Happy New Year!: Kate Weiser Passion Praline Candy Bar

Happy 2017!

I turned 29 on the 31^st. I’ve always loved having a birthday on New Year’s Eve – it’s a day that begs for celebration and has a delightful cyclicality to it. As the calendar ticks of another trip ‘round the sun, I can draw energy and inspiration from the delighted resolutions of so many people determined to get the very best out of the coming year. I can’t imagine a more invigorating day for a birthday.

My New Year’s was delightfully quiet. Andrew and I spent the evening with friends, eating the rest of the amazing Kate Weiser chocolates left from Christmas (another post on that coming soon) and an incredibly dense, chocolatey birthday cake concocted by my amazing mother, and watching Star Wars. We had our obligatory champagne at midnight, and then dispersed, enjoying the last of the Christmas light displays on our way home.

Now, by most objective measures 2016 was pretty rough. Suffice it to say that it was a hard year for water, refugees, heroes and celebrities, American politics, the UK, the EU, global politics in general, anyone who’s Muslim, and all residents of Syria and neighboring countries.

On the other hand, after a century of decline the tiger population increased in 2016, Tubman is set to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, the US has reached an all-time low in teen pregnancies and seen impressive gains in high-school graduations, the FARC rebels in Columbia signed a peace agreement with the government after decades of armed conflict bringing peace to the entire Western Hemisphere for the first time in at least 60 years, India planted 50 million trees in a single day, Costa Rica ran on 98% renewable energy for a whole year, giant pandas and manatees just got taken off of the endangered species list, the Americas were declared measles-free, Liberia was cleared of Malaria, we found the ALS gene, Africa has no active cases of Ebola, we finally detected gravitational waves, and pretty soon I might be able to go visit Cuba without selling my kidney. So that’s all pretty cool.

This year in particular seems to be marked with new beginnings and transitions. There’s a weird sort of impending finality associated with turning 29 – it’s the last year of my 20s, and it feels a little bit like I’m coming to the end of the first act (not to be overly dramatic, of course). My sweetie and I are both starting new jobs this month, I’ve got a brother with some exciting career news for this year, and a mom who’s also in transition. My dad and youngest brother are in for some big changes this year as well, and I’ll be helping one of my best friends get hitched in June.

As for me, I’m still trying to figure out what I want from 2017 beyond a big sunny field to lie in. I’d like to read more actual books (scaling back on the internet articles, news, and blogs that currently dominate my reading habits). I’d like to get better about staying in touch with all the wonderful people in my life and maybe figure out how to be less conservative about interacting with strangers. Maybe figure out how to make some new friends. I’d like to join the board of a non-profit and take at least one international trip to Asia or South America – maybe Ecuador or Thailand, but suggestions are most welcome. 

I'd also like to write more. And eat more chocolate. So, one pledge for 2017 is that I will write at least one review for this blog per week. They may not have lengthy stories attached to them, and they may not always get posted to Facebook promptly, but there will be at least one post per week for the duration of this year. 

Here's to a more chocolatey year for everyone!

Item: Passion Praline Candy Bar
Percentage: ?? (Pretty light - maybe 35-40%?)

Made By: Kate Weiser
Made In: Dallas, TX

Purchased At: Kate Weiser Trinity Groves Outlet Store

Review: Kate Weiser makes what can only be described as art chocolate. She describes this one “tart passion fruit combines with crunchy hazelnut gianduja for the perfect citrus treat. My personal fave!” This is not pure chocolate, but it’s definitely top-notch candy. A crunchy, beautiful art-milk-chocolate shell encases two gorgeous, creamy layers of creamy chocolate filling. The upper layer is a white-chocolate passion-fruit ganache, while the lower layer is a milk chocolate hazelnut gianduja (a chocolate spread or filling of at least 30% hazelnut), sandwiching whole toasted hazelnuts and some crunchy “cornflake praline.” That’s a complicated description for something that actually winds up coming across pretty wonderfully simple in the eating. 

