Always Room for Chocolate (and Shortbread)

Sometimes it seems like the Bay Area is ground zero for chocoholics: new local artisan chocolatiers popping up every month, whole stores dedicated to chocolate from around the world...when burnt caramel and pink peppercorns are commonplace, it's enough to make the pickiest of connoisseurs feel spoiled for choice.

A very fine, recent example: I was lucky enough to attend a chocolate launch party for Madécasse, an up-and-coming chocolate company based in New York making its San Francisco debut. In the world of chocolate, where buzzwords like "fair trade" and "single origin" are thrown about like sea salt on caramel, Madécasse is laying claim to a unique niche.

All of Madécasse's chocolate bars are made in Madagascar, with locally grown cacao. Madagascar is one of world's major sources of cacao, yet the cacao is usually exported, turned into chocolate in factories elsewhere in the world. Madécasse's mission is to create new opportunities for the local Malagasy population in Madagascar, by training them to create chocolate, from bean to bar. Cacao is harvested, then dried, then turned into chocolate bars in local factories. As the website explains, keeping the production of chocolate in Madagascar lets the local community retain much more of the profits - up to four times more than simply producing and selling fair trade cacao.

Madécasse was founded by Brett Beach and Tim McCollum, who worked for 10 years in the Peace Corps in Madagascar. Their dedication to improving the life of the Malgasy people is heartwarming and inspiring. And, their bars are quite good - a valuable addition to the growing library of global chocolate.

We got to try all seven of their bars; five of them are straight dark chocolate, ranging from 63% to 80%, while a milk chocolate and sea salt nibby bar round out the collection. The 67% and 70% hit my sweet spots - the 63% was nicely buttery and smooth, with a supple curl of a finish, while the 70% has wonderful tart fruit notes up front, slightly more astringent in the finish. The 75% and 80% are excellent for those who love their dark chocolate dark and dry. I highly recommend these bars  - not only will they satisfy your chocolate craving, but you'll be supporting a truly worthy endeavor in Africa.

Madécasse also features Madagascar's other famous culinary product: vanilla. I was gifted Madécasse's entire line of vanilla products - vanilla extract, vanilla beans, vanilla cane sugar, and vanilla powder. Now, I've used versions of the first three products before, but I'd never tried vanilla powder! It's essentially vanilla beans ground to a fine powder: many recipes I found simply use the powder as a substitute for extract. Unscrewing a bottle of vanilla powder is like opening a bottle of perfume: that florid, intoxicating scent virtually leaps out at you. Although I could simply use it in lieu of extract, I was really curious to emphasize its powdery form.

I remembered in Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert how she experimented with dusting freshly baked goods with spices instead of incorporating them into the batter; the difference in taste was surprisingly intense. I took that inspiration to make a batch of my favorite shortbread, shot through with cacao nibs and sprinkled with vanilla powder.

I've written enough odes to shortbread that a mere gushing should suffice here: I really like the cacao nibs in the shortbread. They taste like chocolate chips from the wild, crunchy little shards of elemental chocolate-ness in a golden buttery sea.

I did my best to be a good culinary scientist and tried sprinkling the vanilla powder on the cookies before baking and right after baking. The addition of vanilla powder certainly bumps up the flavor in the shortbread, but I found a dusting it on after they came out of the oven does allow the vanilla to come out while maintaining its distinctness. There's a lovely sensuousness to it: the fine grains of vanilla unfurling on oven-warm shortbread, dissolving lightly on the tongue like flecks of a faraway paradise. You might try it, even if you don't have vanilla powder, with your favorite spice - nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon? Just be sure to sprinkle with a light hand: a mini sifter might be handy to avoid dumping a pile of spice atop your awaiting cookie!  

So there you have it - chocolate and vanilla, two of the oldest dessert flavors under the sun, and yet there's always a new way to appreciate them. Thanks, Madécasse!

 

Cacao Nib Shortbread

Makes 36  2 inch by 1 ¼  inch cookies

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup cacao nibs 

vanilla powder for sprinkling

Whisk both flours together in a bowl  and set aside.

