Ever heard of Ruby Chocolate? After dark, milk and white, ruby is the most uncommon chocolate discovery in 80 years. That’s right – there hasn’t been a chocolate discovery this ground breaking for over 80 years!
Towards the end of 2017, Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut announced the discovery, as well as the fact that his company would be producing this fourth type of chocolate.
Joining dark, milk and white, ruby has now entered the chocolate family, meeting many chocolate lovers excitement and of course, sceptics criticisms – (many believe white chocolate isn’t even chocolate and they classify ruby’s strange taste in the same league as white).
For Chocolate Lovers, we welcome the new variant with open arms!😘
I was at 44 on Stanley at Salvation Cafe over the weekend for breakfast and afterwards I found myself at a lovely little chocolate shop called Chocoloza.
As I walked in, I was greeted by rows and rows of beautifully handmade chocolate pralines, and then, my heart skipped a beat – Ruby Chocolate Slabs. I hadn’t seen Ruby Chocolate anywhere in Joburg and I had been wanting to get my hands on it since Nigella had made that Ruby Chocolate Cheesecake on Masterchef.
I was offered a sample to eat while in the store because the lady behind the till clearly realised I was losing my mind with excitement. (I really was jumping up and down like a small child, much to Shaun’s embarrassment)
The chocolate is a light pinkish colour, and has a sweet fruity smell. When you let it melt on your tongue, you taste intense fruity notes (like berries almost) and a tart / sour taste too. This pink chocolate contains absolutely no colourants or fruit flavourings.
But How?
Ruby Chocolate gets its pink hue entirely from the red bean of the cocoa plant – specifically the cocoa plants grown in Ecuador, Brazil and Ivory Coast. These plants contain natural chemical compounds absent in beans cultivated elsewhere.
The formula took 13 years to perfect and while Callebaut is guarding the secret close to his heart, it’s obviously capable of being produced at scale, because Kit-Kat were the first brand to launch a ruby product in Korea.
When I got home, I started experimenting and I knew I wanted to make Gluten Free brownies.
The first batch flopped completely – I think it’s because I shouldn’t have added so much sugar – so I headed to Chocoloza again to get more Ruby Chocolate.
And, the second batch of brownies worked – Hooray!
So here is the recipe and here’s to many more baking experiments using this new chocolate! 😍
Gluten Free Ruby Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients:
- 250g Ruby Chocolate Chips
- 220g Unsalted Butter, chopped up into squares
- 20 ml caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 200g Ground Almonds
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
For icing:
- 5ml coconut oil
- 30g Ruby Choc Chips
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius and grease a square baking tray. (make sure it’s not a very flat tray needs to have sides of at least 4 cm.
2. In a microwavable jug or bowl, melt 250g Ruby chocolate and butter in the microwave and stir every 20 or so seconds until all the chocolate is melted. If your nervous, take the bowl out just before all the chocolate is melted and just stir until all the chips disappear.
3. Now add in your sugar and whisk till smooth, for about one minute.
4. Leave to cool for two minutes and then add your eggs, one by one, whisking each time – the mixture should become glossy.
5. Now fold in your baking powder and ground almonds. Mix until just combined.
6. Pour into your greased tray and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pan overnight and cut into squares in the morning.
7. Make Ruby icing by melting 5ml of coconut oil and 30g of Ruby Chocolate and pouring over the brownies. Enjoy!
