Raspberry Hot Chocolate and a Book Giveaway

Raspberry Hot Chocolate and a Book Giveaway

When I was a child, my father used to make an ice rink in the back yard. He’d pile us onto the toboggan and pull us around to flatten the snow. Then, night after night, he’d zip up his navy blue snowmobile suit and disappear into the dark. When he came back in, his mittens would be coated in ice and his nose and cheeks would be bright red. The fix? Hot chocolate.

When the rink was finally ready, after what seemed like weeks, mom would lace  up our skates, stuff us into an envelope of winter wear and send us out to slip and slide the afternoon away. We’d return with numb toes and ice-encrusted lashes. The cure? Hot chocolate.

Today, as I face yet another snow shovel, I find myself craving this drink — only a grown up version. As luck would have it, Dominique and Cindy Duby, chocolate artisans from Vancouver, have released a new book focusing entirely on chocolate. And their hot chocolate recipe is a raspberry version. And  raspberry is the only chocolate flavour  my lemon-loving dad likes. So I figure this was meant to be. I had to try it.

The resulting hot chocolate is more like a liquid truffle. It’s basically a ganache recipe served over toasted marshmallows. I added a very adult splash of Framboise to mine. A mere demitasse will do you. Sip it. Savour it. And feel the warmth creep back into your toes.

To fend off the remains of winter, I’m giving away a copy of Chocolate, More than 50 Decadent Recipes (Whitecap 2009) by Dominique and Cindy Duby.  Like their previous book, Creme Brulee, this small cookbook offers inspiring recipes and tips on achieving professional results in a home kitchen. The Duby’s provide crucial information about ingredients and techniques while their photos turn food into art. I’m not sure whether to bow at their feet or sell my camera. Not only did the Duby’s make each of these exquisite looking dishes, they took all the food photos as well.

But be warned. Chocolate is for serious chocolate fans– not so much because its sole focus is on chocolate, but because some of the dishes and garnishes require planning, can’t be rushed or call for multiple recipes. For example, while the Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Pate reduces most special occasion cakes to the status of a boxed mix, you need to make Dark Chocolate Mousse, Dark Chocolate Sauce and Chocolate Sugar Bark before embarking on the cake.

Scared? Don’t be. Not all the recipes are challenging or time consuming. Citrus Milk Chocolate Crunch, Dark Chocolate Banana Jam and Milk Chocolate Caramel Spread take less than half an hour.

Think you’re up to the chocolate challenge? To enter, leave a comment answering the following:  Do you like your chocolate dark, milk or white? Or when it come to chocolate are you colour-blind?

I’ll announce the winner next Monday.

In the meantime, here’s the recipe for the most decadent hot chocolate on Earth.

Raspberry Hot Chocolate (1)

Raspberry Dark Hot Chocolate

Excerpted with permission from Chocolate: More than 50 Decadent Recipes by Dominique & Cindy Duby. Published by Whitecap Books, 2009.

Serves 6

  • 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) fresh or frozen raspberries
  • 3.6 oz (100 g) 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream

Garnish

  • 24–36 mini marshmallows
  • 6–12 fresh raspberries
  1. To make raspberry purée, purée fresh raspberries or thawed frozen raspberries in a food processor, then strain out the seeds using a fine-mesh sieve. You’ll need 1 cup (250 ml) of raspberry puree.
  2. Place chocolate in a tall, narrow container. Bring raspberry purée and whipping cream to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Blend with an immersion blender until well combined and frothy. Place a few pieces of marshmallow in each heatproof serving glass and lightly caramelize using a blowtorch. Top with 1 or 2 fresh raspberries per glass. Pour hot chocolate on top and serve at once.


Ice skates photo © Rob Lee. Published under a Creative Commons license.
Raspberry Hot Chocolate photo courtesy Whitecap.

111 Comments
  • JenB
    Posted at 11:03h, 12 January

    As much as I wish I was a chocolate connoisseur, I really prefer milk and even white chocolate to the dark stuff!

  • Joanne McNair
    Posted at 11:06h, 12 January

    I am a dark chocolate fan. Milk chocolate is OK in small doses, but tends to be too sweet and cloying. I prefer the slight bitterness of dark chocolate. As for “white chocolate” – don’t get me started. It’s just wrong. And an oxymoron.

  • Jill
    Posted at 12:03h, 12 January

    Dark please. And plenty of it. 😉

  • Suzy
    Posted at 12:42h, 12 January

    Dark dark dark! I don’t consider white chocolate to be chocolate.

  • Katerina
    Posted at 13:00h, 12 January

    Gosh, I don’t know if I am *serious* enough about chocolate to get use book. Though I can think of several people in my life who are.