In the mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Remove bowl from mixer and mix in the flours by hand with a wooden spoon, until combined. The dough should be homogeneous and stick together as one lump, but try to mix as little and gently as possible - this will make the shortbread more tender. Stir in the cacao nibs.

Place dough on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a ¾ inch thick  rectangle.

Refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up the dough. At this point the dough can be double wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease several cookie sheet pans or line with parchment paper.

On a floured board, place dough and dust with flour. Gently roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. If dough gets soft, place back into refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Place on sheet pans leaving 1 inch space between cookies. Dock centers of cookies with the tines of a fork twice.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges a lightly golden in color. Remove from oven and place on wire racks. Dust lightly with vanilla powder and let cool before eating.

Comments

[Lex]

You teach me so much. I didn't know that Madagascar is known for their cacao and vanilla. I love chocolate very much - more than cake, or ice cream or cupcakes. It's nice that someone could be sweet and at the same patriotic.

[Romy]

What a great post and photos - and such a creative usage of your vanilla powder! I wish I could visit the Bay Area and just do a huge chocolate tour!

[Slobbering on the Keyboard]

Oh yum! Sea salt annd nibs sound so exotic. The shortbread looks absolutely gorgeous!

[Evan @swEEts]

Shortbread is one of my absolute favorite cookies.. I could eat a whole box of that buttery goodness and with the addition of chocolate?! oh wow.

[Sugahmommy]

I love Madagascar vanilla! And what a wonderful way to serve shortbread - with a sprinkling of spices ... very original :)

[Jessie]

I'm definitely a chocoholic so it sounds like the Bay Area may be the place for me! Thanks for sharing this recipe, I love shortbread and this looks great.

[Caitlin]

What a cool endeavor - thanks for letting us know about it! Reminds me of similar things with coffee beans as well; they're both such value-added products. And now I'm intrigued by the idea of vanilla powder...

[Dessert Darling]

Wow- what a beautifully written blog entry! I appreciate the information about Fair Trade and Mmm, I can smell the aroma of vanilla powder based on your description!
I'd say that I have to buy this chocolate and review it for my site, but you did a perfect job yourself!
I'll re-blog this on my sight someday :)
www.DessertDarling.com

[Gale Reeves]

This looks wonderful! And I am a shortbread addict. I recently read exactly what you quoted from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert related to applying the spice after baking. Great pictures.

[LimeCake]

My favourite chocolate has got to be Scharffen Berger. Their cacao nibs are out of this world. Thanks for this recipe! I'm saving the nibs just for this!

[Sandeep]

great Pictures and great recepies. I would like to come down to the bay area just to try out your recipies. My mouth is already watering.

[jodye]

These are absolutely beautiful, I must try this recipe as soon as I can get into a kitchen!

[Unplanned Cooking]

Drooling now... I love good chocolate!

[jyoh]

ah! i actually met the founders of madecasse last year. it's awesome that their chocolate has made their way across to the other side of the country! like you, we also got to try a bunch of them. it's so good!

[Pam @ Best Cookware guide]

Wow, chocolate and vanilla, with sugar, what can be better than this? I was not aware of new chocolate Madécasse,so I will surely check them out. Thanks for sharing

[Ingrid]

Yum! Love great tasting chocolate!!

[parisbreakfast]

I agree about the Bay Area being grd zero for so many goodies!
NYC = not IMHO
Looks too too divine Anita :)

[John Williams]

Hi!...

nice post..Yum! Love great tasting chocolate!!These are absolutely beautiful, great Pictures and great recepies.
looks wonderful!beautifully written blog entry!thanks for sharing this.

[Tasha]

How do you come up with these desserts. I could never.

[James]

This looks lovely. Difficult to make I bet

James

[pastrygirl]

Thanks all for the kind comments! I can never get enough shortbread!

Tasha and James, these are not hard to make at all, and I just adapted my basic shortbread recipe!