Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow

Tell people, in casual conversation, that 'sweets' are your downfall. 90% of the time you will get either of two responses - 'oh, yes, me too!' or 'not me, cheese is my weakness'. Cheese? What does that mean? You would rather eat cheese than chocolate? I don't think we can be friends. I like cheese too but - over chocolate?

I am telling you about books that have enlightened me, delighted me, encouraged me and led me to choose new paths in life that have not set out to do so - mostly craft and cookbooks. One of my favourite cookbooks of all time is Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow.

Maybe 20 years ago Fran Bigelow started making cakes in a small affluent suburb in Seattle. She was an instant success with her homemade chocolate goodies - including fine hand-dipped chocolates. Whenever I would go to Seattle to visit family and friends I would insist on a trip to Frans to buy up big for my home stay. I have always been a chocoholic (and it shows!) even from a young age. I did not have a discerning palate until I discovered Fran's Chocolates. I have to say, now, the thought of a Cadbury's Chocolate Bar doesn't raise my heartbeat. But say 'couveture' and my saliva glands start to work overtime. Fran's chocolates took my tastebuds and desires to a higher level. A few years ago a trip to Fran's chocolate shop proved to be my chocolate baking beginning. Fran wrote a cookbook.

Pure Chocolate is full of tips, recipes, instructions and the most luscious photographs that can almost fulfil my deepest longings. I've made white-chocolate chunk brownies, white-chocolate coconut cream bars, chocolate cabernet tortes and blanc et noirs (you have to taste it to believe it!). Fran taught me to make truffles and ganaches. And the pièce de résistance is the chocolate-stuffed figs - honestly to die for.

I love this book beyond belief. I have a couple more chocolate cookbooks - David Lebovitz and Donna Hay, but Fran's is my go-to.

I just purchased a very exciting new chocolate book - chocolates and confections: formula, theory, and technique for the artisan confectioner by Peter P Greweling, CMB (Certified Master Baker - oooo!), and I am reading my way through it. But it isn't yet spattered with melted chocolate from the mixer or smeared with unsalted butter. There are no crumbs embedded in the folds between the pages. The inside is clean and pristine and the cover isn't torn like my copy of Pure Chocolate. Those cooks who have beloved cookbooks will know that until a cookbook looks like it has been handled by a two year old who has just eaten dinner with his hands, it hasn't been loved. Or cooked from.