Preheat the oven to 175 degree C.

Cut the chocolate and butter into chunks and melt them together in the microwave in a mixing bowl. Do this in 30 sec sessions, mixing well between sessions to even out the heat and help the chocolate melt faster. With my 850kW microwave, it takes me about 3 sessions. If you don’t have a microwave, place the chocolate and butter into a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and stir regularly until all ingredients have melted.

In a second bowl, lightly beat the egg whites and sugar with a fork until the mixture looks homogenous, for about 20 sec. Do not use a whisk or an electric beater for this, you don’t want the whites to start foaming.

Add the almonds to the chocolate mixture and stir well. Dip your finger into the mixture, it should be just warm, i.e. you should not have any sensation of heat. If you do, wait a bit before moving on to the next step.

Add the egg yolk to the chocolate mixture and stir energetically. Add the egg whites and mix until reaching a homogenous batter.

Butter the cake tin and pour the batter into it.

Peel, quarter and core the pears, and cut them into segments about 3 mm thick. Press the segments into the batter leaving the tops of the segments visible and following a pretty pattern (concentric circles for a round tin, or neat, parallel lines for a square one). Make sure you place them very close to each other – leave about 1 cm between each slice. You may not use up all the pears, I tend to fill my dish with 2 1/2 pears.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a uniform crust has formed. Don’t worry if the cake feels a bit soft and creamy under its ultra thin crust, it will set when cooling down. If you did not use a loose base tin, wait until the cake is nearly cold before demoulding it.

Eat the fondant warm or cold. The slices will be easier to cut once it is cold, but I usually can’t wait, even if it is much messier!

Place the butter in a mixing bowl and soften with a fork if needed. Add the icing sugar, salt, almonds, coconut and half a beaten egg, mixing well in between each ingredient.

Add the flour last and knead the dough for 30 seconds. Roll into a ball (don’t worry if it is a bit sticky) and place in the fridge for 2 hours, covered.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Roll the dough onto a floured surface until it is about 3 to 4 mm thick. Cut it out with cookie cutters of 4 to 5 cm diameter. Paste the trimmings together to make more cuttings and use all the dough.

Line the oven tray with baking paper and place the cookies on top. If not adding the chocolate topping or any icing, brush the tops of the cookies with a beaten egg, this will make them shiny.

Cook for about 8 minutes, until the cookies start to ligthly brown. Take out of the oven and let cool for 2 minutes on the tray before transferring them to a grid to cool completely.

For the chocolate coating:

There are two ways to do this. The easy way is to melt the chocolate in a bowl over gently boiling water. Take it off the heat, wait a few minutes to allow it to thicken a bit and dip one side of the cookies into the melted chocolate. Allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl and place the cookie, chocolate face up, on a plate until the chocolate dries up completely. With this process the chocolate will have a mat and softer finish.

The second way is to temper the chocolate (warm it up to a certain temperature, cool it down, and warm up again), a precise process that will yield a hard and shiny chocolate coating, great for stacking cookies. Check out how to temper chocolate in my kitchen tips section.

Last, if you are making these cookies for kids, be decadent: chop Smarties into 2-3 mm chunks and stick those onto the chocolate coating while it is still warm and soft. Success guaranteed!! (tested at home!)

Using a stand mixer if you have one (or alternatively a hand mixer or a fork), beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Then beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time.

Add the flour in one go and beat it into the mixture, stopping as soon as no more flour shows. With a stand mixer this should take only a few seconds. Don’t overbeat, this would make the cookies drier.

Using a long, sharp knife, cut the chocolate bars into chunks the size of a penny, and chop the nuts coarsely. Stir both into the cookie dough with a spatula. At this stage, have a good go at eating some of the cookie dough. There is plenty of it and it is so delicious raw you just can’t skip this step (obviously, your eggs should be fresh!)

Place the cookie dough in the fridge and allow it to chill for at least 30 minutes. This step has two purposes. First it hardens the dough, making it easier to work with when spooning it into cookie balls, then baking chilled dough ensures that the center takes longer to bake, yielding a soft, undercooked cookie core.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F)

Line an oven tray or baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Drop rounded tablespoons onto the tray/sheets, leaving about 10 cms (3 inches) between each ball to allow them to spread when baking.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden. My advice it so start with a small first batch at 9 minutes. When ready, the cookies should look browned around the edges and lighter at the centre. Cool on the tray/baking sheets for 1-2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Taste a cookie before the next batch, the centre should be moist and slightly undercooked. If it feels rather “cake-like” with a dry and raised center, you cooked it too much so reduce the timing of the next batch.

Enjoy!

Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. To give them maximum volume, start beating on medium-low speed until the liquid becomes greyish and bubbly, then slowly increase the speed of the mixer to high. Add the vanilla extract and the sugar slowly, beating continuously until reaching a stiff and shiny meringue.

