a long awaited,but very chocolatey recipe :) and a happy b-day!

Friendships that last through the years and distance are a treasure. Friendships that share a passion for chocolate are a sweet and precious treasure. The following recipe is the idea of my friend from high school - Pleshy - and we have been awaiting this one for some time, but I am excited and happy to have the first guest-recipe on the blog. And what a better day to post it than on the author's birthday!

Ple, I want to wish you a happy happy birthday! Hope you are happy and lucky, hope whatever adventures arise, you will be able to take the most out of them and a newly-found inspiration will lead to great life stories  (which hopefully we will tell the grand children :)

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If you’ve been frequenting the ‘Coming up’ section you might’ve noticed something about a guest star appearance. It’s been there for quite a while and, yes, apparently it doesn’t say ‘star’ which makes me a little sad but that’s okay. Anyway, that’s me if you haven’t guessed already. It took a long time but I’m here and for once you get the chance to read somebody else’s take on a recipe along with a flavor of my thoughts. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it – at least a little bit. I’d also like to take this moment to apologize to Plami for putting this off for so long and thank her for having faith in me (and not deleting me from the ‘Coming up’ list.) Sometimes I need that. Thanks, Plam!

And now, without further ado…

Home-made Chocolate Spread (a cream)

Ingredients:

170ml water

250g sugar

125g butter

200g dry milk

2 tsp cocoa

First thing’s first, what are we making here? Think of it as Nutella for direct consumption, like a cream. Yeah, I know a lot of people eat Nutella straight out of the jar but they really shouldn’t – that’s why it’s called a spread, you know… :P

Now, with this recipe it’s all about getting the amounts right. Each gram of every ingredient counts and makes for a slightly different taste and consistency in the end. The beauty of it is that there’s no wrong way to do it. The amounts I’ve listed are simply my personal preference after many attempts so feel free to experiment. Don’t be off put by that, it’s real easy to do.

You start by dissolving the sugar in boiling water. After that’s done, add the butter and stir to melt. At this point, the mixture shouldn’t be boiling so you might want to turn it down a bit. Put the dry milk and cocoa in a deep bowl and gently mix them up together. Slowly pour the mixture into the powder while stirring. It works best with a mixer but if you’re feeling particularly courageous try it manually, just don’t forget to stir real hard. When done, you might want to sift the whole thing just to make sure it’s smooth. Finally, divide it into cups and put them in the fridge. Wait at least four hours, the longer it stays the better.

By the way, did I mention there’s a girl? Guess not… Well, there is. It’s not yet certain how things are going to play out but honestly, I don’t care all that much. Right now I’m in that special world of sudden waves of ecstatic joy and painful desolation, and all that matters is that I see her, that I talk to her yet another time. How’s this relevant? It isn’t really. I just feel like saying all that. But if you think about it for a second, any form of chocolate has the power to make us forget about the daily grind, and just for that fraction of a moment everything seems perfectly alright. And with that thought I leave you to your day, or night.