Champagne Truffles: Ring in the New Year

Today is National Champagne Day. Now here's a food holiday that's perfect for the day. I do a lot of wine/champagne chocolate pairing events with my company TeamBuilding Unlimited, and we often have trivia quizzes. How many bubbles in a bottle of champagne? 49 million to 250 million! Now, that's a lot of bubbles. Wishing you and yours a Happy and Healthy New Year!

You won't have any bubbles in these truffles tonight for New Year's Eve, but you will taste the champagne.. and the Cognac. I posted this recipe last year for New Year's Eve, but I still find it's my favorite for easy Champagne Truffles. This recipe uses more champagne than most Champagne Truffle recipes, and the Cognac also adds some zip. If you're in a pinch you can use a different type of sugar or even cocoa to coat the truffles. The sanding sugar, though, gives it a festive New Year's Eve look!

Martha Stewart's Champagne Truffles
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Champagne
1 tablespoon Cognac
Coarse sanding sugar, for rolling

Directions
1. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Immediately pour hot cream over the chocolate in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Stir in the Champagne and Cognac. Refrigerate until chocolate mixture is firm enough to roll into balls, about 1 hour. (or more!!)
2. Using a small melon baller or ice-cream scoop, form 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in coarse sanding sugar, and transfer to rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate truffles at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days before serving.

You can also use unsweetened cocoa or confectioner's sugar if you don't have sanding sugar. This recipe was in Martha's wedding section, so the sparkly white sugar looks great for weddings and holidays, but cocoa tastes just as good.. just different.

What Is Sanding Sugar?
Sanding sugar is a large crystal sugar used as edible decoration that will not dissolve when subjected to heat. Also called pearl sugar or decorating sugar, sanding sugar adds "sparkle" to cookies, baked goods and candies. The sparkling affect is achieved because the sugar crystal grains are large and reflect light. You can order Sanding Sugar online or buy it in cake decorating departments.

Photo: Martha Stewart website

Obligatory 2010 Wrap-Up: A (Partial) Year in Chocolate

The bloggin' thing to do at the end of the year is to summarize all the bloggish stuff you did. Despite having only started this blog in late July, I suppose I've been up to a lot of chocolate business. So here goes a recap of 2010.

I went to Milwaukee. To eat frozen custard and to bake for family members.

Then I went to Chicago. Mostly for a business meeting, but also to check out a Vosges boutique and subsequently fall in love with their entire concept, though not every bar they produce.

Back home in DC, I was delighted to find that Cacao had opened shop about half a mile from where I live. A lucky event. A not-so-lucky-event: my experiment with meringue buttercream in August heat and humidity. A truly brilliant event that followed: covering the frosting with chocolate.

Reasonable adults consider balls of frosting covered in chocolate to be appropriate food. I promise. They also make nearly 200 mini cupcakes to share with colleagues and swimming buddies to celebrate their birthdays and believe that cake is a great vehicle for vegetable consumption.
All things that reasonable adults do.

In the midst of all my "reasonable adult" behavior, I had another business trip. This time to Dana Point, CA. It was there that I found a shop that sold gigantic truffles that tasted like stale Tang. Luckily, my faith in the availability of good food returned when I came home to a box of fudge from Chip's Chocolate Factory, which was pretty awesome.

When I got back, I also made way too many banana mini cupcakes for a coworkers birthday. Oops.

As the DC heat and humidity left for good in October, I tackled a crazy project for my brother's rehearsal dinner. And then I met Nick Malgieri, which has to be just about the coolest thing ever.

Seriously, he is really, really cool. He even commented on one of my posts, which involved two of his recipes.

In November, I was excited to go to the Chocolate Show in NYC, but was waylaid by my kidney (it happens). Instead, I stayed home, went to a sample day at Biagio, and made a cherpumple. From scratch.

Before December rolled around, I joined Daring Bakers. And had Leigh visit from Germany. I gave her macarons, because it was the right thing to do.
Much of my time in December was devoted to making cookies. Thumbprint cookies. Cinnamon Roll Cookies. Really unusual but tasty Swiss Cookies. Again, it was the right thing to do.

For Christmas, I went back to Milwaukee. And fed my family an outrageous cake.