Spoon 6 even-sized balls of meringue and poach them in gently boiling water for 2 minutes, turning over each ball halfway through. When ready, place them on absorbing paper and reserve. If you have a microwave, use this simpler method: stretch some cling film over a humid plate and place the balls on the film. Microwave on low power (350Watts) for 30 seconds. Check the whites, they should have densified a bit. If not, microwave for another 20 seconds or so on low power again, and reserve.

Prepare the chocolate sea:

Break the chocolate into pieces.

Bring the milk to the boil, add the chocolate and let it soften in the milk off the heat.

Mix it with the milk with a spatula until obtaining a homogeneous texture, stir in the sugar and bring back to the boil. This last step will make the chocolate thicker and more unctuous. Stir in a dash of whisky, if using.

Pour the chocolate into 6 glasses and add a floating island in each. Serve immediately.

Squeeze the lemon juice in a large saucepan. Mix with 200g sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1/2 liter of water.

Wash, peel and quarter the pears. Remove the core and cut into thin slices (2-3 mm at the thick end). Place the slices into the saucepan as you are cutting them to prevent them from browning.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the pears cool down in the water.

Prepare the meringue:

Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Put the egg whites in a large, grease-free bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk on medium-low speed until the whites turn into a grey foamy liquid, then slowly increase the speed. This will maximise the amount of air bubbles trapped in the whites and allow them to gain more volume. Beat at full speed until reaching stiff peaks (until the whites stand up in stiff, upward pointing peaks). Start whisking in the sugar, little by little, and keep whisking until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. The meringue should not move when you turn the bowl upside down.

Spread the meringue on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, and shape it into a rectangle of roughly 40×30 cm, making sure the meringue is evenly spread and not thicker than 1/2 inch (less than 1.5 cms).

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the surface of the meringue is lightly golden and crisp and firm to the touch, but the inside is still soft. When ready, take the tray out of the oven and let the meringue cool down completely on the tray.

Prepare the chocolate mousse:

Cut the chocolate and butter into chunks and toss in a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl. Melt the mixture in 3 to 4 30 sec microwave sessions, mixing well between each to even out the temperature.

Allow the mixture to cool down to warm temperature and stir in the egg yolks.

Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks using the same process as for the meringue, adding the small amount of sugar at the very end.

Gently stir a third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites using a soft spatula (or a wooden spoon if you don’t have a spatula).

Allow the mousse to set and thicken a little at room temperature, for 20 minutes or so, before spreading it on the bûche.

Make the bûche:

Drain the pears well in a colander. They should be at room temperature, soft and pliable.

Place the tray with the meringue on it so that it looks like a vertical portrait when you look at it.

Cover the meringue liberally with the chocolate mousse, leaving 2 cms clear along the short two edges. Expect to get leftover mousse.

Line the pears tightly on the mousse, their length parallel to the longer side of the rectangle. You should have just enough to cover the entire surface. With your hands,  press the pears gently into the mousse

Using the greaseproof paper under the meringue, lift the far end of the meringue and fold it towards the centre of the rectangle (it should fold towards you). Don’t worry if a few pears fall in the process. Gently peel the paper off the folded side of the meringue (don’t tear it) and let it rest back on the tray.

Now fold the end near you over the part you just folded, using the greaseproof paper. Do this slowly and without stressing the meringue otherwise it may tear. If it does, don’t worry. The next few steps will allow it to set beautifully.

Gently peel the paper off the top part, going as as far down as you can.

Lift back the two paper ends and join them on top of the meringue. Clip, staple or tape them together so that they hold the bûche in a nice cylinder shape.

Transfer to the fridge and set for at least 3 hours or overnight. The paper will allow the bûche to set into a nice, regular shape. If the meringue tore a bit when folding it won’t matter, the mousse will set in the cracks.

Just before serving,  unclip the paper and drizzle the bûche generously with icing sugar. Transfer it carefully onto a serving platter and decorate it according to your taste. I made a line of cocoa powder stars on top using a homemade paper cut out.

Cut the chocolate into small chunks and toss in a heat proof bowl.

Boil the cream in a small saucepan and pour the cream on top of the chocolate in three times, stirring well to melt the chocolate every time.

Once the chocolate is melted, stir the butter into the mixture.

Spread the chocolate ganache into a 28×30 cm tray lined with grease proof paper so as to obtain a 1 cm thick layer.

Chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Prepare the truffles:

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C

Break the almond flakes coarsely.

Line the oven tray with grease-proof paper and spread the almonds on one side and crushed hazelnuts on the other.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until the nuts start to brown nicely. When this is achieved, take out of the oven and let cool. Set aside, putting the almonds in one bowl and hazelnuts in another. Place the coconut flakes and cocoa powder in two other bowls.

Take the ganache out of the fridge and cut into rectangles of about 1.5×3 cm. Roll into balls between the palms of your hands and roll each ball into one of the four topping bowls, making sure the truffle is well covered in the topping of your choice and pressing it lightly in the ganache with the tip of your fingers if needed. If the ganache becomes too warm, place it back in the fridge for an hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes or so.

Once ready, keep in the fridge in a sealed container. These truffles will keep up to a week.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks.

