… then you need to make this dessert/afternoon delight immediately. Don’t be like me and buy 90% of your ingredients (dark chocolate, essentially) and let it sit on your kitchen counter for a few days. Not the wisest decision if your self-control tends to take a back seat to impulsive indulgence in the presence of sweets.
For my first real food post, I was determined to create something so delicious, so irresistible, that I had to find a recipe that piqued both my curiosity and my taste buds. Well, voila: Chocolate Basil Tortelette with Raspberry Coulis. When I found this recipe online, my mouth began to water, so I knew I had found the winner. After skimming over the instructions, it also seemed like it would be easy enough to conjure up from scratch, so I made a short list of ingredients and biked to my favourite grocery store (the budget-friendly Supermarche PA downtown).
Once I found some spare time (actually, some spare money to re-buy some of the chocolate I had gobbled) to start baking, I realized that the deceptively simple instructions were going to be trickier than I had imagined. You see, although I love cooking, I do not have all the tools of the trade. In fact, I have very few of them. I have learned over the years to use some smart substitutes, but the one machine there doesn’t seem to be a stand-in for is a good ol’ food processor. My apartment is equipped with no less than three alternate options: a hand-mixer, a blender, and the latest addition, a Magic Bullet. I thought that one of these grinders would do the job, but in fact, after trying them all, none did.
The key to making this intense delight is the basil sugar that one makes by combining fresh basil leaves with sugar to create a slightly wet and very green concoction that compliments the bitterness of the chocolate. After tossing the leaves and raw sugar into the Magic Bullet, I pushed start and waited for a swirly green snow to dance inside, like a storm inside a snow globe. Unfortunately for my poetic sensibilities, the ingredients sat in a lifeless clump at the bottom of the plastic container while the blades spun noisily. It was not a good moment.
Anyway, that was the only major problem I came across while creating this truly decadent dessert. It was quickly resolved when I dumped the sugar/basil mess onto a cutting board and chopped the shit out of it. It worked out in the end, so maybe my best weapons in the fight against food processors are big knifes and a steady hand. This was my own adaptation of an online recipe you can find here: http://www.cookthink.com/recipe/9543/Flourless_Chocolate-Basil_Torte. Instead of making a torte, I made “tortelettes” in a muffin pan for better portion control (it made 9 servings). Also, I halved the amount of basil this recipe calls for, and would do the same if I were to make it again. Half a cup, or even 2/3, is a great amount, whereas one full cup would be overbearing. I decided against the chocolate ganache because I wanted something lighter for fear that these tortelettes would be simply too rich. So, instead, I made a chocolate whipped cream. To counter-balance all that chocolate, and add another flavour and colour, I created a raspberry coulis.
This turned out to be a real smile-inducing small-crowd pleaser, and I will file it away for future consumption.
Suggested Soundtrack: Charles Aznavour- Aznavour (there is just something so francais about melting all that butter and chocolate on a warm sunny day).
KitschintheKitchen 
LOving the chocolate.