I got my favourite pistachio butter today and prepared something I had wished for a long time – my version of Dubai Chocolate.

For 390g-400g of chocolate or 6 bars of 65g, respectively 2 bars of 200g, I used:

100g 40% milk chocolate

100g 65% dark chocolate

1 teaspoon of coconut oil

6 spoonfuls of kataifi

6 teaspoonfuls of pistachio butter

Wash and dry your silicone mould (it is easy to buy, you will see).

Melt the milk and dark chocolate on a steam bath; finally, add the coconut oil and mix.

I was lucky to find ready-made (and roasted!) kataifi in Albania. Sprinkle the kataifi over the first layer of chocolate added to the mould.

Add the pistachio butter over the kataifi, spreading it carefully.

Pour the remaining chocolate over each bar-to-be, levelling everything.

You don't need to wait for too long. Marcel kept checking the chocolate in the fridge. It took about one hour to harden.

The result thrilled us!

Today was my name day. Not many people are aware of it. 😊 I do celebrate it, though, if only with something sweet. My friend Sidra sent this recipe over more than two years ago. I’ve only managed to adapt it and try it today. However, better late than never to lick your fingers.

• I used

10 medium-large dates

10 walnut cores

10 teaspoons of peanut butter

100g hazelnut spread [we made some ourselves; to be continued] or melted chocolate

salt without anticaking agents

• Method?

Open the dates and pit them [Kara enjoyed playing with two date pits].

Place the walnut cores inside the dates, one by one.

‘Seal’ them with the peanut butter.

In the end, soak the mini-desserts in the hazelnut spread.

Before placing these treats in a dish and letting the dish sit in the freezer for half an hour, sprinkle some salt on them.

• I hope you loved them!

20 bars | Mould: 34 x 24 cm

500g powdered milk

40g cocoa powder

170ml water

400g sugar

125g butter

a drop of rum essence

Here is my Mom’s homemade chocolate recipe. On the other hand, this is a more recent one, which is almost always faultless.

Mix the powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a big bowl.

Add the water and the sugar to a pot and leave it on low heat (to dissolve the sugar) without mixing.

3 minutes after you note bubbles form on the sides of the pot, add the butter and leave the pot on the heat for 3 minutes more.

Then, remove the pot from heat and add a drop of rum essence.

As a last step, transfer the powdered milk and cocoa powder mix to the sugar syrup, mixing well.

When the dry ingredients have been incorporated, pour the chocolate into a mould lined with baking parchment.

Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours before cutting the chocolate into bars (you don’t want it to harden excessively). It will keep in the fridge for a few days (though I am not sure it will last that long). J

Here’s a recipe that’s quick to get your dessert into a baking pan and then... your plate.

It has only a few ingredients, like most of my recipes.

Baking pan: 34 x 24 cm

120g (gluten-free) oatmeal

200ml milk

100ml water

2 bananas

2 eggs

a pinch of baking powder

1 teaspoon of ground coffee

a drop of rum essence

30g cocoa powder

+150g vegan chocolate chips

100g butter

+ a few drops of flaxseed oil

Pour the milk and water over the oatmeal; allow the oats to swell for 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mash the bananas. Then, add the eggs, the baking powder, the coffee, the rum essence, and the cocoa powder.

Mix the swollen oatmeal into the above batter.

Pour it into an oiled baking pan (I used flaxseed oil). Bake the cake in the preheated oven, at 180⁰C, for 25 minutes. Let it cool a bit.

Melt the butter on low heat. Add the chocolate chips and mix until they melt, too. Pour this mix over the cake.

Let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

It is finger-licking good!

P.S. For the vegan version, use nut butter instead of butter, plant-based milk instead of milk, and two teaspoons of flaxseeds mixed into six teaspoons of water instead of the two eggs.

For someone who’s been a fan of chocolate-covered prunes for as long as I have known him (and kept searching for them throughout our trips in Moldova and Ukraine), Marcel found the perfect weekend. I worked (well, he did, too) and had no time to prepare sweets.

He used

500g prunes with nuts

200g dark chocolate

He melted two-thirds of the chocolate on a steam bath and then stirred in the remaining third. This way, he was able to temper the chocolate, which kept its shine and crunchiness.

By using some grill clippers, he soaked the prunes into the melted chocolate and then placed them onto baking parchment, in a large baking pan. He placed the pan into the fridge until the chocolate hardened (we recommend keeping the bonbons in a cool place even after the chocolate hardens).

They’re a feast for all choco lovers!

12 slices

200g milk chocolate

100g butter

salt

75g flour

20g sugar

2 eggs

1 drop of vanilla extract

I still had part of the chocolate I had received in Tulcea from another great lover/creator of sweets, so I thought that a chocolate brownie would be a great idea. (I start craving chocolate every time the weather cools. :P)

How to bake it?

Melt the chocolate on a steam bath, add the butter, stirring until it melts. Mix in the salt, the flour, and the sugar; then, add the eggs and the vanilla extract.

I don’t like it when things are set in stone... in the end, why should a brownie be square-shaped?

So, I baked it in a round silicone mould, in the preheated oven at 180°C, for 30 minutes.

The secret to a delicious brownie is slightly undercooking it (because the cake will harden either way while it cools).