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
