Mast Brothers Chocolate: A Family Cookbook

The Mast Brothers Chocolate has several sides to it. It tells a story of the brothers life coming up, goes into how they came to making chocolate, then you have the recipes. In this book, the stories, the pictures, and the ingredients are pretty interesting, not to mention the techniques you have to use are very cool also. On the flip side if you aren't a baker, and if you don't know how to improvise if something doesn't seem right, then don't waste your money, there are so many other good books to be purchased. The recipes which are the biggest reason why I purchased this book, are a very big letdown.I love to bake, I have made all sorts of things in my life, when I got this book, I saw things that really sparked my interest. The fact that the Mast brothers don't just use chocolate chips, rather take whole chocolate bars and chop them up, was pretty cool to me. However the lack of explanation and directions in the majority of the recipes can make you feel lost. Also its makes you lose a lot of time in researching from other resources if you are doing something right. Take the chocolate roll recipe, if you research any other chocolate roll or cake roll recipe, you receive so much more instruction than, "whisk eggs and granulated sugar until fluffy." That recipe was a complete and utter fail. The recipe for the chocolate cake with the sour cream frosting could not have been tested multiple times, the sour cream frosting was flat, you would've needed to add a lot to it to get proper peaks and look good.Now there are a few recipes that are good, the Dark and Stormy Cake was good, I always like making it, though the adding of the baking soda to the badder after everything has been mixed was weird, but it did work. Unfortunately the chocolate frosting they suggest to put on it, I didn't do it. The cost of buying that much chocolate to use for that cake was to expensive for my taste. I like the fact they have you do different things with chocolate like how they tell you to make the drinking chocolate and their take on a traditional hot chocolate. The use of fresh ginger that is grated into their mixtures adds really nice spice and flavor.Overall this book looks great, but the recipes aren't good enough for the money. The cost of this book to go along with all the accolades the brothers have received you would expect so much more. However if you are feeling adventurous and want to do extra research before making these recipes, then go for it.

I had such high hopes for this cookbook. The pictures are gorgeous, the backstory fascinating, and the recipes enticing. However, after trying two fairly basic recipes I am quite dismayed.The first thing I tried was the drinking chocolate. The ingredients created a nice flavor, but following the directions exactly created hot milk with chocolate flecks, rather than the lovely, rich, thick drink in the photograph. I returned it to the heat and after quite a few minutes the chocolate incorporated into what I was aiming for, though it never quite reached the level of decadence one expects from a drinking chocolate.The next thing I tried was the lava cake. This is a favorite in our house and something I whip up at a moments notice from a recipe I have with consistently stellar results. However, the Mast brothers' recipe yielded nothing resembling a lava cake. My first concern, and ultimately the biggest problem with the recipe, was that the ramekins are baked at 450 for 12 minutes. My usual recipe calls for 10 minutes at 350 and I usually shave a minute off of that and love the results...wonderful cakey texture outside, molten gooey goodness inside. These cakes were not only cooked straight through, but lacked any richness at all. The one thing I will say is that the addition of 1/4 teaspoon salt created a nice edge mingling with the chocolate and if cooked perfectly might have been wonderful. Not sure if I will revisit the recipe with a cooking time adjustment or just go back to my tried and true.I am giving this cookbook 3 stars because I think the photographs are so beautiful and the story of these gentleman so inspirational that I will enjoy it based on that, if nothing else. But as far as the recipes go, I suspect they were written by someone used to baking commercially who was perhaps adjusting for the home cook without testing meticulously first.I think that any further baking I will do from this book will require a bit of internet research to get an idea of what most similar recipes suggest and I will then adjust the Mast recipe accordingly. Definitely not the chocolate bible I was looking for.

A beautiful book all together, with fine details.If you are interested in learning the basics of chocolate this is a must have. It was the first time I saw where chocolate comes from!If you are interested in a pure cookbook though, this is not the correct choice. It contains many backgound info on how their business started and how it develops which was not what I was looking for.The recipes included are for classic chocolate treats, they seem easy and not extravagant. I will definitely try out some.

If you love chocolate or simply admire the work of true artisans then this book is for you.... its sublime and will be ordering more as Christmas presents for my baking friends....... just beautiful

any chef or even a food lover would LOVE this book.every page is full of wonders.i absolutely love d it.

nothing to say , perfect

Recipes are not tested, resulting in failed recipes not from user-error, but from incorrect ingredient proportions. For instance, in Chocolate, Maple & Pecan Cookies (page 154-155), sugar outweighs flour, which is why recipe does not render what we would classify as cookies (nor does it look anything like what is depicted in photograph).If you're only wanting a narrative and collection of beautiful, romanticized images, then this book can be valuable.