Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Do you know anyone who doesn’t love it? If so, I’d love to hear about it (except if it’s due to allergies). For me, the darker the chocolate the better, although for chocolate bars, 90% would be my top limit. I thought I had had excellent chocolate gelato – with almonds or walnuts — until I had another epiphany at Hotel Gelato in the Eglinton West area. (An upcoming story will feature this store).
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Ricardo is back and solved a major problem in yogurt making
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Winter is a creative time; time on one’s hands, and thoughts of gelato flavours abound. I had a very strong urge to craft gelato over the holidays and came up with some good things. The current flavour line up is: Ricardo’s signature chocolate fondente, or dark chocolate sorbet, no dairy Skor: a unique Ricardo’s flavour,…
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A delicious Olive Oil Tasting and Dinner at Corso Italia’s Cucinato Studio
The Cucinato Studio cooking school, located in the former Big Ragu restaurant, St. Clair and Landsdowne, transports you to Italy at least for a few hours. I had gone to the place in my days living in the St. Clair West Little Italy area. It’s a great birthday or special occasion present, and my…
A revelation! Along with excellent flavours, often with a seasonal twist, there was a dark chocolate gelato, later a sorbet, that was so deep and profoundly flavourful it took us by surprise and became something we craved. No matter what other store we visited, we returned to Hotel Gelato – and there were some good other chocolate flavours at LaPaloma, Hollywood Gelato and elsewhere. (Even though the Woodbridge shop remained open, it was a real loss when Paloma’s St. Clair West outlet closed after 55 years in Toronto’s Corso Italia).
Honestly, the assumption was the Hotel Gelato dark chocolate was unattainable and had some secret ingredient or arcane method only known to skilled professionals, who had trained in Italy. Well, maybe so – at least until I discovered – and modified – the Cuisinart dark chocolate sorbet recipe that came with my machine. No one believes it contains no dairy, even in the chocolate pieces. My vegetarian niece Betsy and Lee the vegan nephew gave it five stars!
And it’s among the easiest recipes to make:
- Prepare a simple syrup with the 4 cups of water, 1.5 cups of sugar and a pinch of kosher salt over medium-low heat.
- Cook mixture until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Place two cups of cocoa powder (Frye’s or President’s Choice organic, fairly similar; don’t skimp on this ingredient) in a large bowl that will be used for chilling the mixture.
- While whisking, slowly pour the simple sugar into the bowl and mix until it is completely incorporated into the cocoa.
- Crumble ¾ cup of dark chocolate like Costco 72% Swiss Delice squares into a Pyrex-type measuring cup and microwave for 60 seconds, then stir and check the melting status. Give it another 30 seconds and whisk the liquid chocolate into the combined cocoa and sugar mix.
- Pro tip: some recipes call for leaving chocolate chips in the hot water and allowing them to melt; however, they do not melt as well as microwaved chocolate. And chips generally do not have as high a percentage of dark chocolate.
- Stir in 1.5 tbs of vanilla extract and an optional 1 tsp Kahlua or Tia Maria coffee liqueur; it helps with freezing and gives it an extra little harmonic that works well without any dairy content.
- Let it cool overnight and then churn, according to the manufacturers’ instructions
- In the last five minutes drop in some chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips for some extra crunch.
Give it some more time in the freezer and then serve.
Ricardo's Gelato and Food Blog 