The Sweet Life: A Day-out in Brussels with Chocolatier Marc Ducobu
For Marc Ducobu, chocolate isn’t just an ingredient; it's an art form. And, as an award-winning Belgian chocolatier and ‘pastry maverick’, he knows a thing or two about it.
Ingredients
1kg flour (light, not self-raising)
300g butter
600g dark brown sugar
1 litre of water
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch of ground clove
Method
1. Beat the brown sugar, butter and spices together in a large dish, and add the water to the mixture.
2. Sieve the bicarbonate of soda and flour over the mixture and blend to get a thick, not too elastic dough, taking care not to over-knead it. If it sticks, cool it for a while.
3. Roll out the dough into pieces and flatten these with a rolling pin.
4. Using a cookie cutter, carefully punch out your desired biscuit shapes.
5. Bake at 175°C – 200°C for around 10 minutes.
6. Allow to cool, then decorate with piped icing, jelly sweets or sugar beads.
For Marc Ducobu, chocolate isn’t just an ingredient; it's an art form. And, as an award-winning Belgian chocolatier and ‘pastry maverick’, he knows a thing or two about it.
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