World Chocolate Day: Invent your own chocolate and other delicious things to do

Celebrated annually on July 7 since 2009, World Chocolate Day marks the day when cocoa was introduced to Europe, back in 1550. While in our opinion every day is chocolate day, here’s how you can make the official occasion a bit more delicious. If you could channel your inner Willie Wonka and choose any three ingredients in your next bar of milk chocolate, what combination would you opt for? Would banana sit well with cookie dough mixed with cinnamon? How about some spearmint tea with lemongrass and shortcake? Cadbury is inviting chocolate lovers to “invent” its next milk bar, from a flavour range that takes in 84 ingredients across eight categories. These include nutty (hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachio, cashews and raisins); fruity (all manner of berries and melons, plus apple, lime, orange, peach, banana, pear and pineapple); herbs and spices (ginger, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, tarragon, pepper, lemongrass, mint, basel and chilli); crunchy (cookies, rice crisps, oats, pretzels and popcorn); chewy (fudges and jellies); and creamy (coconut, vanilla and white chocolate chips) There are even some “wildcard” ingredients, which include tomatoes, dijon mustard, popping candy and yogurt berry granola; as well as ingredients inspired by beverages, such as coffee and green tea, among others. You can then mix up your selection, name your invention and choose the colour of the packaging. The company says it will choose one combination and put it into production later this year. Have a play here . On July 7, Swiss chocolatier is giving away its famous chocolate hazelnut cream to the first 30 customers to spend Dh200 in-store. The gianduja spread is made fresh each day from fine Swiss chocolate and Piedmont hazelnuts. The offer is available at both of the Sprüngli boutiques in the UAE, located on level 2 of the new Fashion Avenue in The Dubai Mall, and on level 2 of The Galleria on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi. The 173-year-old sixth-generation company is most famous for its handmade Luxemburgerli macarons, which follow a 60-year-old family recipe; and are filled with naturally flavoured raspberry, pistache, citron, bourbon vanilla and, of course, chocolate. The chain was voted one of the top 10 chocolate shops in the world by National Geographic in 2016, and only operates in Switzerland and the UAE, with all stock made in Zurich. The folk at Cocoa Kitchen in City Walk reckon everything can be mixed with chocolate, a philosophy that reflects in its menu, which has balsamic and sumac slow-cooked lamb shank with 70 per cent Cuban chocolate and roasted Romano peppers; and blackened salmon with 65 per cent Peruvian Alto El Sol dark chocolate miso. Head chef Domenico Santagada shares one of his favourite and most elaborate recipes for you to try at home. Butternut squash with 100 per cent cocoa ravioli Serves 4 Preparation time: 2 hours Ingredients and method for the cocoa powder pasta 1ml olive oil 1g salt 70g pure cocoa powder 25g pasteurised whole egg 25g flour 25g caputo flour Mix the eggs with salt and olive oil. Add and mix flour and cocoa powder Whisk until it becomes dough Knead by hand for 5 minutes Ingredients and method for the chilli cashew crumble 4g cashews 1g long red chilli 1g pure cocoa nibs 1g oatmeal Roast cashew nuts in an oven at 170C for 10 to 12 minutes until they turn golden brown In a frying pan, toast the oats and chilli together until it turns golden brown Mix all together with cocoa nibs Ingredients and method for the cheese cream 116ml cooking cream 23g Grana Padano cheese 1g salt Boil cooking cream Mix the cheese off the heat and hand blend Pass through fine strainer Add salt Ingredients and method for the ravioli farce butternut squash 45g butternut pumpkin 15g butter 0.3g rosemary 6g bread crumbs 1g black pepper 0.3g garlic 0.3g parsley 15g salt 27g ricotta cheese 3g hab jareesh crack wheat 0.3g paprika powder Put the garlic, rosemary and paprika in a metal bowl whisk until it turns golden brown Pour the crumbs over the bowl of herbs and spice along with butternut pumpkin Roast in the oven at 200C until roasted Pick out the garlic and herbs Mix the rest of the ingredients in with a little more paprika powder To serve Place rocket lettuce on the bottom Mix the pasta with the cheese cream and then cook until crisp Lastly, add chilli cashew crumble, 1ml of balsamic glaze and chilli oil, to taste __________________ Read more: Swiss chocolates by Sprüngli come to the UAE __________________

World Chocolate Day: Invent your own chocolate and other delicious things to do

Here’s how you can make July 7 a little bit more delicious