Recipe: Puff Pastry Braid with Chocolate for Chocolate Week

I am sure that the week from the 9th of October to the 15th of October will be one of the favourite ones in any foodie calendar. It will be Chocolate Week and for this occasion I've prepared  a very quick and no fuss cake that can be whipped up in 1 hour from preparing it to baking it.

The ingredients are cupboard staples that in case of a sudden visit, this dessert can be prepared  lovely to see and delicious to eat next to a fragrant cup of tea or better a creamy cup of hot chocolate. The main ingredient is the chocolate and here I've used four small bars of Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate Fairtrade Chocolate & Love, but you can use two of the normal size and the flavour you prefer. Then a roll of Puff Pastry from Tesco, one yolk from the St. Ewe Free Range rich yolk eggs for a nice yellow colour and some
Raspberry Sugar from Fortnum & Mason, but any granulated sugar will do.

Put the puff pastry, leaving it on its oven paper, on a oven tray. Put the four bars of Chocolate & Love (or two if you prefer) folding the edge of the pastry on top like in the picture.

Cut strips of puff pastry at the sides of the chocolate bars as in the picture.

Then start to make a braid folding the strips of puff pastry over the bars of chocolate. As you can see the chocolate bars will be covered by the puff pastry.

Once it is done, put it in the fridge with its tray for 30 minutes, so it will be cold enough to be crunchy and puffy when cooked.

Separate the yolk from the white and put it in a small bowl so it will be easier to use the brush  once you take the braid from the fridge.

Brush the yolk over the braid so that once cooked it will have a golden colour.

Sprinkle some granulated sugar on top for a crunchier effect. I  have such a sweet tooth that I could not resist the raspberry flavoured sugar by Fortnum & Mason, but any sugar will be fine, if you've got coloured or flavoured go for it.

Put in the oven at 200*/6 for the first 15 minutes and then at 180*/4 for 5 to 10 minutes checking that it is evenly coloured. Once ready leave it for a while until it becomes warm rather than hot.

Serve it with a nice cup of hot chocolate for a full choccy experience or with a nice cup of tea maybe chocolate flavoured. I've chosen Fairtrade Chocolate & Love because of their effort in sourcing all the ingredients for their chocolate, helping cooperatives working and receiving a fair price for their products. www.chocolateandlove.com