And I have a bold prediction for 2011. Want to make bets on whether or not it will happen?

Here it is: I will eat chocolate.

Do you have any predictions for 2011?

Food Holidays, Chocolate and Me

Many years ago I read The Five Year Sentence by Booker Prize winner Bernice Rubens. In it a woman who works in a sweets (candy) factory is preparing for her last day of work. She’s cleaned her house, and she’s checked the oven. Everything is ready, we’re sure, for her return from the day when with nothing left to do in her life, she will return home and turn on the gas. However, fate intervenes, and she is given a 5 year diary as a retirement gift. It’s as if she’s been given  ‘a five year sentence’. She feels she has an obligation to fill in each day. The novel takes some imaginative turns, and Bernice Rubens, who was also a mystery author, should be sought out and read.

Sometimes I feel like the woman in the story…not the suicide bit… but being given a ‘purpose’ to do what I do. When I started this blog DyingforChocolate.com, I followed a similar thought process, and although I do posts with chocolate reviews, chocolate news and recipes as they strike me, a lot of the time I post recipes that coincide with the Food Holiday of the Day. They’re at the top of my ‘diary’.

Surprisingly every day is some sort of Food Holiday (See The Nibble). Even if some Food Holidays aren’t specifically chocolate food holidays, just about everything goes well with chocolate, so I post a chocolate recipe! The big holidays are easy: Christmas, Easter, Passover, Halloween…lots of chocolate, but there are some very esoteric food holidays, such as:

Chocolate Covered Insect Day (October 14): Chocolate Scorpions (not for the faint of heart)

National Cocoa Day (December 12): Recipe Round up from Mexican to Peppermint

National Espresso Day (November 24): Espresso Truffles

California Strawberry Day (March 21): Strawberry Chocolate German Pancake

National Rice Pudding Day (August 9): Chocolate Rice Pudding

National Pecan Day (April 14): Chocolate Pecan Pie

Be sure and search DyingforChocolate.com for more Food Holidays and easy chocolate recipes.

As well as writing chocolate posts to fit a particular holiday, I do something similar on my mystery blog, Mystery Fanfare. On Mystery Fanfare, along with posts about the mystery world in general, I am drawn to dates and holidays and make extensive lists of titles that fit the holidays. Have a look at my Christmas Crime Novels list that is so big this year that I divided it into 5 posts. I’ve also posted Halloween Mysteries, Fourth of July Mysteries, Father’s Day Mysteries , New Year's Mysteries and lots of other holidays. 

I suppose I’m still in school with the teacher giving me a topic to use as a springboard, or as in Rubens’ novel, a day in a diary to fill in. I’m so lucky to write about my passions chocolate and crime fiction! This isn’t to say I don’t stray a bit with reviews and recipes ‘off list’, but for the most part I find it fun to fulfill the day and holiday… in mystery and in chocolate.

So, you might say my whole life is about mystery and chocolate. How sweet it is!  

Vosges Bars: Bapchi's Caramel Toffee

When I spied the Vosges Gingerbread Toffee Bars on sale at the Whole Foods in Tenleytown earlier this month, naturally, I inspected the shelf for other bars that were on sale, and quickly scooped up several, including a Bapchi's Caramel Toffee Bar.

As noted on the packaging, Vosges founder and CEO Katrina Markoff named this bar after her grandmother “Bapchi,” who taught her how to cook.

Inside the packaging is a bar based on a 45% cacao deep milk chocolate, which is created by mixing a touch of dark chocolate in with Vosges signature milk chocolate. Taste-wise, this chocolate is blended nearly 50-50 with the other contents of the bar.

Those other contents include sweet butter toffee, walnuts, and pecans, which are finely chopped and evenly sprinkled throughout the bar.

In addition to being well-chopped and evenly distributed to result in a more uniform and pleasing tasting experience, the added ingredients have an outstanding texture, both individually and in contrast to the smooth milk chocolate. The nuts are well toasted and not remotely soggy, and the toffee is crunchy but not tough or brittle. The toffee bits also feature a distinct salt taste and a subtle butter taste, which stand up well to the deep milk chocolate. In this bar, Vosges has done an outstanding job of mixing the salty toffee with a not-too-sweet milk chocolate. I enjoyed this bar quite a bit, and managed to catch a few extra from the shelves of the Tenleytown Whole Foods before the holiday supplies began to dwindle.