    For me, it is dark. I will eat milk chocolate in a pinch but I will just as often decline. Wouldn’t touch the white stuff.
    .-= Katerina´s last blog ..Ribollita Recipe (Cabbage and Bean Soup) =-.

  • Kathleen
    Posted at 13:08h, 12 January

    For me, dark chocolate satisfies where milk and white cannot. Adding fruit to the mix only heightens the pleasure!

  • Daniel @ Casual Kitchen
    Posted at 14:32h, 12 January

    Dark. All dark, all the time. Milk chocolate is for wimps and pretenders.

    PS: Reminds me of a time I was in Paris and I ordered a “hot chocolate” in a pastry shop. I never had anything so dark and rich and gloriously dense. It must have been made of neutrons only. Thanks for the flashback!
    .-= Daniel @ Casual Kitchen´s last blog ..How to Feel Less Hungry on Fewer Calories: Hacking the Satiety Factor of Foods =-.

  • Doreen Pendgracs
    Posted at 14:35h, 12 January

    I agree with Suzy. White chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all. It has no cocoa mass in it.

    Regarding preference, dark chocolate is the only way to go if you are a true chocolate connoisseur or chocoholic – as I am.

    And regarding the book, it’s great. Thanks to my friends for giving it to me for Christmas. Haven’t tried the recipe yet, but I agree with Kathleen. Raspberries only enhance the taste of dark chocolate and don’t detract from it at all. Here’s to the chocolate lovers of the world.

  • Cheryl Arkison
    Posted at 14:48h, 12 January

    I consider myself quite the chocoholic, but I’ve been known to eat chocolate chips out of hand and the gross macaroons of my childhood. And I’m fine with that. By far I prefer dark chocolate, but somedays I want a lighter dark, a milk, and yes, even white. That’s like asking me to pick only one kind of melon or cheese.
    .-= Cheryl Arkison´s last blog ..Bitaemo =-.

  • The Diva on a Diet
    Posted at 16:09h, 12 January

    Oh my stars, its made with whipping cream?! That IS decadent! And, no doubt, amazing. Wow, Charmian, just wow!

    I’m a confirmed chocoholic too – must be dark or good quality milk for me … never white. Blech!
    .-= The Diva on a Diet´s last blog ..Recipe for Chicken Burgers with Mushrooms, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions =-.

  • Debbie
    Posted at 18:10h, 12 January

    I like dark , then white , but my fave is milk. (with nuts and fruit too!)

  • Cheryl@5secondrule
    Posted at 19:15h, 12 January

    You had me at: “The resulting hot chocolate is more like a liquid truffle.” And then you had me even more at: “It’s basically a ganache recipe served over toasted marshmallows.”

    May I add frangelico or amaretto to mine instead of framboise? Pretty please? Ask your dad if it’s okay.
    .-= Cheryl@5secondrule´s last blog ..Beans =-.

  • Lori Desormeaux
    Posted at 20:10h, 12 January

    One perfect square of very dark chocolate taken daily preferably at 1pm.

  • Dana McCauley
    Posted at 20:21h, 12 January

    Love that photo! Where did you find such clear ice? We skate on our local pond and the ice freezes so thickly that it’s quite cloudy.

    I already have this book and I think it will make the prize winner very, very happy! Good luck to all.

  • Michele
    Posted at 21:09h, 12 January

    So, as much as I like chocolate, my husband is the serious chocoholic in the family. When we go to visit my parents my Mom always asks if we want anything, and I say, that great dark chocolate for C, to which she replies, I already bought it. How great a husband-mother-in-law relationship is that! My answer is definitely “dark”. Thanks for the chance to win the book, it looks great! Michele

  • Memoria
    Posted at 00:12h, 13 January

    What a great combination of flavors! YUM! I love the photos.

  • Kim
    Posted at 01:16h, 13 January

    I love chocolate of all kinds! When I was younger, I was allergic to chocolate. I once ate three M&Ms and broke out in hives! White chocolate, not being real chocolate, was the only thing I could eat.

    I grew out of the allergy, thank god. But, probably because I could only ever eat the sweetest of the bunch, I prefer milk chocolate to dark. Not that I turn up my nose to any of it!

  • jacqui cohen
    Posted at 02:18h, 13 January

    Charmian, I love chocolate in every way that it can be expressed. I am 100% colour-blind. And I always defend white chocolate to the haters, but I won’t get into all that now.

    I think we are in recipe-sync because I couldn’t resist making a decadent chocolate raspberry cake to take to a BBQ on the weekend. It was a rich choc-cake base, with a crown of raspberries and a dark ganache drizzle. I think the flavours go so well together. It was heaven!

