News from the Center for the Study of Chocolate

LOL!  How do you like that title?  Well, there are a lot of things I should be doing with this moment.  But I don’t feel like doing any of them except writing.  So here I sit.  And I shall tell you about my work with chocolate.

 

We’re having a fund raiser this weekend for our adoption.  It’s called “Art & Chocolate” and I’ve been enjoying making lots of delightful flavors and combining them with chocolate.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this event goes over.  There will be a delightful harp and violet duo playing.  Wasn’t it lovely of them to offer?  And I’m borrowing silver from Mom so I believe the display will look pretty also.

 

So here are a few of the flavors I have photos of so far:

 

 

This is white chocolate ganache with cranberry puree dipped in milk chocolate.  It’s a lovely balance of sweet and tart.

 

 

This is a vanilla truffle made by steeping a vanilla bean in warm cream for a while, the straining out the bean and using the cream to make white chocolate ganache.  It's a rich flavor molded in dark chocolate.

 

 

I’ve gotten into the habit of calling this one “Red Rose” though it actually started out to be “Red Hot.”  It’s a dark chocolate truffle with a dark chocolate ganache filling with cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.  It is very mild but comes off as dark chocolate with an exotic flare.  And those little red roses on top are sooo cute!   

This is “Earl Grey.”  I steeped warm cream in Earl Grey tea until the flavors were infused.  I then used the cream to make white chocolate ganache.  This is molded in milk chocolate and it pretty much just melts in your mouth.  I wrapped these in silver foil and they look pretty in an assortment. 

I found South American dulce de leche (caramel) and paired it with toasted pecans and milk chocolate for an extra yummy version of the turtle. 

 

More caramel but this time paired up with Cashews and dark chocolate.  Oh yummmmmm!

 

This is dark chocolate and when you open it up it is fresh white chocolate crème de mint inside.  Mercy, I love these flavors.  I'm garnishing some of the chocolates in the colors of the Colombian flag so that the display of the mixed pieces looks really beautiful.  So that meant that this mint (usually green) got dressed up in blue (with a tiny white snowflake) for the event.  My mother disapproves, but my mouth can't tell the difference.   

 

 

This is a blueberry truffle.  Now I’m not crazy about the combination of blueberries and chocolate – it just doesn’t work in my opinion.  So I did this completely in white chocolate.  And let me tell ya, which chocolate ganache with blueberry puree, dipped in white chocolate – well I may be biased… but I think it’s really wonderful.  Blueberry is a fairly delicate flavor and this one won’t bash you in the mouth.  It’s more of a ballad than an anthem.  *rolls eyes!*

 

Your monitor is scratch-n-sniff, right?  Sorry, don’t mean to torture you.  There are other flavors coming.  I’ll be mailing out a box to the Shush and Butt Rock Ken family.  (Send me a mailing address you two!)  Anyone else want to place an order?  I’ll be photographing the other kinds and putting them up here when I get a chance.  Anyone brave enough to try ordering chocolate when it could sit in the Mail Person’s 140 degree mail truck for a day?  I'm pretty sure I'll have extra from the event.