Do you like toffee? With or without chocolate?

Williams Sonoma Holiday Chocolate Sale

Some of my favorite Williams Sonoma holiday chocolate is on sale! You can't really stock up for next year, but you can enjoy these chocolate products now.

I really like their hot chocolate and peppermint bark, so I wanted to share the information on this sale. Disclaimer: I don't work for Williams Sonoma, nor do I benefit by mentioning :-)

There are other items on sale, and those will keep! Cookie cutters, chocolate pots and more! Most of the chocolate foods come in great containers. Perfect to store cookies and candies or use for gifts! Enjoy!

Peppermint Bark: Sale price: $12.99

Hot Chocolate & Peppermint Hot Chocolate: $14.99

Peppermint Bark Cookies: $16.99

Chocolate Filled Peppermint Snaps: $17.99

To order anything, go to a Williams Sonoma store or order online.

Football and Foliage

Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like there are a whole lot more football specific candy/baked goods than ever before.  Have you seen these babies?  Football Oreos:

Look at all the different designs!  Gotta love "lick the competition."  Do these do anything for me?  While I admire the different shapes and the many designs, I have to say - not really.  There seems to be more cookie and less cream and I am so NOT about that.  I was born for Double Stuff.

Little Debbie (LD) has some football shaped brownies (oddly these are the same shape as their Easter egg brownies, but the shape is better for footballs, so you go, LD!)  They taste pretty good - the same as all the other Little Debbie brownies I've reviewed.  A new shape is just a good excuse to buy more.  Cheap and pretty chocolately - while not a touch down, I'd say definitely a field goal.

Look pretty good, huh?  Always moist - Little Debbie has the cheap, mass produced brownie down cold.

And look at these!  Reese's Footballs!

These are totally the Reese's eggs repackaged as footballs.  But they are still that delicious Reese's peanut butter, so I'm not complainin'!  And the bag weighs like a ton!  (2 pounds!)

Since football is a fall sport, I'm going to include some other fall flavors.  (Yeah, yeah I know it's January - give a girl a break!  I've been busy!)  Harry and David has these Red Apple Caramel balls:

And while you guys know I love most of Harry and David's stuff, I did not love these.  They had some kind of funky aftertaste.  Boo!  If Hershey can get the exact taste of caramel apples in their Kisses (reviewed on September 5th), Harry and David can do better than this.  Flag on the play!

Godiva also has a caramel apple Gem:

Now it's just pathetic when Hershey does better than Godiva.  Once again I rant at how damn expensive Godiva is and how not so great.  (Just like some pro football players we could name.)

Not to be limited by football, LD also had these for the Fall and their usual brownie trees for Christmas:

A solid performer.

Marshmallow Treats again - this time for Fall.  Nothing wrong with them - they are basically second rate Rice Krispy treats in fall colors.  A little less crispy, a little less sweet, just not quite as good as the original. 

But you gotta give LD credit for those colors.  I like a little originality and flash.  (Just like some pro football players we could name.)

My favorite decorated sugar cookies from Harry and David:

Good tasting, not rock hard like some of these decorated cookies can be.  They are VERY hard to stop eating.  And they are in adorable little designs.  I'm glad to see they have remained politically correct and not included an Indian head dress.

These little marzipan works of art were in World Market:

You know they are from Europe when you see the toadstool.  We would have never included that in the good ol' US of A.  Leaves yes, fungi no.  They come from Germany.  Land of the fairy tale (and the fungi).

Really pretty, aren't they?

The taste isn't bad - they have a good, strong almond flavor.  I would like it if the chocolate coating was thicker.  Marzipan can be so sweet - I like it best with paired with heavy chocolate.  But I really like the artistry of these - very nice.

If you are intrigued by any of these - Harry and David stores are having a great sale right now.  I got the cookies for half price.  Little Debbie's never stay around for long - I have to grab them as soon as I see them.  The Reese's footballs I found in Wal-Mart.  But two pounds is a lot - be ready. 

