i'm not sure if anyone has seen or heard of the ladurée sucré book. i didn't know about its existence until the lovely felicia very generously loaned it to me (she bought it on her recent trip to paris). the book is unlike all other books i've seen - velvety suede cover with gold trimmings and delicately packed in a ladurée's signature pastel green box with lilac tissue paper (hubby commented that it looked harry potter-ish lol). i fell in love with it at 1st sight but was even more fascinated with the recipes as i flipped the pages. i don't think i've ever classified any cookbook as totally "my type" but for this one...YES! the book features lotsa dainty and feminine desserts like rose petal ice cream, pistachio financiers, vanilla eclairs, raspberry rose verrines etc.

and one of them that caught my eye was the guimauve fraise et fleur d'oranger, or strawberry & orange flower marshmallows. the name itself is very lovely and it was after i made it that i realize what a fantastic pairing it was. the orange blossom water is both floral and fruity and is a great complement with the strawberry puree. really delicate. i also felt it was about time i made marshmallows again since i wasn't exactly satisfied with my previous attempt on the passionfruit version.

and what could be better with marshmallows than hot chocolate? weather is rather chilly these days so this is just perfect.

wasting no time, i got myself a copy of the book from amazon as well. contrary to what i thought, the book is actually pretty cheap (US$26) and after freight charges & conversion to SGD, i paid about S$45 which is pretty reasonable! also, the book is originally in french and i ordered it without realizing there's actually an english version but they actually sent the english one by mistake afterall, to my delight. how lucky was i? :p



recipe source : ladurée sucré