There’s a Season for That?! Though it’s common for Japanese to boast that their country has four seasons, when you actually look around, Japan seems to have far more than just four seasons. In fact, they have hundreds! There’s the well known Cherry Blossom season, the family centric Oban Season, the westernized Holiday Season, the ever green Rainy Season, taste-tastic Macha season, the majestic fall Changing of the Leaves Season. And it goes on and on. And recently I’ve found out about another beloved season in Japan. The Chocolate Mint Season. Yes, they have a season just for chocolate mint treats! Chocolate mint ice cream. Chocolate mint pastries. Chocolate mint latte’s and chocolate mint cream sandwiches! Chocolate mint candies, and cookies, and milk shakes galore! If you love chocolate mint everything, this is the season that was born for you. There’s even chocolate mint dipped potato chips. So in the spirit of this beloved season, and because I haven’t done a cooking blog post in a while, here is a very tasty recipe for chocolate mint custard. What’s nice about this recipe is that it’s a lot easier to make than the standard custard (no tempering eggs or careful steam bath baking required) and it uses another beloved food from Asia. Tofu! Easy Chocolate Mint Custard1 block firm tofu 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips 2 tablespoons cocoa powder A few drops of mint extract (be careful, this stuff can be strong!) 1/3 cup sugar or equivalent of your favorite sweetener (up to a 1/2 cup if you like things extra sweet) 1/4 cup milk Throw all ingredients into food processor and blend until completely incorporated and smooth. Pour into four dessert dishes or cute little 1/2 cup bowls. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Serve chilled, enjoy! I’m serious, that’s it! There’s no double boiler, there’s no tempering, there’s no steam bath. This recipe doesn’t have any eggs in it, so none of those tricky techniques are needed. That’s why I like this recipe, it’s super easy. And the end result is a thick, creamy, almost fudgey custard.