A classic British Christmas Dish , Mince pies made up of a mincemeat filling ( without the meat! ) and a soft pastry outside dusted with sugar. This version has an additional twist—a bit of cocoa for a deep, rich flavor. Try adding 2 clementines to the mincemeat ingredients to add a bit of tang!

For the pastry

• 280g plain flour
• 25g ground almonds
• 175g butter
• 85g golden caster sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tbsp whole milk

For the mincemeat

• 100g sultanas
• 100g raisins
• 100g currants
• 100g semi-dried apricots
• 50g cacao, finely grated
• 3 apples, such as russet or cox, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp each light brown and dark brown muscovado sugar
• 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg and mixed spice
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons or oranges
• 5 tbsp rum or Calvados or Grand Marnier or cognac
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Icing sugar, to finish

METHOD

How to make Willie’s chocolate mince pies

1. Prepare the pastry by putting the flour and almonds into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it looks like very fine breadcrumbs.

2. Sprinkle in the sugar and add the lemon zest, egg yolk and milk and pulse until the mixture starts to clump together. Tip the mixture onto a board and gently squeeze the pastry until it comes together into a ball – add water if it feels dry. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 190°C. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of few millimetres. Using a 7cm fluted cutter, cut out 24 discs and line 2 x 12 hole bun tin with them. Use a 6cm fluted cutter to cut 24 discs for the lids.

4. Make the mincemeat by putting the sultanas, raisons, currants and apricots in a food processor. Blitz until evenly chopped. Stir in the remaining ingredients.

5. Spoon 2 tsp of mincemeat into each tart, dampen the edge of the pastry bottom with water and sit a smaller pastry disc on top. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cool on a wire rack. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.

50g of 100% cocoa
250 Kcal
7g Protein
13g Carbohydrates (0.5g sugar, 8g fiber)
24g Fat (16g sat fat)
50g of 70% cocoa
275 Kcal
3.75g Protein
16.25g Carbohydrates (13.75 sugar, 2.5g fiber)
21.25g Fat (12.5g sat fat)

The lower percentage the Cocoa , the more Calories, Carbohydrates and  Sugar and the less Protein and Fiber

A study in 2008 proved that “Venezuelan cocoa beans had the highest percentage of Epicatechins”. So what are Epicatechins? Epicatechins are a good for you! They are flavenoids ( Antioxidants ) which prevent damage to major organs such as the liver and coronary arteries in the heart . People who also consumed dark chocolate ( rich in Epicatechin) have an improved glucose metabolism, as well as lowered blood pressure.

‘Henriette van Praag, PhD, of the Salk Institute, and colleagues there and at Mars, Inc., showed that the combination of exercise and a diet with epicatechin also promoted structural and functional changes in the dentate gyrus, a part of the brain involved in the formation of learning and memory’

Flavanols like epicatechin are removed from commercial cocoas because they tend to have a bitter taste, so make sure you keep it 100% Pure Cocoa!

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

For the base

• 200g of oatmeal biscuits
• One tablespoon ground almonds
• 75g melted butter

For the cheese mix

• 1 packet Philadelphia creamed cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125g caster sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1tbsp corn flour to help it set
• 3tbsp of grated cacao butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 120 degrees.
2. Line a round cake tin with greaseproof paper.
3. In a food processor, blend the biscuits, melted butter and almonds.
4. Press the biscuit mixture into the tin and allow it so set in the fridge.
5. Place all the ingredients for the cheese mix into a food processor and whiz until all ingredients are mixed well.
6. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and allow it to set in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.
7. Finish your cheesecake with caramelized Clementines (or fruit of choice), and some painted edible gold leaf for a truly exquisite finish.

(Serves 12)

Ingredients:

• 180g grated Cocoa
• 150g caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 300ml double cream

Equipment

• 15cm spring-form cake tin or small loaf tin

Method

. Line your chosen tin with greaseproof paper, or cling film.

. Melt the cacao by placing it in a large heatproof bowl, set over a pan of simmering water, ensuring that the base of the bowl is not in contact with the water.  Set aside to cool slightly.

. Place the caster sugar and water in a saucepan, over a low heat, – stir until the sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

. Beat the cream until it forms soft peaks, then, gradually beat into the sugar syrup.  Add a tablespoon of the cream mixture to the melted cacao and stir until just combined.  Gently fold in the remainder of the cream mixture.

. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.  Smooth the top and place in the fridge until firm.

. To serve: turn-out of the tin onto a serving plate, peel away the greaseproof paper, or cling film, and slice.  Serve with berries for a delicious contrast.

Leave the melted cacao to cool slightly before adding to the cream – for smooth results (so that the cream won’t ‘collapse’).

