle heat, then add the maple syrup and bring to a simmer. Pour on to the chocolate in a bowl and whisk well until smooth. 

Heat a crêpe pan or non-stick frying pan until quite hot and melt a generous wedge of butter until it sizzles. Spoon a small or large amount of the batter into the pan, depending on whether you want to make American pancakes or crêpes. Leave to cook on a medium heat until you see bubbles on the surface of the pancake, then carefully turn over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Place the pancakes on a plate and cover with foil until you have cooked the entire batch. 

Serve the pancakes laced with the warm syrup – be generous as the pancakes soak up a lot! 

How wonderful do they both look?

If you try these recipes at home we'd love to hear how you get on....send us a Tweet or leave a message on Facebook!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna