Lindt Excellence Chocolate and Wine Pairing

Lindt recently invited Kitchen Delights to a Chocolate and Wine pairing event, which they were hosting at Chocolate Unwrapped in London, to celebrate National Chocolate Week.  Lindt Master Chocolatier, Stefan Bruderer and Master of Wine, Sarah Jane Evans held an in-depth chocolate and wine pairing event.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the event but they have kindly sent me a fabulous mini chocolate and wine pairing pack which was made up specially for Chocolate Week.

The pack contains a Chocolate and Wine tasting guide and:

2 x Excellence dark 70% Cocoa
2 x Excellence dark 85% Cocoa
2 x Excellence dark Orange Intense
2 x Excellence dark Sea Salt
2 x Excellence dark Mint Intense
2 x Excellence Extra Creamy Milk
1 x Cool Harvest Sauvignon Blanc
1 x Jacobs Creek Shiraz Cabernet

Hubby, who has neither experience or knowledge regarding chocolate and wine pairing (but does enjoy both chocolate and wine) was assigned the task.  His first pairing was Sauvignon Blanc and Dark Mint Intense. Individually, he enjoyed both the chocolate and wine, but somehow seemed to miss the point regarding the pairing.  This is obviously a new flavour experience he needs to work on.

He read the tasting notes again, which fully explain how to enjoy the pairings, with this knowledge he was now able to appreciate the next pairing.

A Shiraz Cabernet and 85% dark Cocoa chocolate are the pairing this time, and he thought the complexity of flavours in both the chocolate and a full bodied wine are the perfect match.

We both enjoyed the mini chocolates - as soon as you remove the wrapper you are in chocolate heaven. I couldn't choose a favourite chocolate from the above list, but Dark Sea Salt is one we hadn't tried before and is definitely a taste sensation.

Thank you to Sandra and Lindt for the Chocolate and Wine Tasting Pack.

Chocolate and Pecan Muffins

These muffins are full of chocolatey goodness, they have a great pecan and chocolate crumble topping, but the plain chocolate sponge needs something extra. I wish I had read 'Sweet Surprises' at the end of the recipe, it says to add chopped chocolate, sour cherries or cranberries to the muffin mix, I think raspberries would be good too.

The microwave comes in very handy for refreshing and warming muffins, and I am going to serve mine for dessert topped with a scoop of ice cream.  Or, Gu suggest making their ganache, and serving this as a warm dip for the muffins, this sounds delicious too.

A selection of recipes from the new GU Chocolate Cookbook including these chocolate and pecan muffins, were featured in You Magazine last Sunday and details can be found on the Mail Online website.

This week is Chocolate Week and National Baking Week is 15th to 21st October - I have no idea which 'week' it is after that - I'm looking forward to National Tart Week.......