Paques, Poisson and Paris

Oh to be in Paris in the Springtime! And, Easter, delicieux! Paris known for its fabulous chocolate shops goes all out to celebrate. There are the wonderful white and dark chocolate rabbits, ducks, bunnies, and--fish! O.k. this may seem odd to those of us who are used to chocolate rabbits and eggs, but chocolate fish? Poisson d'Avril fill shop windows in Paris.

The French celebrate April fool's day by pinning a paper fish on someone's back when they're not looking--and they celebrate by eating a ton of little chocolate fish. The origins of Easter Poisson d'Avril can be a bit cloudy. Does it have to do with Lent? Pisces? No one is quite sure. What we do know is that the chocolate fish appear at Easter when chocolate fish are consumed. Easter is sometimes in March, remember. These chocolates come in all shapes and sizes and ganache fillings.

For more on Fish and chocolate, read Sally Peabody's great article on Chocolate Atlas.

For some fabulous photos and drawings of chocolate fish in Paris, go to Paris Breakfasts. Carol Gillott is an artist/photographer and has a great handle on the Parisian chocolate scene.

Easter egg hunts have been popular for many years, and in France, hidden Easter fish were often the norm. See the excerpt below from Every Woman's Encyclopaedia by Gladys Beattie Crozier(1910):

Given a fine, sunshiny spring day, nothing could more delight children than the merry hunt round the flower-beds, under the shrubbery, amongst the nooks and corners of the kitchen garden, and along the banks of any gold-fish pond or tiny ornamental stream, where the realistic-looking Easter fish, whose in-sides are filled with chocolates - "poissons d'avril," as they are called in France - are hidden.

I think this is a very interesting and delicious twist on the Egg hunt. And, some of the chocolate fish have eggs under their gills!

Have a great holiday!

Knipschildt Chocolatier: Handcrafted Easter chocolates

It may be hard to get these chocolates in the next two days, but I just had to mention Knipschildt Chocolatier's Easter offerings. Knipschildt has been producing handcrafted Easter chocolates for years. The Petit chocolate Egg Sampler of 4 eggs contains hand painted, handmade artisan chocolate eggs packaged in a purple or orange egg carton. The eggs in the mini-sampler consist of dark chocolate eggs with a dark chocolate ganache, milk chocolate eggs with a nougat ganache, white chocolate eggs with a passion fruit ganache.

The Chocolate Quail Eggs are considered a tradition at Knipschildt chocolatier. They are handmade speckled eggs that positively melt in your mouth. White chocolate egg with a milk chocolate nougat center, packaged in an egg carton.

Danish born Connecticut based Fritz Knipschildt, Matire Chocolatier, makes no compromises. He applies the highest standards of excellence to each and evry step of the chocolate & confection process.

Here's a tip from Knipschildt for storage and chocolate care:
1. Store chocolate in a cool, dry, dark place. Do not refrigerate chocolate.
2. Chocolates are best enjoyed at room termperature between 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Between tasting chocolate, drink still spring water.

Easter Chocolate Desserts

So, I have my chocolate eggs and bunnies ready, but I thought I'd put together a few other ideas for Chocolate Easter desserts--or for any Springtime celebration.

Chocolate Nests. This is a wonderful recipe from Woman's Day. I particularly like this recipe because it's a mix of what else? sweet and sour. And, it looks so good. It takes 20 minutes to put together and 50 minutes to cook, and your friends and family will think you worked hours! Very artistic.

Ingredients:

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
2 cans (5 oz each) thin chow mein noodles
Fill with: egg-shaped Easter candies such as Jordan almonds

Preparation:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with foil. Lightly coat with nonstick spray.2. Scrape condensed milk into a medium saucepan or microwave-safe bowl; add chocolate chips. Place over low heat and stir often, or microwave on high 2 to 4 minutes, stirring every minute, until chips melt and mixture is blended and smooth. 3. Put noodles into a large bowl, pour on chocolate mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until noodles are coated.4. Drop generous 1⁄2 cups on prepared baking sheets. Lightly spray fingertips with nonstick spray. Form mounds into nests making a depression in the center to hold candies. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set. Peel off of the foil; fill with candies.

Planning Tip: The nests can be made up to 3 days before serving. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Stephanie Jaworski on Joy of Baking has a yummy Chocolate Easter Cake suggestion. Take your favorite chocolate torte recipe (her recipe for the chocolate torte and the ganache is on the page) and cover it with a lovely smooth and shiny chocolate ganache and garnish with colorful sprinkles and candy. Make the torte a day ahead so it becomes dense and fudgy and doesn't break off.

Tyler Florence of the Food Network has lots of 'show-stopping" chocolate desserts for Easter, but this one caught my eye: Truffle tarts with Raspberries, and the "crust" is made with chocolate wafers or oreo crumbs, and the filling consists of truffle cream. The recipe is simple!

Chocolate Easter Eggs and Bunnies

Serious Eats had a good question about chocolate Easter bunnies and preferences. So what's better? Solid? Hollow? Dark chocolate? Milk chocolate? I think I'm partial to hollow, but since I haven't had a chocolate Easter bunny in a long time, I can't remember if I liked milk or dark chocolate. My taste today is for dark chocolate, so maybe I'll need to buy one of the bunnies. Can you buy just one? Don't they reproduce?

Chocolate Easter Eggs: Alison Ladman had a great recipe for the Associated Press for making your own Chocolate Easter Eggs. Looks like the end product would be delicious, but it's more for a candy maker, and I'm a baker. I don't really get "melts" and all. Lots of other chocolate egg recipes on Elizabeth LaBau's chocolate Easter Egg entry on About.com. There are even some I will try. Here's her recipe for Double Chocolate Easter Eggs. Might as well go for the Gold: double chocolate. And this looks relatively easy.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
* 1 package (5.25 oz) chocolate pudding mix, not instant
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 cup chopped walnuts
* 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate (can substitute bittersweet)
* 1 tbsp shortening

Preparation:

1. Place the butter in a medium saucepan and heat it over medium until the butter is melted. Pour in the pudding mix and stir until smooth and well-combined.

2. Slowly pour in the milk and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture is very thick and pulls from the sides of the pan.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in the walnuts and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

4. Form the mixture into about 20 egg shapes and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

5. While candy is setting, melt the unsweetened chocolate and shortening together in the microwave. Allow it to cool, but not set. If it begins to harden before candy is ready to be dipped, re-warm it in the microwave briefly.

6. Dip the eggs in the melted chocolate using two forks or dipping tools. Place them back on the baking sheet. Place the eggs back in the refrigerator to set completely.

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Hotel Chocolate, a UK company, has some beautiful chocolate Ostrich Easter Eggs and even some Engraved Cocoa Pod Easter Eggs. Too late for me, I guess to order these.

So while I was searching, I found a cool site called Easter Eggs. Links to a lot of English Easter chocolate. Loved the 1/2 price Thorntons Easter Bunnies (milk and white chocolate). Not traditional in so many ways, and maybe a bit too cute, but such fun!

And Brett Moore has the top 9 Chocolate Bunnies for Easter. Maybe not too late to order. They all look great, and I think Brett vetted them on taste.