Ingredients

* 125g pitted ready-to-eat prunes
* 3tbsp Armagnac or brandy
* 115g self-raising flour
* 25g Grated cocoa
* ½ tsp baking powder
* 75g light muscavado sugar
* 2 medium eggs
* 100ml sunflower oil
* 4tbsp milk

Method

1. Roughly chop the prunes, put into a bowl then pour over the brandy. Cover and leave overnight.
2. Grease 4 pudding basins and prepare a large steamer.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl, stir in the sugar.
4. Beat the eggs, oil and milk together then beat into the dry ingredients. When smooth, fold in the prune and brandy
5. Spoon the mixture into the four pudding basins. Cover with greased foil and tuck the edges of foil tightly around the basins. Place in the steamer and steam for 30 mins.
6. To turn out, run a small palette knife round the edge of the puddings, invert onto plates and serve with vanilla custard.

Buy Willie's Chocolate Bible

We are delighted to announce a new book by Willie Harcourt-Cooze released on  30/09/2010

In stores for £25 RRP at Waterstones
On-line at Amazon  for £16




The Synopsis

Chocolate is one of the good things in life. Whether you like a sophisticated square of your favourite 70% cacao bar to give you a boost in the afternoon, or something altogether more indulgent like a sumptuous gateaux or creamy mousse, good chocolate is a pleasure not to be missed. And who better to help you indulge your passion than the irrepressible Willie Harcourt Cooze, who brings all his knowledge together with over 150 of his very best chocolate recipes to create the ultimate chocolate bible. Essential reading for chocolate lovers everywhere, this book contains all the classic recipes, from chocolate panna cotta and dark chocolate tart to pain au chocolate and ice cream.

“If you have purchased Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook , this is a must buy!”

Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

ISBN : 9780340993569

Sourced from the Island of Java, these bars are made from a highly prized strain of cacao. The beans are visually striking as they are exceptionally light in colour and they have a slightly higher cacao butter content than usual. This makes them highly prized by chocolate manufacturers, particularly in the use of milk chocolate. The beans produce a bar with light caramel notes.

“Sourced near Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia, this single bean cacao has been carefully roasted in our factory in Devon using traditional methods to capture the bean’s light caramel notes. Its characteristics change with each harvest – like fine wine.”

With 572,000 metric tons of cocoa beans produced, Indonesia is the third world biggest producer of cocoa after Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Indonesian Cocoa export are currently valued at approximately $600-700 million per year and provide the main source of income and livelihood for over 400,000 smallholder farmers and their families.

We have added the Recipe of a Traditional Indonesian Desert for you to try with the new Cocao here !

Es Brenebon - Red Beans in Cocoa Syrup

Ingredients :
1 kg red beans (soak for 2-24 hours then boil the beans until soft)
90 grams of grated cocoa powder
2 cans chocolate condensed milk
750 gr sugar
water
ice

Directions :
1. Boil water, chocolate condensed milk, sugar and cocoa powder.
2. Add boiled red beans, bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
3. Serve with ice or vanilla ice cream (better serve the next day).

Pre Order yours here now

Willie Harcourt-Cooze was born in London on April 29, 1964 to an Irish mother and a Burmese father. He was the third of five children, surrounded by four sisters.While on holiday in Ireland, his father, William, fell in love with and bought the deserted Horse Island on a wild stretch of Ireland’s south west coast. The family moved to live there when Willie was four. In a farmhouse between Ballydehob and Schull Willie spent his childhood making cheese, smoking fish, milling flour, growing vegetables and pickling fruit.

Willie was reeling in sea trout almost before he could walk, so it is not surprising that his passion for food survived and thrived into adulthood. Willie returned to London at 15 and at 18 left home for a series of swashbuckling adventures and tastes; from the feral meats of the Australian outback to the native dishes of Peru, via a feast of exotic delicacies throughout the Far East. He charmed his way onto fishing boats and into local kitchens and devoured a multitude of culinary secrets. While in Venezuela on holiday in 1993 with his wife, Tania, Willie met a traveler who told him of a place “where the mountain meets the sea”. They headed for this remote coastal area near Choroni.

Having fallen for the area, one day a beach umbrella seller told them of a hacienda in the cloud forest for sale. They went to investigate in the Henri Pittier National Park, where 1800 metre mountains steep into the Caribbean Sea. That was Willie’s first introduction to the cacao tree. The owner changed his mind, but three years later, after returning to London and almost giving up hope, Willie was able buy Hacienda El Tesoro in 1996. He quickly discovered his passion for chocolate and began experimenting with making cacao bars. Ten years later he had carved himself into the land, which is renowned for having some of the finest beans in the world.

Willie and Tania’s first two children, Sophia and William were born in Venezuela.Their third Eve arrived when the family had moved to Devon as Willie sought to set up a chocolate factory. He began collecting original chocolate making machinery from around the world. Willie started producing his first single origin 100% cylinders in the factory in Devon in 2007. They were an instant hit and a year later Willie added to them with his first single origin chocolate bars.

Willie is the only small cacao grower and producer in the UK. He was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory, in 2008 which was followed by a second series; Willie’s Chocolate Revolution: Raising the Bar. His book Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2009.”

# Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
# Published: 04 March 2010
# Format: Paperback 226 pages
# See: Full bibliographic data
# Categories: Cooking With Chocolate
# ISBN 13: 9780340980408 ISBN 10: 0340980400