For Chocolate Lovers

Thanks etc.

Thanks to all who came into the store to shop for Easter and ordered online !!
We have a great time with our product and you all are what makes it possible.

We promise to keep coming up with new products and great gift ideas in the future.

If you've never been to our shop please keep us in mind when you are traveling in our area.
Our southern Maine town is a big destination spot. We locals are so lucky to live here.
It's beautiful! and there are so many great local businesses.

EASTER 2008

Spring begins today and Easter is almost here!

Our shop is full of baskets, chocolate bunnies, candies, assortments
and of course the chocolate case for you to pick and choose from.

Chocolate Easter Bunnies promote the imagination for the young and
young at heart!
Parents have been coming into the shop to buy an easter rabbit for their
daughter or son. After chatting I often have found that their "child" is
in their 30's !

I had a wonderful time making up this years basket. The addition of
the cocoa almond shortbread cookies embelished with chocolate
really made it extra delicious.

By the way, I have some lovely white and milk chocolate crosses.

I look forward to seeing everyone.
Come in and enjoy the samples.
Today our chocolate shop is 2 years old.

Sandra

Valentine's Eve

It was a great time in the chocolate shop today and everyone was enjoying the free samples.

I made a fresh batch of blueberry and cranberry pistachio bark as well as dipped glace apricots that were beckoning to the customers.

The Channel 8 camera men purchased chocolate today.  I tried to convince them to put me on the air but their assignment was the snowy rainy Maine weather so perhaps another day! I encouraged them to come back for easter which by the way is early this year !

When your a person that thrives on being creative, full of so many ideas it is hard to keep up with showing that to the customer on the web.

I was happy to receive a call from an acquaintance who needed several boxes made for a meeting she was having on Valentine's Day so I created assortments based on her needs and I had a great time making them up. ( Hint, hint, we are a great source for multiple gifts for business associates, offices, parties etc.! )  In everything we do it is a reflection of us, and we care for it to taste great and look just as good.
This blog was meant to be about Chocolate but when you own a chocolate shop there is more to it than the days I spend making chocolates in the kitchen which by the way is an incredibly wonderful thing to do.

Manipulating tempered chocolate into its many forms, while it flows, smells and feels incredible and looks and tastes amazing is very satisfying.

By the way, I sea salted caramels too this week.

Happy Valentine's Day

Sandra

 

Cupids assistant

Today I spent the majority of my day filling heart boxes with the chocolates I made yesterday. My camera man was videoing so perhaps some of it will land on our website! Chocolates should not only taste amazing but they should look beautiful when the box is opened!
We'll have many fresh pre made boxes to purchase for Valentine's or customers can pick and choose from the case.
Valentine's is a special holiday. I enjoy watching my customers pick and choose with care for their special
someone.

New this year are my coffee cups. Milk chocolate cups filled with cream dark chocolate and coffee-topped with white chocolate and cinnammon.
Yesterday, I made a fresh batch of buttercrunch-Delicious! Buttercrunch isn't candy it's food!

I've also been asked about pepper and chocolate so we have made some small bars with red pepper for you hot lovers. They aren't on the web yet so if you are local come on in to the shop.
We look forward to seeing you soon and they'll be special treats to taste while your shopping!
I plan to be open every day before Valentine's,
Yours in chocolate,
Sandra

Valentine's Day Preparation

With the Christmas holidays over this is a great time of year to make plans for the upcoming year.
New Years resolutions for chocolate! Eat more of it and new recipes!

I've had my head in many new books "The Chocolate Companion" a guide to the world's finest chocolates by Chantal Coady, and "Chocolate & Confections by P. Greweling of the Culinary Institute of America. Inspiring!

Just prior to Valentine's Day I will be making all fresh selections for the sweet day!  This year we are offering a sweet red heart shaped box in 1/2 lb or 1 lb. We had a great time photographing these for you to see!

Plans are also in the making for Easter. I've have molds that I absolutely adore with new ones on the way.
This year I will be offering premade baskets. More details to come!

Today I enjoyed eating raisins dipped in 70% dark. I have a gentleman customer who likes my raisin walnut bars. He bought them all, and if he is reading this I've made more for you!

Chocolate all day long

The chocolate shop is the busiest it's ever been. I've been making special assortments as customers pick and choose their favorites. A lot of big orders and shipments. It is such a treat to receive orders from southern customers who I assume were summering in Maine when they discovered my shop.

