Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life [Hardcover]

Matt Lewis (Author), Alison Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stonesong Press Books | Publication Date: October 5, 2004

From the creators of Chocolate Bar, New York City’s candy store for grown-ups, comes Chocolate Bar—a delicious ode to the sweet that entrances so many, with more than 30 recipes from such stellar chocolatiers as Jacques Torres and Andrew Shotts. These range from classic cookies, brownies, and retro desserts to such renegade treats as White Chocolate Lemon Cream, Spiced Meatballs. . . even a chocolate body scrub! Co-founders Lewis and Nelson espouse a stylish philosophy of fun and enjoyment, with the focus on baking, drinking, dining, and entertaining with chocolate. They also explain how to “educate” one’s chocolate palate by exploring products with various cacao percentages, origins, textures, aromas, and tastes. Readers will learn how to throw a chocolate tasting party, a swank chocolate martini soiree, a ski lodge get-together complete with chocolate fondue and hot toddies, or a celebration of childhood choco-centric memories, with the emphasis on sundaes, fudges, ice creams, and other nostalgic indulgences. Using Chocolate Bar’s own unique entertaining and party ideas, they explain why chocolate is appropriate—indeed, necessary—for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matt Lewis is co-creator of Chocolate Bar, New York City’s candy store for grown-ups. He lives in New York City. Alison Nelson is co-creator of Chocolate Bar, New York City’s candy store for grown-ups. She lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762419210
• ISBN-13: 978-0762419210
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,331,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Eat More Chocolate"--Who wouldn't agree with that?, October 12, 2004

By 

FoodieFanNJ (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life (Hardcover)

I love baking and own A LOT of cookbooks. Chocolate Bar stands out on my shelf because the recipes are fantastic. I'm more than a little intimitated by their mole recipe and the towering cake but others like the pudding, brownies, gelatin (who knew?), RED VELVET!!!, fudge, and the awe-inspiring chocolate cake will soon be dog eared and smudged. Perfect and delicious. Not sure how I feel about the body scrub--why waste chocolate if you're not going to eat it?

This book has your standards--cookies, brownies, cakes, history of chocolate, kitchen supplies--but a really nice touch is the party ideas. I love fondue and the authors' idea for a fondue party would be a great thing to do this winter. On a final note--the photos. What's great about these are they show the way the food will really look--crumbly, gooey, and lopsided. The people shots are a nice touch, too.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun with Chocolate, October 26, 2004

By 

BakerinDallas (DallasFtWorth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life (Hardcover)

I have a very large cookbook collection and was amused to add this unique title to my bookshelf. This is not your typical chocolate book, it contains tougne in cheek ideas on how to throw a chocolate tasting (both funny and helpful), sly sidebars, and tips on how to accentuate any party with chocolate (these authors are obsessed).

The portraits of both the people and the food are coffee-tablesque and amusing.

Finally, the recipes are arranged into classic, retro, swank and future categories with both your tried and true (delicious brownies) to your truly odd (chocolate gelatin). Everything I have made so far has been perfect and I have several requests for copies of both the hot chocolate and the spiced chocolate oatmeal cookies.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chocolate Bar takes the cake, October 29, 2004

By 

S. Dixon "Sweettoothsue" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life (Hardcover)

This a great combination coffee table book/cookbook. I bought a copy for myself and have made the peanut butter cupcakes (delish and ended up looking exactly as they do in the photo), as well as the red velvet cake which my mid-Westerner boyfriend devoured. I also picked up a copy for my best friend's birthday. She's not as experienced in baking as I am, but she found the recipes easy to follow, and the drink recipes mouth-wateringly luscious.

As a design-freak, I love the graphic design and the photos. They authors also give great advice about presentation for all of the recipes-something that is oft overlooked. And hey, who doesn't like chocolate?