La Maison du Chocolat cookbook: indulge in delicious dessert recipes, but skip the introduction

The introduction to La Maison du Chocolate (2000), written by Michele Carles, reads like a very long press release for the luxury chocolatier and its founder, Robert Linxe. Passages on his musings include, “‘I may be considered an artist,’ says Linxe, ‘but I am first and foremost a craftsman. Every gesture is an act of skill, based on years of experience, which must be conveyed’”; “‘Creating a new recipe,’ confides Linxe, ‘is like an adventure: dangerous, yet always exciting. And the process cannot be hurried’”; and, “‘You can never achieve perfection,’ says the founder of La Maison du Chocolate. ‘It takes stubbornness, perseverance, and a lot, a lot of hard work, to get … somewhere’.”

Fortunately, the products speak for them­selves. Although La Maison du Chocolate has expanded considerably since it first opened on Paris’ rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, in 1977 (including several branches in Hong Kong), the quality of its chocolates, pastries and confections remains high. As you would expect from the name, it’s the chocolates that are the big draw, with silky-smooth ganache, inventive flavours and delicate coatings.

It’s a pity that the American edition of the book, published in 2001, uses cups and teaspoons; it was originally published in French, almost certainly using metric measurements. Do you really want to measure out seven tablespoons of butter, or 1½ cups plus one tablespoon of ground almonds, given that precision is especially important with pastry and confectionery?

While the book does give a few recipes for chocolates, mostly it focuses on desserts and baked goods. Dishes include choc­olate choux pastries; chocolate-almond cake with rum-raisin ganache filling; heart-shaped chocolate apricot tart; milk chocolate mousse; chocolate snow eggs; rich choco­late-honey cake with apples; chocolate sorbet; and hot chocolate with rum.