Beat 2 of the egg yolks with the cream, until reaching the consistency of lightly foamy thick stirred yogurt (best to use an electric whisk if you have one). Be patient, this can take a good 5 minutes.

Beat the egg whites into soft peaks. You know you have reached this stage when the tops of the peaks droop slightly. For maximum volume, start beating the eggs on medium-low speed. When the whites turn into a greyish, bubbly liquid, slowly increase the beating speed.

Add a ¼ of the cream mixture to the melted chocolate and mix with a soft spatula, then pour the remaining of the mixture and stir in gently.

Stir in 1/3 of the egg whites first and then gently fold in the remaining whites into the mixture. Set aside in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Peel the kiwis, save one for garnish and slice the remainder. Mush up the slices with the icing sugar using the back of a fork.

Take the mousse out of the fridge, it should have started to set a bit. Pour into individual serving glasses by alternating dollops of mousse and ribbons of kiwi coulis. If using clear glasses, pour the kiwi coulis along the edges so that the ribbons can be seen through.

Serve immediately with small kiwi cubes on top, or chill for later.

Melt the chocolate with a 1/4 of the milk in the microwave in a large size mixing bowl by bursts of 30 seconds, stirring between each microwave session.

Pour the rest of the milk on the chocolate and beat with a fork until reaching a shiny, smooth texture that is not too hot (you should be able to put your finger in it without burning yourself)

Add the egg yolks and mix energetically.

Beat the egg whites into firm peaks with an electric mixer, slowly adding the sugar: start on medium-low speed first and when the whites become a greyish, bubbly liquid, slowly increase the beating speed and start adding the sugar. Stop as soon as the egg whites develop into shiny peaks that don’t droop.

Dip your finger into the chocolate mix, the chocolate should be just above body temperature, i.e. you should barely feel a sensation of warmth.

With a soft spatula, stir in 1/3 of the egg whites, then delicately fold the remaining whites in.

Pour the mousse into individual serving glasses or ramequins, and allow to set in the fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Cut the chocolate into small chunks of about the size of a 1p coin.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Chop the soft butter into small pieces and mix with the flour mixture until reaching a texture that looks like ground almonds. I do this by sifting the flour and butter through the palms of my hands and fingers, but you can also use a stand mixer.

Add one egg and about half the milk to the mixture. Stir quickly and lightly with a wooden spoon until no dry mixture shows (do the absolute minimum of stirring otherwise the dough will not rise as well). If not all the flour mixture has been wet, add the rest of the milk little by little. The dough should be soft, possibly a bit sticky but not too wet and hold itself into a ball.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and press it down with the palms of your hands to a flat rectangle of about 1 inch thick, the larger side laying sideways in front of you.

Sprinkle some of the chocolate and ground almonds on top of the rectangle.

Divide mentally the rectangle into three smaller ones sitting side by side, and fold the external flaps onto the middle one so that all three sections lay on top of each other.

Check the surface under the dough and sprinkle a bit more flour if necessary to prevent it from sticking.

Turn the dough by a quarter of a turn and press it again with your hands into a rectangle laying in the same direction as before. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle a bit of flour on top before pressing. Sprinkle more chocolate and almonds, and repeat the folding.

Repeat this operation about 10-12 times altogether.

Cut the dough in half, and form each half into a ball. Press each ball down with your hands into a disk of about 1 inch thick, and cut each disk into 8 slices like a pie.

Lay a sheet of baking paper on an oven tray and place the scones on the paper, leaving at least 1/2 inch between them.

Brush the tops with a lightly beaten egg and bake until deep golden, for about 12 minutes.

Break the chocolate into pieces, cut the butter in even sized chunks and melt both together gently (microwave or bain Marie). Mix well and allow to cool down to warm temperature.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in the warm butter and chocolate mixture, then stir in the flour and mix until obtaining a homogeneous and smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the moulds. If using individual ramequins, place little disks of baking paper cut to size at their bottoms, cover the insides with butter and dust with flour. The easiest, if you have one, is to use a silicone muffin tray. In that case, no need to butter the cavities.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the ramequins or mould cavities and leave them to set in the fridge for at least an hour.

Prepare the raspberry coulis: using a fork, crush half the raspberries with a bit of icing sugar and a few drops of lemon. Reserve the coulis and remaining raspberries in the fridge.

Shortly before serving

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Cook the fondants straight from the fridge for about 7 to 8 minutes or until a crust forms on the outer edges of the fondants.

Take out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold very delicately the fondants. The inside is very soft and runny so you need to be extra careful. If using ramequins, cover the mould with a kitchen towel, turn it up side down and allow the fondant to side down slowly into the towel in your hand, then turn it over quickly onto a plate. If you find this too difficult,  you can also serve the fondant inside its ramequin. If using a silicone muffin tray, turn it upside down. One by one, press the cavities gently to unmold each fondant into your hand.

Serve with the coulis and the remaining raspberries, and if you think your stomach will have enough room, vanilla ice cream or raspberry sorbet.