Today I received my Dagoba shipment and though they said it was out of stock I did receive my organic cocoa mix with chile and cinnamon which was a nice suprize. I quickly placed it on the shelves and made a gift basket full of organic chocolate.

I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week. My newest truffle is a hazelnut creation. Freshly roasted hazelnuts ground, mixed with milk chocolate and butter and enrobed in 54% dark chocolate and a roasted hazelnut on top. This afternoon during a quiet moment I ate one and really enjoyed it, and then a little later ate another!

I was asked if I create my own recipes or give classes. I do not give classes but we did have a free chocolate tasting event last winter and I expect will do another one in the future. We would advertise this on our website. My distributor of my Callebaut Coverture was nice enough to lead the presentation on the origins of chocolate. Many people have no idea how chocolate grows or how it is processed. Quite fastening! Some of my truffles are a simple base of cream and chocolate (ratios vary depending on the flavors and type of chocolate) with added liquors, and I do use recipe books for inspiration. Any time I find a new book on chocolate with a certain amount of intellect in their presentation I buy it. One recipe book: "Truffles" by Dede Wilson has been very nice. That is where I found the Pumpkin Spice Truffle recipe, though I do not follow published recipes exactly. The pumpkin spice truffle is like biting into the holidays! Milk Chocolate, pumpkin, cream,cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg!
"Belgian Chocolate", by Roger Geerts has also been inspiring.

I enjoy using my european molds. They have a very neat appearance, and since all my chocolates are made by hand, meaning I do not have a conveyor belt that will enrobe the chocolate onto centers, the molds work well, but I also hand enrobe some truffles. This week I also made my milk amaretto truffle with marzipan.

I've run out of pumpkin spice truffles and buttercrunch so I will be back in the kitchen as soon as possible.
Time for a break this evening to a Christmas party and of course I'm bringing along a box of chocolates which will be fun to watch disappear very quickly!

Regards,
Sandra

Glorious Chocolate

Welcome to my blog.  This is my first one and I plan to update it usually on the days I am working in the kitchen.

I had a wonderful time in the kitchen this week which is always a  big reminder as to why I originally fell in love with chocolate making. Chocolate is incredible to work with. My day starts with 10 lbs of chocolate at a time generally using 40 to 50 lbs on a short day.  My tempering machine is loaded and melting as a prepare what I will be making.  This week I roasted almonds and pecans for barks, turtles and buttercrunch and prepared truffle centers with fresh cream spices and liquors for my chambord, pumpkin spice and bailey's truffles. I also made my first batch of peppermint bark and finally found a source for peppermints which I half dip in dark chocolate. I opened the chocolate shop less than two years ago and I am still looking for new products and always new recipes and ideas to expand my inventory.  I shucked pistachios from there shells for my cranberry pistachio bark. It is time consuming but the pistachios fresh from the shells look so much nicer than preshucked pistachios. 

Why did I open a chocolate shop?  Because after all the chocolates are made I wanted to be the one to decide how they were packaged and presented to the customer.  That in itself is a whole nother aspect that I love.  Yesterday I fussed over how to box my peppermint bark and half dipped mints together.  My presentation must look nice.  I just had a lady buy the first two boxes along with a pound of pecan turtles.  My favorite!  I take the holidays pretty seriously when it comes to providing my customers with something special for their gift giving.  It should be delicous, intriguing to the taste buds, old favorites mixed with something new and presented in a caring manner and to top it off I'm happy to see everyone that comes in the shop. Last year at this time customers started rolling in.  It's a little nerve racking to be new at this business and not be sure how much chocolate to make since I make it up fresh each week and I still have a new list of truffles to make. Hazelnuts included!

I have two shipments arriving this week which include more organic Dagoba bars which have been quite popular. Dagoba pure Milk, 59% Lavendar with blueberries, 59% lime & macadamia nut, 66% hemp, pumpkin, sunflower seed, and 74% super fruit with acai, gogi berries and currants!  My other shipment includes the book 1,001 reasons to love chocolate which will be included in a gift basket along with ganache for lips ( a lip balm made with chocolate) and fun aprons with chocolate sayings, and Omanhene cocoa mix a chocolate grown and processed in Ghana. Yum!

Okay, I'll stop for now. I could go on and on.

Happy Holidays-Sandra