Go Team Chocolate!!  Coming up next - my other beloved - pumpkin!!!!!

Vosges Bars: Amalfi

When I got the Vosges Marzipan Bar at the most recent Biagio sample day, I also picked up another Vosges holiday season bar I’d been eyeing over the internet: The Amalfi bar, which features a 36% cocoa white chocolate, pink peppercorns, and lemon zest.

The bar, which greets me by telling me that I’ve never been lovelier, has a strong lemon aroma; the pink peppercorns are also evident immediately upon visual inspection.

The chocolate itself is quite smooth with a bit of grit that can probably be attributed to the lemon zest and peppercorn. Each bite features a definite lemon note, which covers up the traditional vanilla taste of white chocolate and contrasts well with the sugary white chocolate. The pepper taste, however, seems to only be evident when the flecks of pepper are in a given bite, and it seems that the pepper is there more for visual enhancement than taste. As an unapologetic white chocolate lover, I enjoyed this bar both for the soft white chocolate and the flavor contrast offered by the lemon zest, though I’d be curious about how I might have enjoyed this differently had the pepper taste been more pronounced.

Do you like bars with a white chocolate base?

Eit! I've Been Tagged: Four Things

Looks like Julie tagged me for "Four Things." Check to see if YOU have been tagged. Tagged or not, play along on your own blog, or in the comments section.

And yes, this is a post about chocolate.


Four TV shows that I watch:
Morning news
Evening news
Baking with Julia
Desperate Housewives (OK, please just read 1-3)


Four things I’m passionate about:
CHOCOLATE
Healthy cooking
Synchronized Swimming
Nuclear energy

Four words/phrases I use a lot:
Dude!
Woah
Good grief
LADIES (when you coach synchronized swimming, this is necessary)


Four things I’ve learned from the past:
Life is unfair. And nothing you can do will change that.
It's OK to like girly things.
Eating chocolate won't make your problems go away. Your apartment still needs to be cleaned. Really.
Eating chocolate can still make you happy.


Four places I would like to go:
Iran
Australia
London
Argentina


Four things I did yesterday:
Met a friend from middle school for lunch
Contemplated the Scharffen Berger adventure contest
Swam!
Bought a new car battery


Four things I am looking forward to:
THE ROSE BOWL
2011 Configuration Risk Management Forum
Judging at my first international synchronized swimming meet in July. In Hawaii. Yep.
Learning how to make and work with decorative chocolate


Four things I love about winter:
Wearing my sweaters
All the work-related meetings I attend in January/February - they help me be even more effective in my job, which I love
Following college swim meets
Taking (too many) hot baths


Tag four people to play along:
Hannah
Jessica
Alina
Jaryn


Go ahead - comment! You know you want to.

New Year's Eve Chocolate Hats: Ice Cream Cones

 From Disney's Family Fun Magazine comes a really adorable chocolate covered ice cream cone idea that you can do with kids. Use these to hold your favorite ice-cream on New Year's Eve, but first they'll decorate the table!

New Year's Eve Chocolate Covered Ice Cream Cone Hats

Ingredients
Sugar cones
Ice cream
Chocolate chips (12-ounce bag for 10 to 12 cones) or any high quality dark chocolate, broken up
Icing: Make this easy. Buy the Wilton's icing writers. They come in multiple colors and are easy to use
Shoestring licorice
Mini-nonpareils

Instructions
1. Spread melted chocolate chips over each sugar cone with a small spatula. Let the chocolate harden for about 1 hour (or 20 minutes in the refrigerator).
2. For chinstraps, use icing to attach the ends of a fruit strip or a length of shoestring licorice to the inside of each cone.
3. Use icing to decorate the hats and attach nonpareils. 

Get creative and use your Gingerbread cookie decorating techniques

Photo: Disney Family Fun

Hell Has Frozen Over

Those of you who have followed my dating travails (endless match.com dates, speed dating, horrifying singles events, etc.) are going to be shocked. After 13 years of seeking, I have finally found the ever-elusive good guy who is not a geek, boring or gay. This guy (Tim) rides a Harley, has a good job, is great with his kids (and sweet to his mom), is tall, handsome, smart, loves candy, and most importantly, likes me! We have a blast together and that is why I have been completely off the grid since my last post.

