Guittard Chocolate Company. - Guittard Chocolate cookbook: irresistible family recipes and stories from San Franciscos bean-to-bar chocolate company

Text copyright 2015 by Amy Guittard.
Food photographs copyright 2015 by Antonis Achilleos.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4521-4151-0 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-3533-5 (pb)

Designed by Vanessa Dina
Prop styling by Christine Wolheim
Food styling by Lillian Kang
Typesetting by DC Type

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Chapter 1
BREAKFAST

Chapter 2
COOKIES

Chapter 3
BROWNIES & BARS

Chapter 4
CAKES, CUPCAKES, TARTS & PIE

Chapter 5
PUDDINGS, BONBONS, FUDGE & CONFECTIONS

Chapter 6
CHEFS CHAPTER

Chapter 7
TOPPINGS

There has never been a more exciting time for chocolate lovers and home bakers. The best supermarkets carry a dazzling array of chocolates for eating and baking. Even more choices can be found in specialty shops and online.

At a time when new chocolates made by an ever increasing number of small chocolate-makers seem to pop up every week, I love knowing that one family-owned company has been making superb chocolate in Northern California for about a century and a half. Guittard Chocolate is the oldest continuously family-owned American chocolate company; the fourth generation is at the helm today with a fifth generation rising.

Not too long ago, I sat with Guittard President Gary Guittard and Amy Guittard, his daughter and the companys marketing director. We were in his office to taste the first production batch of a brand-new baking line. It was an honor to be included in what was otherwise a very private meeting. I was immediately taken by the modern clean lines of the new packaging, its vibrant cacao-pod colors, and even the convenient detail of having three individually wrapped, easy-to-break-up, two-ounce bars in each box. But it was the chocolate itself that really made me smile. Guittard has an established reputation for Belgian- and French-style chocolatebeloved for its smooth, dark-roasted cocoa-y flavors, and probably the hero ingredient in some of your favorite desserts and confections. But this new line was part of Collection Etienne, single-origin and special-blend bars made more in the French than Belgian style, and so beautifully done. The chocolates were aromatic, complex, and bright with a pleasing range of flavors: deep and lingering base chocolate notes, a hint of tartness and cherry, a gentle acidity, and just enough astringency to carry the flavor forward. Sophisticated, juicy, and delicious. These were chocolates for an updated American palate, a chocolate-savvy modern home baker. Im sure I smiled as I tasted. Each of the new chocolates, including the unsweetened 100% cacao bar, was a delicious nibblenot just good for baking! That tasting served to remind me that companies that thrive over five generations do not do so by sitting still. They continually create and evolve.

If you are a home baker mostly familiar with the iconic gold bag of Guittard chocolate chips, you may not be aware that the company also makes an enormous array of quality chocolate for professionals, and always has. Many of Americas best bakers, pastry chefs, and confectioners have quietly and confidently used Guittard chocolate for years, even when others were using either lesser chocolate or big-name imports. Go ahead and do what I do: Ask the server in your favorite restaurant what kind of chocolate was used to make the fantastic chocolate dessert you just ate. You will likely learn that it was Guittard.

If you are a recent convert or ardent follower of artisan chocolates, you may not know that Guittard was the first (and still the only) established American company to launch an artisan line of single-origin and special-blend bars. It was the very beginning of a renaissance in American chocolate-making and a new era for chocolate consumers, too.

Prior to that time, there were no American-made and -marketed single-origin bars. With a single exception, American chocolates were not yet labeled with cacao percentages either. Traditional chocolate-makers were always protective about every detail of their process. Cacao blends and sources, cacao and cacao butter percentages, and methods and equipment were all considered trade secrets to be hidden from the public and from competitors. But that has changed. Today, every aspect of chocolate making is more transparent, from the plantation to the retail shelf; or as we say in the industry, from bean to bar. This new era of transparency has resulted in even greater interest and more passion for chocolate, and so many new self-proclaimed chocolate connoisseurs!

Guittard has helped shape this modern era of chocolate by playing an even greater leadership role in the industry than ever before. Gary frequently shares his knowledge and passion for chocolate in public forums. He spearheaded a successful fight to preserve the highest standards for chocolate, rather than allow noncacao butter fats to be included within the definition of chocolate. The company works with global organizations to promote sustainability, collaboration, better prices for the farmers, and community education at the farm level, and to find and protect rare varieties of cacao. Guittard not only continues to make great chocolate that gets better and better, but Gary Guittard has become a respected and admired statesman and a valued role model and resource for emerging young chocolate-makers everywhere.

As a chocolate lover, pastry chef, and cookbook author myself, Im honored to recognize Guittards leadership and standard of excellence and I am thankful to Amy for telling the Guittard family story and sharing the family recipes from the generations that precede her.

Happy reading and bon apptit,

Alice Medrich

Despite growing up in a family of chocolate-makers in a city with a rich and revolutionary food history, Im still surprised by the bounty of foodstuffs found in every San Francisco neighborhood. Youll happen upon heirloom tomato plants and wild blackberry bushes on a stroll through Buena Vista Park. Youll see rosemary growing in Potrero Hill and lavender near Coit Tower. New neighborhood restaurants appear each week, pushing the edges of the latest flavor pairings while the citys classics are regularly reinvented. Now more than ever, theres a high degree of curiosity regarding the faces and places behind our food. Add a daily chocolate fix to the mix and the culinary world offers endless delicious opportunities.