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  • Welcome to How To Cook That I am Ann Reardon Today we are making a chocolate book. Now

  • this is like a box of chocolates but much more fun.

  • Firstly for our cover take your milk chocolate and I like to melt it in the microwave so

  • 30 seconds stir, 30 seconds stir and then once it's starting to melt 15 seconds stir

  • and repeat that until it's melted.

  • Then pour that onto some non-stick baking paper you could use foil here if you don't

  • have non-stick paper. And then spread it out to a rectangle in the size you want your book

  • to be if you imagine it being opened flat. Think about the width of the spine here as

  • well.

  • You must be using real chocolate for this so check your ingredients and check it has

  • cocoa butter in it. and we don't want to temper it we just want to melt it. We are relying

  • on it not setting firm at room temperature we want it to be soft.

  • Bang the tray on the bench to get rid of any air bubbles. Then just leave it to one side

  • at room temperature and because it is not tempered it will take ages to start to set

  • so we can start working on our pages.

  • To make our pages first of all draw a template the size that you want them

  • to be then place some non-stick baking paper over the top and pour on some melted white

  • compound or fake chocolate now this is chocolate that does not contain cocoa butter, so this

  • time I want you to read the ingredients and look for something that has vegetable fat

  • and not cocoa butter . This doesn't need tempering to make it set crisp.

  • Place a second sheet of baking paper over the the top and gently rub it with your fingers

  • to remove any of those air bubbles. Peel off the top sheet so you end up with

  • two thin pages and you're gong to need to jiggle them around a bit to smooth them out.

  • For two of these pages before they set I am going to add some strawberry powder. I found

  • these freeze dried strawberries in the supermarket and just crushed them up in their packet to

  • make a powder. Then sprinkle them over the top and then tip it around to make sure you've

  • got some all over it.

  • Once they are starting to set use the template that you made to cut them to the right size.

  • Then continue to make more pages in exactly the same way but keep the others plain. When

  • they are setting you may need to place another sheet of baking paper over the top and then

  • a book or something flat to keep them from curling up we want to keep them completely

  • flat. And then trim them all to size, I'm going to make 14 pages altogether.

  • Now for the fun part adding some fillings. Take one of the sheets an spread it with your

  • chosen filling, on this one I am using dulce de leche and the recipe for that is on the

  • channel Spread it out thinly leaving a plain border on three of the edges so that we don't

  • have heaps of it oozing out of our book. We just want to see the white chocolate on the

  • edge. Then place another sheet on top. Next I am using some white chocolate vanilla

  • ganache which is one of my favourite pages in this book. For ideas and recipes and fillings

  • that you can use the chocolate truffles recipe videos will help you the most. If you link

  • you through to the channel at the end of this video and you'll find them all there under

  • the chocolate playlist. Spread it out and get your second sheet and

  • put it on top so you get two pages stuck together like this.

  • Repeat that with your other fillings, this one is a spiced dark chocolate ganache.

  • You can use as many flavours as you like. Now back to our cover that should be about

  • ready by now. Take one of your pages and use it to mark how big you want the cover to be,

  • make it a bit bigger than the pages and remember to leave room for the spine in the middle.

  • Because this chocolate is not tempered it will still be very soft so cut it and then

  • scrape off the excess. Put all your pages into place I started with

  • a blank one so it can stick to the cover, then caramel, vanilla ganache, spiced dark

  • chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, strawberry, caramel and finishing with another plain one.

  • Now you can lift up your cover using the baking paper and wrap it around your pages just like

  • the cover of a book. Now I am not fusing the pages together at the spine because we want

  • people to be able to just take out individual pages. If you want it all fused together then

  • you could add some melted tempered chocolate or compound chocolate down the spine to keep

  • it altogether.

  • Slide the whole thing onto something flat and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes

  • this is so it firms up enough so we can peel off the paper.

  • Take it out of the freezer and have your serving platter ready. Unwrap the book and place it

  • onto the platter. Now once the cover softens again you wont be able to move it so make

  • sure it is where you want it to be. While it is still firm use your knife to trim off

  • any rough bits from the edges of your chocolate cover.

  • Now wait for that chocolate to come to room temperature and soften up again, if you live

  • somewhere very cold you may need the heater on in the room for it to become soft enough

  • to do what we are going to do next.

  • Take a rubber stamp and push down gently into the cover to make an indent. You can of course

  • write whatever you like. I am writing How To Cook That on the front of mine.

  • Then on the spine of the book I am using the back of the stamp here You can use anything

  • that is rectangular and I am just making indents and then leaving a little space making another

  • indent. So it looks like the back of an old leather book.

  • Now roll out a tiny amount of fondant and cut it into a skinny rectangle, to make a

  • ribbon. Take a 'v' out of one end and then pick that up and add it in between a couple

  • of your pages.

  • Serve it as a dessert with hot drinks and strawberries.

  • [music: David Bulla High Life, used with permission]

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  • there's a new chocolate, cake or dessert recipe for you every week.

  • Click here to go to the channel to get those chocolate truffle recipe videos

  • Here for last weeks Dora cake and here to go to the website for recipe details.

  • You're awesome, have a great week and I'll see you Friday.

Welcome to How To Cook That I am Ann Reardon Today we are making a chocolate book. Now

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