This is us at the Renaissance Faire (with his cute son Brett - good looks run in the family, he has a lovely daughter too):

But I have not been off the sugar train.  Tim was with me when I saw an add for Krispy Kreme's snowman donuts and I said how much I wanted to try them.  I think I licked the picture.  I knew he was the man for me when several days later, out of the blue, he suggested we go by Krispy Kreme and get the snowman donuts.  Clearly he is my soul mate.

And these donuts are amazing - no filling, but sooooo good with the frosting.  Can anything really be better than a warm, frosted, glazed donut on a cold morning?  And how cute are they?

These didn't last long.  But any man who shares my love of lard and sugar is a keeper!

Remember the Grove Park Inn's national gingerbread competition from last year?  Well this year I took Tim (another bonus, a man who will go to a gingerbread house competition).  He is the best!

Here's the first prize ribbon:

And here's the first prize gingerbread creation:

Gorgeous Christmas nesting dolls made out of gingerbread.  So perfect!  There were plenty more fantastic creations - a rocking horse that looked as if it were made out of wood, not gingerbread; several amazingly detailed houses - so much fun!  And we got to drink hot chocolate, eat gingerbread and watch it snow.  Finally a romantic Christmas!!  Usually I'm off on a solo trip somewhere - it's so much better to have someone to celebrate the season with.

I don't want to be one of those sappy people who go on and on about their good fortune, but I do want to share some tips for those of you who may not yet have the relationship you dream of:

1.) Don't give up.  I've been single since my divorce 13 years ago.  I've been on more bad dates than anyone should have to endure.  But every single one of them was worth it - they make me really appreciate the man I've finally found.  And all that BS about stop looking and then it will happen?  Well, if I had taken my match.com profile down, we would have never found each other.  Keep doing something!  The UPS person is not your only option!

2.) Don't settle.  You'll meet plenty of people who just don't want to be alone.  They just want to be with someone, anyone.  You don't want that - you want to hold out for the one who wants to be with you.  Someone who loves you with all your crazy quirks - hell, someone who loves you because of all your crazy quirks.

3.) When it's right, you'll know it.  There's no drama.  There's trust and openness, and in this case, a whole lot of laughter.  Angst, worry, doubt - those are all signals that it's not right.  It was weird, but the feeling I had on our first date was that I had come home.

4.) Being alone is better than being with the wrong person.  I've been with the wrong person, with several wrong people and it's awful.  Broken promises, lack of trust, no real talk of the future, secrets, lies - all of it makes you feel bad, makes you doubt yourself.  A good relationship makes you feel better about yourself.  You feel like you're part of a team.  It's full of openness and light. You can be lonelier with the wrong person than you will ever be by yourself.  If you can learn to walk alone, you can hold out for all the love you deserve.

5.) The Universe doesn't work on our time table.  Thirteen years was a long, long time to me.  I went through my mother's death alone, I went through hip surgery with no one to hold my hand.  There were so many times when I would be the only one at a function without a date.  Just because you want something doesn't mean you'll get it when you want it.  Try hard, treat others as you would like to be treated, and keep holding your hand out.  Someday the right person will take it.

6.) Choose your associates wisely.  The people you let share your life will have a huge impact on it, for better or worse.  Don't be afraid to walk away from those who cause you pain.  You'll free up time and space for those who can bring you joy.

Chocolate Truffles Recipe Round-Up for National Chocolate Candy Day

Today is National Chocolate Candy Day. So in order to celebrate, I thought I'd do a Truffle Recipe Round-up. Most of these recipes are simple, and you probably have all the ingredients.  Besides links to specific truffle recipes, I've added a new recipe for Kahlua Truffles. Scroll to the end! Simple and delicious!

Don't have time to make truffles? Your favorite chocolatier has lots of varieties!

