"Good dark chocolate has bitter and acidic elements, as does good bread. In the kitchen, they are drawn to each other. They also couldn't be easier to combine, especially in this recipe, where the four ingredients — bread, chocolate, olive oil, and salt — are left in their raw state, with just a dash of heat to encourage them to mingle." - Amanda Hesser, The Essential New York Times Cookbook.

I had been wanting to try this recipe for ages but kept putting it off. It seemed a bit too decadent to make for breakfast. And too austere for a dessert after a big home-cooked meal. And whenever I buy a baguette, I usually just polish it off with way too much cheese.

Then curiosity got the better of me. I mean, they're just so simple. In the recipe's headnotes in The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Amanda Hesser recalls eating these toasts at a tapas bar in Barcelona, "warmed until the chocolate was as soft as cream." They're also similar to an old-fashioned way for making pain au chocolate in France, just tucking a bar of chocolate into a baguette.