There’s a delicate, lovely inter-play between the creamy, tart passion fruit and the earthy, crunchy hazelnut, and the chocolate ties it all together, providing a smooth medium for everything to play nicely together. I’ll say that the praline seemed to get just a tad soggy after a while, but the whole bar held up admirably in the car on a hot day (an important virtue in Texas). The milk chocolate is also stellar, which is something you won’t find me saying that much – It’s sweet, but not overwhelming, gentle, but not spineless, milky, but utterly free of that gross dried-milk aftertaste that hangs around after cheap milk chocolate, reminding you of every horrible decision you’ve ever made. *shudder.* This is some really wonderful (and beautiful!) stuff. 

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

With love,
 - K 

This Anxious Holiday Season: World Peace Cookies

This post is a little different. 

There are some days when a bar of chocolate is just too hands off to handle all the crap that life decides to throw at you. There are days when the world seems like it's reeling, drunk or blind, on the edge of some precipice, and the intersection of all this madness centers right over your apartment complex in the form of a soul-sucking, bleak, dreary, masterpiece of a day. When Mellville's damp, drizzly November leaps off the pages and into the December skies of DFW, extreme measures are called for.

And so, with my sister heading into the social crucible that is the Standing Rock protest in North Dakota, an increasingly uncertain political future for my country, a friend back in the hospital, concerns about my family, and facing down the prospect of starting at a new, much scarier job on January 1, on this particularly bleak and drizzly Saturday, I turned to the inimitable Dorie Greenspan to help set things right. 

It was time to set up Christmas at Andrew's parents' place, so we broke out the mulled wine and Christmas carols on Spotify, and as Andrew decked the halls with lights and garlands, I took to the kitchen. Furnished with a sparkly shirt, Christmas apron, and Santa hat, creating the deepest dark chocolate rounds, flecked with the most divine bittersweet, rolling and punching out butter-logged sugar cookies into Christmas trees, soldiers, and holly with the nostalgia-laden cookie cutters I grew up with, tending to the long-simmering stew on the stove.

It felt, miraculously, like everything was going to be ok.

These cookies have been on my "to bake" radar for a while, and they fulfilled all of my wildest expectations - as French sables, they are delightfully light, sandy shortbread cookies, but with a chocolate heart as deep as the fudgiest of brownies. Don't overbake these, and don't get too creative - they are perfect. Just be sure to have plenty of milk on hand - you will want it. (They are also well-complemented by a batch of these sugar cookies. Just in case you get inspired and want to make both like I did. They very much benefit by each others' company.)

I think we could all use a little peace right now, and sometimes, when everything else seems like it's falling apart, chocolate can at least serve to get you through the afternoon. 

Item: World Peace Cookies

A word on mixing, log rolling and patience: This dough can be different from batch to batch — it always seems to turn out well no matter what, but the inconsistency can be frustrating. I’ve found that it’s best to mix the dough for as long as it takes to get big, moist curds that hold together when pressed and then knead if necessary so it comes together. When you’re rolling it into logs, keep checking that the logs are solid. Again, the dough can be capricious and it may not always roll into a compact log on the first (or second or third) try. Be patient.

         Makes about 36 cookies

   1 1/4 cups (170 grams) all-purpose flour
   1/3 cup (28 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
   1/2 teaspoon baking soda
   1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons; 5 1/2 ounces; 155 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
   2/3 cup (134 grams) packed light brown sugar
   1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
   1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
   1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
   5 ounces (142 grams) best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into irregular sized bits

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together. (I didn't sift. Still delicious.)

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until soft, creamy and homogenous, about 3 minutes. Beat in the salt and vanilla. Turn off the mixer, add all the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to start the blending. When the risk of flying flour has passed, turn the mixer to low and beat until the dough forms big, moist curds. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix to incorporate. This is an unpredictable dough (see above). Sometimes it’s crumbly and sometimes it comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl. Happily, no matter what, the cookies are always great.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gather it together, kneading it if necessary to bring it together. Divide the dough in half. Shape the dough into logs that are 11/2 inches in diameter. Don’t worry about the length — get the diameter right, and the length will follow. (If you get a hollow in the logs, just start over.) Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and freeze them for at least 2 hours or refrigerate them for at least 3 hours.

When you’re ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Working with one log at a time and using a long, sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. (The rounds might crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. (If you’ve cut both logs, keep one baking sheet in the fridge while you bake the other.)

