Chocolate: A Love Story by Max Brenner, illustrations by Yonatan Factor

I have never been to one of Max Brenner’s restaurants, but if this book is any indication, I would be in a chocolate heaven. This is a gorgeous coffee table cookbook. The 65 recipes all sound sinfully delicious, from the Bohemian French Toast Chocolate Sandwiches to the Intimate Scones and the Mannered White Chocolate Crème Brûlée. Instead of the traditional photo photos, each recipe is accompanied by original graphics, almost art-deco in feel. A lot of them also include a line or two of musings, kind of setting the stage for the recipe. I can see chocoholics loving this mouth-watering book.

I actually tried one of the recipes. Supposedly they are easy to follow, but I didn’t have such good luck. First, I had to find one that I understood all the words of and could get a hold of all the ingredients. I live in a fairly small town; we don’t believe in things like passion fruit. Mind you, I’m also not much of a baker, so keep that in mind. Anyway, I attempted the Once-upon-a time almond cookies with a long ago sound of crackling sugar edges dipped in milk chocolate nostalgia.

An unforgettable taste sampled years ago becomes impossible in one’s imagination, an obsessive yearning, an endless search, and every new sampling full of promise turns into, as always, the taste of disappoinment.

I figured it was one I could handle- butter, sugar, cinnamon, almonds, milk chocolate, and a few other ingredients, all pretty standard, most of which I had. And they actually taste good, but they’re not “thin, lacy and golden brown.”  And I only finished like three because I tried to melt the chocolate a little more and ended up burning it, but that’s my own fault.I think, though, that people who bake on a regular basis would have no trouble. And I’m going to try a couple more recipes eventually, like the chocolate bread pudding and the bad boy chocolate pizza.

My copy was provided by the publisher for review and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon associate.

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