Celebrities share their dessert recipes for National Chocolate Week (2024)

It's National Chocolate Week and what better way to celebrate than indulging in these delicious dessert recipes.

They are perfect for weekend cooking, or for a dinner party, as they're a little bit more special than your everyday chocolately treats.

The recipes from TV cook Nigella Lawson, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson, stage and screen star Brian Blessed and award winning chocolatier Paul A Young are included in a new cooking book called Sensational Chocolate.

It has been collated by Paul and features a brownie recipe from Emma Thompson, biscuits from Nigella and a chocolate and avocado mouse from Brian Blessed.

Sensational Chocolate is in aid of Children's Ambulance and costs £20, you can buy it here.

Try these four luxurious recipes from the book.

Emma Thompson's Chocolate brownie pudding with salted caramel and toffee pecans

Serves 4

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

100g/3.5oz unsalted (sweet) butter

250g/8.8oz unrefined caster sugar

75g /1.7 fl oz Golden Syrup (you can substitute Light Corn Syrup)

275g/9.7oz Valrhona dark chocolate (or good quality 70% dark chocolate chips)

4 medium size free range eggs

70g/2.5oz plain (all-purpose) flour

For salted caramel sauce:

100g/3.5oz salted butter

100g/3.5oz unrefined light muscovado sugar

100g/3.5oz double (heavy) cream

1 teaspoon Maldon (flaked) sea salt

For honey toffee pecans:

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp unrefined caster sugar

½ teaspoon Maldon (flaked) sea salt

100g/3.5oz shelled pecan nuts

Method:

1. Melt together the butter, sugar and syrup until it bubbles. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and mix well. Add the eggs and beat all until smooth, then add the flour, mixing well
2. Pour into a pudding basin or 6” deep baking dish and bake at 175 °C /350 F/ Gas Mark 3.5 for 25 to 30 minutes. It should still have a wobble when it leaves the oven. Don’t leave it in the oven for any longer than the listed time so that the brownie middle is still soft and molten.
3. To make the caramel – bring the butter and sugar to a simmer with the salt and cook for three minutes. Take off the heat, add the cream and mix well. While this is warm pour it over the brownie pudding and leave to stand.
4. On a flat baking tray, cook the pecans in the oven at 170 °C /330 F/Gas Mark 3 for five minutes or until golden brown.
5. In a saucepan bring the honey, sugar and sea salt to a simmer until golden. Throw in the pecans and stir to coat in the caramel.

Nigella Lawson Granny Boyd's biscuits

Makes 24 biscuits

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time:15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour

30g cocoa powder

250g unsalted butter (room temperature)

125g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C /Gas Mark 3. Sieve flour and cocoa powder and set it aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and pale in colour.
3. Mix in flour mixture, it might look like it needs liquid, but keep working the ingredients in and it will form a dough.
4. Roll into walnut-sized balls and arrange these on the baking sheets. Flatten these balls with the back of the fork.
5. Bake for five minutes at 170ºC and then turn the temperature down to 150ºC for a further 10 to 15 minutes.
6. The biscuits should feel firm on top although not hard. Remove from the oven and transfer to cool on wire rack, before storing in air-tight container.

Brian Blessed's Chocolate and avocado mousse

Serves 6

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Chilling time: 3 hours at least

Ingredients:

100g (3½ oz) dark chocolate

4 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

5 tbsp almond milk or coconut milk drink

2½ tbsp cocoa, sieved

2 large ripe avocados, flesh scooped out

Method:

1. Set aside 25g (1oz) chocolate for decoration and break the rest into squares. Melt in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of shallow, simmering water.
2. Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla, almond or coconut milk, ¼ tsp fine salt and the cocoa until smooth.
3. In a blender or food processor, whizz the chocolate mixture with the avocado flesh until silky smooth. Divide the mixture between 6 small serving glasses. Chill for at least three hours or for up to 12 hours.
4. To make the decoration, scrape the edge of the reserved chocolate using a vegetable peeler to make long shards. Store in an airtight container until needed. Scatter over the mousse just before serving.

Paul A Young's Iced yogurt and salted chocolate smoothie

Makes 2 large glasses

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Chilling time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

500mls whole milk

250g full fat Greek yoghurt

1 tsp Maldon sea salt

1 tsp cocoa nibs

100g 64% Madagascan chocolate or your favourite chocolate

1 tbsp runny honey

Method:

1. Warm the honey, milk, salt chocolate and cocoa nibs together until the chocolate is fully melted. Cool for 15 minutes.
2. In a blender throw in a few ice cubes, pour in the chocolate milk mixture and add the Greek yoghurt. Whizz up for 15 seconds and serve.

Smoothies are not always at the top of the healthy menu, but they can be indulgent comfort too and this recipe is like drinking a rich chocolatey dessert. It’s a recipe that can be adapted easily by changing the chocolate variety so its time to experiment.

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