Chocolate Honey Truffles

Milk Chocolate Truffles

Blue Cheese Truffles

Chocolate Espresso Truffles

Eggnog Truffles

Champagne Truffles

Oreo Truffles

Candy Corn Truffles

Mexican Chocolate Truffles

Kahlua Chocolate Truffles

1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons Kahlua
7 ounces dark chocolate, 60-75% cacao, broken
4 tablespoons sweet butter, softened
Unsweetened cocoa

Heat cream in a small heavy pan until reduced to 2 tablespoons.
Remove from heat then stir in kahlua and chocolate.
Return to low heat and stir until chocolate melts.
Whisk in softened butter.
When mixture is smooth pour into a shallow bowl and refrigerate about 40 minutes.
Scoop chocolate with teaspoon or small cookie scoop and shape into 1" balls.
Roll balls in unsweetened cocoa.
Store truffles covered in refrigerator.
Let truffles stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Vosges Bars: Marzipan

Marzipan seems to be a divisive force – folks either eat it by the truckload, or think that it is a sickly-sweet concoction good for little besides being shaped into three-dimensional sugary objects unfit for adult human consumption. I fall a little bit closer to the first camp than the second, so when I saw that Vosges was offering a Marzipan Exotic Candy Bar for the holiday season, I knew I had to procure one, and did so at the Biagio sample day.

The bar features a 62% cocoa dark chocolate, which has a hint of a coffee undertone and surrounds a marzipan blended with “a touch of Amaretto” (per the Vosges description).

Sadly, as one who shies away from strongly alcohol-infused chocolate creations, this bar seemed to have more than just a bit of Amaretto mixed in with the marzipan, which resulted in a thin, wet, runny interior that broke away from the chocolate instantly.

The result was an alcohol-heavy mess that I had a difficult time biting into and enjoying, which is unfortunate given how much I was looking forward to this bar. That being said, Vosges did do a great job of selecting a slightly bitter dark chocolate to offset the sweet taste of the marzipan and Amaretto, so the bar is well-balanced in terms of sweetness, but the Amaretto completely dominates the flavor. A true Amaretto lover would likely love this bar – assuming that they could look beyond the mess factor, which I can do myself for chocolate that I enjoy.

Do you like marzipan? Plain or alcohol-infused?

Chocolate Adventures on the Road: Milwaukee in December

Since the snowstorm that hit the Eastern Seaboard left the DC area relatively unscathed, I’ve luckily made my way back here from the awesome land known as “Milwaukee,” where I hung out with family and forced them to eat insane desserts.

While I was there, my Uncle Dave fed us well, which involved a trip to V. Richards.

At this little shop, I discovered not only a supply of Vosges bars, but a local chocolate bar outlet: Indulgence Chocolatiers, a Milwaukee-based business that handcrafts chocolate bars. Reviews, as always, are forthcoming.

My Uncle Dave also took us past Brennan’s, which boasts the Best. Cheese. Selection. Ever.

They also happened to have some E. Guittard in stock.

In addition to the milk chocolate that I purchased to make some lime-coconut thumbprint cookies, I picked up two new E. Guittard bars to review.

Well, and to eat. Let’s not pretend that this is anything but an awesome task.

Since Wisconsin is playing in the Rose Bowl later this week, everybody is all about the Badgers this week, and my family celebrated by making some Wisconsin-themed Brunsli.

I had some help from my grandmother, who has actually studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu and at The Ritz Hotel Paris. I mean, wow. Am I seriously lucky or what?

Since she and I share a love of baking, she got me a copy of Warren Brown’s latest book, United Cakes of America, for Christmas.

My Uncle Dave and Aunt Maggie, who are also well-aware of my kitchen exploits, got me a convection toaster oven (!).

And my parents pitched in by getting me new baking sheets and a kitchen scale, both of which will be very helpful in my quest to make more and more macarons.

And, as no trip to Milwaukee would be complete without frozen custard, my Uncle Dave got us Turtle Sundae custard from Kopp's Frozen Custard.

The Turtle Sundae flavor features a base of Kopp's signature creamy vanilla custard, and also includes a bittersweet chocolate sauce that had just a bit of grit to it, crunchy roasted pecans, and a buttery caramel sauce.

Neat little break for Christmas, huh? I sure thought so. Plenty of chocolate, that's for sure.

Did you travel at all for Christmas? Where did you go? And most importantly, was there good chocolate?