Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran's Chocolates

This hard to find affordable desserts and chocolates book is so easy to understand for a home baker who wants to learn how to make these treats at home. Fran Bigelow is the founder of Fran's Chocolates and a pioneer in American artisan chocolatier and pastry chef. She has a chapter that talks about differentiating different types of chocolates and recommends several brands found in restaurants today. She offers her knowledge and experience working with chocolate,and offer few recommendations for a novice baker.These recipes had been tried and true - meant that these recipes have been tested from Fran herself, and recipes are for the home baker.If you want to work with chocolate, and give yourself another challenge in baking - then this is one of the books to have. So far, I have tried:White Chocolate Coconut Bars - a delightful chocolate dessert without any eggs for binding the shortbread crust. It's all chocolate and cake flour. this one I put some macadamia nuts in the coconut filling. It gives a nice buttery nuttiness and texture to this chocolate layered bar. This is a great chocolate dessert. I recommend you using 64%to 72% dark chocolate for the dark chocolate ganache on top.Boule d' Amande - "chocolate balls" or Dark Chocolate truffles coated with roasted almonds - this is a crowd pleaser and everyone who tried this was amazed, and got some extras. Another choco treat to make for the holidays.Dark chocolate truffles - this is first recipe that I tried in this book - and these were divine. I gave some to my co-workers and they were amazed by it. Now this is one of the treats to make during the holidays.La Reverie - this is a delicate torte made with almonds and lady fingers. After I baked it on the weekend, and served it with cinnamon hazelnut coffee to my family and guests. They said,"Ang sarap and it complements very well with the coffee that I served."(It's delicious and it complements well with the coffee). I thought of this recipe was kind of hard; however, I noticed that it is almost like the a tiramisu but with some mixing like a meringue or torte. One of the challenges that I encountered was putting the ganache on the cake and trying my hands on the cake decorating. But with time, patience, effort and determination. When you tasted this cake, your hard work and the delight from your guests will satisfy that this recipe is worth making it.I am going to continue to try other recipes from the torte, tart and other sections too in the future.

Wow, wow, and wow!!!! I don't even know where to start with this incredible encyclopedia of chocolate!!! But as I am rarely without words regarding chocolate, let me begin!!Fran bigelow knows her stuff........there are no two ways about it. She did not become a powerhouse by accident. She has worked hard for all the success that has come her way, and she has passed her love for this venue of gastronomic pleasure on to you, if you choose to take it.Without getting too chemistry-like in her teaching, she tells you all about chocolate and how it wants to be handled. You can try to do it on yor own, but face it, chocolate can be very tempermental, and if you don't know the subtle complexities of its makeup, you will loose time and money. She will guide you if you just take the time to learn from one of the Masters.The book contents are:IntroductionEverything you need to know about chocolateAmazing cookies and browniesTortes, with and without flour (for celiacs & gluten-sensitive)Elegant tartsCelebration cakes and holiday specialtiesSumptuous cheesecakes, puddings, and custardsChilled spectacularsSilken dessert saucesFive beverages and a snackTruffles and other fine chocolatesBuilding blocksSourcesIndexJust for the sake of an example of what anyone can do, I tried the cake on page 107 called "La Reverie". Holy cow!! You would of thought that I had studied at the Cordon Bleu; it was fabulous and soooo not hard to make. Plus you will make so many new friends that you never knew you had.She's the best and that's because she is a great teacher and the recipes don't require a degree in chemistry, architecure, or design. Go ahead and try it..........

Fran Bigelow is the Queen of the Chocolate World. She truly is a master of chocolate. I live in Florida, and it is a little difficult to get to her shop in Seattle. So the next best thing is her chocolate book. This book has all the great recipes that made her famous. It has a whole chapter on types of chocolate and the secrets to working with it. Chocolate is very delicate and must be worked within very specific temperatures. She has a lot of great photos and illustrations to make it easy.She gives you her recipes on cookies, brownies, torts, birthday and holiday creations, cheesecake, puddings, custards, and even chocolate drinks. She has a complete chapter on great recipes for truffles and other chocolates.I really recommend this book, for the techniques and recipes. I love it.

I have loved and worked with chocolate for years and years and...well, always. And I still learned so much about how to work with this magical food. Every recipe (and I've made many of them) has come out totally awesome. If I want to impress anyone, I make one of these Chocolate beauties.

I have a nice collection of cookbooks but as it can get a little "out of hand", I try to limit my new purchases...but: this one was a must and although I have only made the Chocolate Sables so far (they actually developed an even better depth of flavor after a day or two!), just reading this book is worth the price! It helps, of course, that I became familiar with Fran's incredible chocolates when I lived in Portland, OR! I knew her high standards and had faith the cookbook would follow suit. It did!!

Made a couple of recipes from this wonderful book and they were awesome. Blanc et Noir is a show stopper and the key lime white chocolate tarts in a dark chocolate crust were great too. Look forward to making other amazing chocolate desserts. Lots of interesting and tempting recipes in here.