Crazy about chocolate!

You know the feeling when you suddenly find some money somewhere you never expected? The feeling of "yay! hooray"??? Well, a few nights ago, I was just shifting some stuff around in my room and guess what I found? Yes a Chocolate "bible"! I had forgotten I had bought this recipe book that was just on chocolates... every dessert and cake had chocolate in it, and even had some savoury sauces that had chocolate as an ingredient! It is a GORGEOUS book...... really, your mouth can water just looking at the pictures... the question was, where do I start???!!!

I have this dinner tomorrow night with some friends, and after days of thinking of what to cook, I decided I would make nasi lamak, but really I felt that perhaps I should make some sago, or almond jelly as dessert as it would go with the asian/malaysian theme... but once the discovery of this book came, all thoughts of sticking to the theme was abandoned!

Some weeks ago, maybe even a couple of months, I went to this most beautiful restaurant... which will be blogged in the weeks to come, and they served a terrific chocolate tasting plate. O very quickly, talking about tasting plates, another chocolate tasting plate that Cheryl and I had at the Globe Bar and Restaurant (which by the way is a finalist or has won some award according to The West on friday) which is in the Hilton Hotel... oh that was BAD... we figured the quality of chocolate must have been so out of our league that we could not comprehend the flavours... it is really with regret that I say this, as the restaurant is pretty funky and the atmosphere is nice, and our main courses were good (but small portion as such places would have it!), and I love the wooden floors... but really, the chocolate tasting plate was just really errmm... not at all chocolate tasting!

So in order to provide something interesting for my friends tomorrow night, and also for my own kitchen entertainment, I've decided to put together my own version of a chocolate tasting plate! (I thought about the different texture combinations... it had to range from smooth and creamy, to cake like to thick and rich...)

So here's the menu for dessert:

1) Brownies with almond cream cheese (as per the pictures)
- This is definitely different! The cream cheese is slightly on the sweet side, but with a cup of tea or coffee it would just hit the spot! The almond made it feel a little like marzipan, and whilst this may put people off, I would say, give the brownie a chance - there is something quite pleasant and classy about this combination! And looks gorgeous too!

2) Chocolate brulee
- As I type, this is sitting in the kitchen, cooling... and will be chilled and tomorrow will sprinkle some caster sugar over the top and grill it or use my gas torch :)

3) Chocolate Tarts
- The recipe looks excellent, requires no refrigeration and I will use Pampus' shortcrust pastry :) Fast and delicious!

I will blog the other pictures soon!!! And stay turned for a funky North Fremantle breakfast review soon! :)

I am way too distracted for my own good..... why do my accounting notes not appear as delicious?!!! :)))

Hope you all had a nice weekend!!! :)