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes — don’t open the oven, just let them bake. When the timer rings, they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, and that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can munch them, or let them reach room temperature (I think the texture’s more interesting at room temperature).

Bake the remaining dough.

Eat. Be at peace. 

The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months, although I can't imagine it'll last that long. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just bake the cookies 1 minute longer. 


With love, Kat

To All Maine Points: Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sourdough Truffles

Hello, and welcome!

You’ve found your way into our repository of all things chocolate.

Who are we? We are Will and Kat – a brother and sister duo reporting in from opposite sides of the continent (New York and Texas, respectively). We share many interests: classic science fiction novels, sleeping in, traveling, breakfast tacos, talking philosophy until 3 in the morning, our other two siblings… and finding that perfect bar of blissfully dark chocolate.

We eat a lot of chocolate. We try bars, truffles, and other confections. We’ll pick them up from grocery stores, friends, bookstores, airport gift shops, high-end chocolate stores, and gas stations. Every once in a while we’ll stumble across a delightful chocolate oasis that merits a little more personal attention (Fruition Chocolate comes to mind. Or Lucky Chocolate - bring back the goat cheese truffle!!!). And, since we do all this stuff anyway, it just makes sense to keep all our findings in one place, and that place is here.

I (Kat) am going to kick things off by singing the blues a little. One thing I've never had to do before this year, that sucks beyond belief, is spend an entire summer away from all of my siblings. 

It is a lonely, off-center feeling when you realize that your family is so far away. There are lots of little peripheral realizations that accompany the feeling: that you can't just hop in the car and drive down for the weekend. That you are no longer anyone's primary emergency contact. That if the zombie apocalypse went down tomorrow you would probably never see them again.That they can't commiserate about the awful Texas weather and the Blue Bell famine. That they've probably forgotten what decent enchiladas even taste like (poor souls). All those little things just hint at the core of the issue, though, which is simply that they are a long way away from me.

I want them to be here. I want us to all live in the same city again. I want us all to talk on a weekly or even daily basis. I want to lie on the floor and watch Star Trek and throw popcorn at each other and talk about stupid things and important things and funny things and nerdy things and delicious things until all hours. I miss them all terribly with something remarkably akin to homesickness. 

So, frustrated, heartsick, and off-balance, I hopped on an airplane two weeks ago and flew the East Coast to get my sibling fix. 

What wonders a long weekend can work on a weary soul. It was three days worthy of our goofy collective; with a late-night diner visit, great music, traipsing through the woods, campfires, goats, good food, the most delightful group of people known to human kind, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate. 

 

 

After a not-long-enough day and a half in Maine visiting with Mignon and Forrest, Will and I had to head back to New York so he could play a gig Saturday evening, but on the way back we made the obligatory stop at the Fruition chocolate outpost in the bustling little town of Woodstock, NY. We chatted with the resident chocolatier, munched on some roasted cacao beans, and perused the selection. Although I spent about $100 on great chocolate to bring back with me to Texas, I wasted no time in sharing these little gems with Will.

It's quite likely that soon the four of us will be living in four different states, spread from one end of this continent to the other. From here on out, with jobs, friends, obligations, and eventually houses, spouses, children, and other delightful complications, it will only get harder to get us all in the same place, but I find immense comfort in knowing that wherever, and whenever that is, magic will happen, and my spirit and faith in humanity will be renewed.


Item: Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sourdough Truffles

Made By: Fruition Chocolate
Made In: Shokan, NY
Purchased At: Fruition Chocolate - Woodstock, NY
Purchase Price: (They don't have this on the website - will call for this later).

Review: With sourdough crumbs from the lovely local Bread Alone Bakery & Cafe, this delightful creation is a child of the Hudson Valley. The outside is crackly and intriguing, with the barest hint of tangy, salty sourdough. The inside is all smooth, powerful cocoa flavor, with a clean, slick barely-there olive-oil finish. The interior of the truffle is just a little sweeter than I generally prefer, but is nicely offset by the sourdough crumbs on the outside. Very well crafted, unusual truffle, with major bonus points for creative flavors. Don't come to this one for dessert. 

Highly recommend