    I wonder what we’ll make in sync next…?

  • Janet Watt
    Posted at 02:31h, 13 January

    Deep, dark chocolate…. mmmmm…

  • telesilla
    Posted at 03:39h, 13 January

    When I’m just snacking, I don’t mind eating milk chocolate, but if I’m actually taking the time to savor my chocolate, then it has to be dark. 🙂

  • Jana
    Posted at 08:08h, 13 January

    Mmmm…Chocolate, the darker the better.

  • BNDQ8
    Posted at 09:26h, 13 January

    love it…super comfort hot drink!!
    .-= BNDQ8´s last blog ..Lino’s Coffee – The Frappe’s =-.

  • Laura
    Posted at 10:02h, 13 January

    Awesome recipe. Can’t wait to make it for me and my MIL (mother in law). We both like white chocolate…no she is saying she loves all chocolate!!!

  • Ellen
    Posted at 10:39h, 13 January

    Definitely Dark Chocolate. Well, that or Cadbury milk chocolate mini-eggs – my little indulgence!

  • Kathy D
    Posted at 19:57h, 13 January

    Dark……. Dark….. Dark…….

  • Jennifer
    Posted at 20:08h, 13 January

    I like dark but I prefer milk chocolate. I’m not usually a fan of white but at Easter I will sometime enjoy a piece or 2 of a white chocolate rabbit!

  • Maureen
    Posted at 20:15h, 13 January

    I love Milk chocolate. I will eat semi-sweet and some dark. Not so much a fan of white.

  • melode
    Posted at 20:30h, 13 January

    I love all kinds of cooking. I have baked with all types and I love them all. I would love to win this cookbook.

  • scottsgal
    Posted at 21:17h, 13 January

    I’m a chocoholic but I’d pick dark chocolate as my fave

  • Jennifer C.
    Posted at 21:34h, 13 January

    I love Milk Chocolate!

  • Darcy B
    Posted at 22:02h, 13 January

    When it comes to chocolate I’m color blind all I know is Chocolate is Goooood!! Chocolate is actually one of my major food groups and I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t consume chocolate!!! I love to make fancy treats—thanks for the chance to win a magical cook book–and Happy new Year!!!
    kakihararocks@gmail.com

  • Jessica Davidson
    Posted at 22:08h, 13 January

    Definetly milk!

  • SANDY
    Posted at 23:47h, 13 January

    dark

  • Rosanne
    Posted at 00:23h, 14 January

    Dark chocolate

  • Karen Pochodowicz
    Posted at 06:12h, 14 January

    I like milk and white the best. On rare occasions I will dig dark chocolate even too.

  • EMMA L HORTON
    Posted at 10:05h, 14 January

    I THINK I LIKE WHITE CHOCOLATE BETTER

  • Amber G
    Posted at 10:59h, 14 January

    I love dark chocolate!

  • deb c
    Posted at 12:17h, 14 January

    I like milk chocolate. Dark chocolate has a bitter taste and I just don’t care for white chocolate.

  • Tarah
    Posted at 12:41h, 14 January

    I love white chocolate and then milk chocolate. I wish I had a taste for dark since it’s better for you but alas…I pick the fatty choices. 🙂

  • tea2cups
    Posted at 12:51h, 14 January

    I love chocolate in any form but do not consider white chocolate to be true chocolate. It is ok but just not chocolate to me.

  • Carol Harrity
    Posted at 12:52h, 14 January

    I never met anything chocolate that was not an instant love affair. (my guilty secret-I keep a bag of chocolate chips at my desk for instant gratification.

  • A. Trent
    Posted at 14:06h, 14 January

    sounds good to me

  • Sandra K321
    Posted at 14:23h, 14 January

    It has to be dark chocolate for me.

  • Shannon M
    Posted at 14:46h, 14 January

    I love all kinds of chocolate – I work at Godiva! My favourite chocolates are layered – dark with milk, milk with white, etc.

  • shannon Baas
    Posted at 16:42h, 14 January

    Yummy. I like all kinds of chocolate.

  • Jennifer
    Posted at 17:19h, 14 January

    Dark. According to my nutritionist, everyone should eat 1oz of at least 83% dark chocolate EVERY DAY. (Have I mentioned how much I love my nutritionist?) This cook book sounds perfect for that!

  • Kelly Ann T.
    Posted at 17:26h, 14 January

    I like dark chocolate and if it has caramel in it, then I’m in heaven

  • susan varney
    Posted at 17:47h, 14 January

    white is the better mverno@roadrunner.com

  • Susan C
    Posted at 18:08h, 14 January

    I am crazy about milk chocolate.
    smchester at gmail dot com
    .-= Susan C´s last blog ..My computer was attacked! =-.

