This month I’m hosting the theme for the Fandom Foodies group: #FFDahlicious. We are cooking inspired by the various works of Roald Dahl. The main link-up post is here! Check it out for lots more recipes based on Dahl’s works.
You’d think I would cite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as having some kind of formative effect on me, being a pastry chef and all. And I suppose it did, insofar as I still think about how to make candy mushrooms big enough to perch a toddler on top of. The book that stuck with me most as a kid, though, was The Witches. It’s a weird little book about, well, witches. The most stereotypical kind, really, in that they’re purely evil and want to get rid of all children because… reasons? I admit it’s not entirely clear.
I’d love to give a purely positive recollection of the whimsy and wonder this book filled me with, but the truth is that as a kid I came away from it feeling a little icky. As a pudgy child, the writing of the Grand High Witch discussing a grubby little kid who’s so undisciplined that he’d risk his life for some sugar felt mean. I distinctly remember feeling huffy about it.
That’s right: at age 9 I felt kinda fat shamed by a Roald Dahl book and I’m making a recipe about it. Feel free to print this out and mail it to my therapist.
All jokes aside, here’s how I devised this recipe. In the book, the eponymous witches plan to get rid of all the children in England by turning them into mice. Their method for doing this? Opening a chain of sweets shops and including something called Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse Maker in their candies. Kid eats candy, kid goes to bed, the next morning kid becomes a mouse. No one thinks to question the chocolate because of the delay, see? The perfect crime.
Formula 86 is described as a green liquid, and in the book the Grand High Witch presents it in the form of a “sqvishy” chocolate bar. I thought it’d be fun to have a green filling, so I went with a creme de menthe flavoring (don’t fret, it’s quite alcohol free) in a ganache. It’s squishy, it’s green, it’s likely to be devoured by any kid with a taste for mint chocolate chip ice cream or similar sweets.
On a totally different note, I’m going to get a bit serious about Dahl’s legacy after the recipe. It’s gonna get kinda heavy, so I don’t blame you if you’re not down for that while innocently recipe browsing.
SQUISHY CHOCOLATE BARS
COMPONENTS
MINT GANACHE
150g (5.25 oz) white chocolate
50g (scant 1/4 cup) heavy cream
Creme de menthe or mint flavoring, to taste
Green food coloring
- Over the stove or in the microwave, heat the heavy cream until steaming but not boiling. Pour over the chocolate and allow to sit for a couple of minutes. Stir to combine into a smooth ganache. Add creme de menthe flavoring, tasting as you go until you’ve reached the desired intensity. Stir in food coloring one drop at a time until desired color is reached.
DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE
120g (4.25 oz) dark chocolate
60g (1/4 cup) heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
- Over the stove or in the microwave, heat the heavy cream with the butter until steaming but not boiling. Pour over the chocolate and allow to sit for a couple of minutes. Stir to combine into a smooth ganache.
CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD LAYER
110g (scant 1 cup) all purpose flour
15g (2 tbsp) cocoa powder
110g (1 stick) butter
50g (1/4 cup, tightly packed) brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Grease or parchment-line a 6″ square pan. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa and flour until just combined.
- Pat the dough into your pan, getting it as level and even as you can. Optional: prick the dough with a fork to prevent large bubbles from forming under the shortbread.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until browned at the edges and set in the center. Allow to cool completely.
ASSEMBLY
You will need:
Mint Ganache, warmed
Dark Chocolate Ganache, warmed
Chocolate Shortbread, baked and cooled
Tempered chocolate or candy coating
- Line a 6″ pan with parchment paper, ideally the sides as well as the bottom. Pour the mint ganache into the pan, but reserve a few tablespoons of it for later. Spoon on dollops of the dark chocolate ganache, then use a toothpick or butter knife to swirl them together into a marble pattern. Place in the freezer for 2-4 hours or until completely hard.
- If you lined the sides of the pan, simply remove the ganache. If not, release the edges of the ganache from the pan using a knife and then remove the slab of ganache. Warm the reserved ganache to melt it, then spread it over the top of your shortbread slab to help the ganache layer stick. Sandwich on the ganache and press lightly to seal the two together. Return to the fridge or freezer until set.
- Using a sharp knife, place the shortbread/ganache square on a cutting board with the shortbread side down. Trim the rough edges off from all four sides, then cut it in half. Slice each of the halves in half to form 4 long chocolate bars.
- Using a small spatula or knife, fix any holes or irregularities on the sides of the bars using tempered chocolate or candy coating. Use the spatula to spread chocolate onto the underside of the shortbread, scraping off any excess on the sides. Set the bars to harden, chocolate side down, onto a sheet of parchment.
- Place the bars onto a rack over parchment or plastic wrap. Pour tempered chocolated or candy coating over the bars and use your spatula to add a little swirl to the tops. If the chocolate is thick and doesn’t run smoothly down the sides (this will be more of an issue with candy coating), use your spatula to carefully smooth it out. Repeat for all 4 bars, then lightly tap the rack on the counter to encourage excess chocolate to drip off. Allow the bars to set.
- Slide a knife or spatula under each candy bar and lift it off the rack onto a parchment sheet. Once the bars are totally set, use a knife to neaten up the bottom edges of each bar.
Now for the serious bit.
I chose the theme of Roald Dahl for two reasons: his work is well known and loved, and it features a ton of food. I didn’t know much about Dahl as a person when I picked this theme, and it wasn’t until after I’d locked it in that I began doing some research to get recipe ideas. Well… it turns out Roald Dahl was probably not a great guy, assuming your criteria for a good person includes “not being a complete bigot.” I won’t include the specifics because nobody wants to be hit with things like that on a random chocolate recipe, but a quick googling for the curious will result in a treasure trove of incredibly anti-semitic quotes, among other things. Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised and disappointed by what I found.
Listen, I did not expect to be ruminating on the question of “separating the art from the artist” on my baking blog. And I suppose I don’t intend to actually do a lot of ruminating here. Suffice it to say, this information colored my view of some books I really did like as a kid, weird The Witches hang-ups notwithstanding.
I guess I’ll just summarize it like this: remembering and enjoying the things that meant a lot to you as a kid is great, but sometimes as adults we’re forced to take a hard look at the people that made those things. When we do that, we should be honest when we see something horrible. I suppose this postlude is my attempt at doing that.