  • Francine
    Posted at 19:23h, 14 January

    I’ll take mine dark, please!

    That hot chocolate recipe looks divine!

  • Amy Lang
    Posted at 19:35h, 14 January

    I prefer dark chocolate to any other kind of chocolate!

  • Denise B.
    Posted at 10:04h, 15 January

    I like milk and white chocolate.

  • Angela
    Posted at 11:28h, 15 January

    I loooooove the taste of milk chocolate!

  • Holly W.
    Posted at 11:34h, 15 January

    I ONLY like Milk Chocolate…and can’t get enough of it!

  • Doug
    Posted at 12:52h, 15 January

    Like all chocolate, but have to make myself eat “white” chocolate. Will not go out of my way to purchase it.

  • Faith
    Posted at 13:04h, 15 January

    Any kind of chocolate is great!

  • Harriet
    Posted at 13:11h, 15 January

    Any kind, any time, but with some moderation, or I’d be a balloon

  • kelly wakefield
    Posted at 15:16h, 15 January

    I’m color blind when it comes to chocolate – I like all 3 types!!!

  • Jennifer Short
    Posted at 15:59h, 15 January

    Definately milk chocolate!

  • Amy Proulx
    Posted at 17:24h, 15 January

    Chocolate. Charmian, are you poised to make me silly on a Friday afternoon? Now all I can think about is chocolate. (and the Dubys, who are awfully fun people.)

    So… do I like chocolate? Yes, a lot. Does it matter what kind? Yes, a lot. Do I want chocolate now because of this post? Yes, a lot. Am I drooling? Yes, a lot.

  • REBECCA TOWNER
    Posted at 19:11h, 15 January

    Dark Chocolate

  • Jacqueline Strawder
    Posted at 19:28h, 15 January

    I love any form of chocolate ….but if I had to pick , the dark would be my first choice…

    jackie
    jbs3005@aol.com

  • Carolee Conti
    Posted at 20:43h, 15 January

    I love it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Ashley
    Posted at 22:14h, 15 January

    i love milk chocolate

  • christopher h
    Posted at 23:59h, 15 January

    milk chocolate

  • Lindsey M
    Posted at 00:21h, 16 January

    I usually like milk chocolate best but sometimes I lieke some of the really good dark chocolate

  • angie
    Posted at 02:44h, 16 January

    I like all chocolate, but my favorite is dark.

  • Debra F
    Posted at 10:17h, 16 January

    I only eat dark chocolate….my kids will eat any kind.

  • Rebecca Lunsford
    Posted at 11:37h, 16 January

    I love dark chocolate!

  • snacksgiving
    Posted at 12:10h, 16 January

    I like my chocolates dark!
    .-= snacksgiving´s last blog ..Think Spice -Vanilla =-.

  • karen
    Posted at 12:34h, 16 January

    I like ALL chocolate.

  • Erma
    Posted at 12:44h, 16 January

    I love milk and dark chocolate.

  • Emily
    Posted at 14:44h, 16 January

    Milk chocolate is my favorite, though I wouldn’t turn down any kind of chocolate!

  • Ed Nemmers
    Posted at 15:25h, 16 January

    The preference is the richness of dark chocolate, but, any type will do for a craving!

  • Becca
    Posted at 17:08h, 16 January

    I love dark chocolate, I like milk chocolate. White chocolate is just candy and I don’t eat it lol Thanks!!
    .-= Becca´s last blog ..Six Word Saturday – #16 =-.

  • Chrysa
    Posted at 18:16h, 16 January

    I love dark chocolate!
    .-= Chrysa ´s last blog ..Free Photo Mousepad from ArtsCow =-.

  • blueviolet
    Posted at 18:27h, 16 January

    I really love milk chocolate!

  • Gianna
    Posted at 21:20h, 16 January

    I love dark and sometimes milk 🙂

  • shawna
    Posted at 21:30h, 16 January

    I love love white chocolate!!

  • Eva D
    Posted at 21:44h, 16 January

    I love Chocolate ANY color but my favorite is white chocolate

  • Storm
    Posted at 21:52h, 16 January

    I’m all about dark chocolate! Mmmm!
    .-= Storm´s last blog ..Who’s Your Favorite Housewife? (Giveaway!) =-.

  • Julie
    Posted at 22:03h, 16 January

    Sounds yummy!

  • Bridget Combs
    Posted at 22:35h, 16 January

    White chocolate is my favorite!

  • Kate
    Posted at 22:49h, 16 January

    Definitely dark chocolate for me. More flavorful!!

  • Sand
    Posted at 22:52h, 16 January

    Dark chocolate is my favorite.

  • Angela Winesburg
    Posted at 00:54h, 17 January

    I love dark chocolate the best, thanks!

  • Roxann
    Posted at 01:34h, 17 January

    I like milk chocolate best of all.

  • Sahm Lee
    Posted at 02:36h, 17 January

    I love all 3. I don’t have a favorite color of chocolate! Thanks for the contest!

  • Anika
    Posted at 03:57h, 17 January

    I like all chocolate but white chocolate is my favorite. I know some people dont classify it as real chocolate . . . but im all about the controversy .

  • Shannon
    Posted at 09:05h, 17 January

    I like all of them but dark chocolate is my favorite

  • George Ferris
    Posted at 09:33h, 17 January

    I like the dark chocolate.

  • kathy pease
    Posted at 10:01h, 17 January

    i like milk chocolate 🙂

  • Roseann K.
    Posted at 10:48h, 17 January

    I love milk chocolate. Great book that I’d love to win. Thanks!

  • Kat Emerick
    Posted at 10:58h, 17 January

    I am a big fan of milk chocolate! I would just love to win this book and try to make some delish chocolate for the hubby! Thanks

  • Lily Kwan
    Posted at 11:00h, 17 January

    I love white chocolate!

  • Veronica Garrett
    Posted at 11:07h, 17 January

    I like Milk Chocolate.

  • John Deal
    Posted at 11:23h, 17 January

    Oh my gosh, chocolate, chocolate,chocolate. I like all kinds of chocolate, although I personally have a hard time considering “white” chocolate to be chocolate.

  • Jennifer Jozwiak
    Posted at 11:53h, 17 January

    i like all three!

  • heather c
    Posted at 12:03h, 17 January

    I’m all about the milk chocolate! Love it!

  • Sally H
    Posted at 13:34h, 17 January

    Huge milk chocolate fan, but open to alternatives. Breakfast each morning is hot chocolate made with 2 cups of goat milk. This cook book sounds like the ones from Marcel Desaulniers.

  • Sheldon Lehman
    Posted at 14:22h, 17 January

    If you prick me, I bleed chocolate! Doesn’t matter what kind, I am open to all – Swiss, Dutch, German, Mexican, dark, white, milk, bittersweet, semi-sweet, unsweetened. There is no dish that can’t be improved with chocolate; I even grate it into my chili while simmering.

  • Jeri Hassell
    Posted at 14:28h, 17 January

    Sounds delicious! I love to read and I love all kinds of chocolate treats.

  • Sue (London, ON)
    Posted at 16:32h, 17 January

    Hi Christine. I find your blog through Julie VanRosendaal’s (she’s my source for all things food related)! Great blog, awesome recipes.
    I love chocolate of all kinds as well. I guess I have a preference for dark chocolate but I think thats because I know in my head it has this “good for you” aspect to it and that makes eating it a little more guilt-free!

  • Sue (London, ON)
    Posted at 16:35h, 17 January

    OOPS!! CHARMIAN! Sorry I got your name wrong! I was fooled by the “Christie’s” Corner!

  • Maja Meza
    Posted at 18:41h, 17 January

    dark chocolate

  • Dani
    Posted at 20:18h, 17 January

    I ONLY like milk chocolate. I have tried to like the others, but just cannot do it.
    .-= Dani´s last blog ..One Month Later, Five Pounds Heavier, and Four Legs Longer a/k/a My How Our Jersey Girl Has Grown =-.

  • Stephanie - Wasabimon
    Posted at 21:02h, 17 January

    I love all chocolates – though white is my least favorite.

  • Frances Watson
    Posted at 21:20h, 17 January

    white is my favorite
    Thanks for the wonderful giveaway
    fancyfeet45@earthlink.net

  • DEEANNE ADCOX
    Posted at 23:35h, 17 January

    I LOVE ALL CHOCOLATES!
    I WOULD LOVE THIS 🙂
    BIGDADDYADCOX@YAHOO.COM

  • Piroska
    Posted at 12:46h, 30 January

    I love my chocolate any which way but loose!
    (Being born in Switzerland, one of the largest chocolate-consumption per capita in the world, I can say it’s in my genes!).
    :o)

  • Melissa
    Posted at 13:20h, 02 February

    I did not know about this book! I live by the smell and taste of this wonderful elixer. Chocolate is wonderful! It makes every thing right in the world, especially when you have had a bad day…..or even a great day! I am going to go out and get this book asap!