2011 sofi Awards - Hot Beverage Finalist

Two spicy drinking chocolates made the cut for as the  2011 sofi Awards in the Outstanding Hot Beverage Category.  These Silver Finalists include:

Chuao Chocolatier - Spicy Maya Hot Chocolate

Teatulia Premium 100% Organic Tea Lemongrass Herbal Infusion

Theo Chocolate - Theo Chocolate Chipotle Sipping Chocolate

On July 11th at the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., one of these Silver Finalists will become the recipient of the Gold Award. 

Losing Cadbury's Somerdale

  Oh no!  The iconic Cadbury Somerdale site in the UK is up for sale.  Last January, Kraft acquired this nearly 200 year old company for close to $19 B. Considered the largest European beverage and food deal on record, it also represents the loss of historic confectionery legend started by John Cadbury in 1824 in Birmingham, UK.

As a Quaker, John Cadbury believed that traditionally served alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine lead to poverty and morale decay. Cadbury introduced alternative beverages to the market by serving, cocoa, hot chocolate, coffee and tea in his Birmingham shop.  By 1842, Cadbury was selling an array of cocoas and drinking chocolates (11 types of cocoa and 16 drinking chocolates).

Soon the company turned into a family affair as other family members came to support and operate the Cadbury empire.  Along the way, Cadbury supported his employees by building living quarters near the production factories allowing families to be close to work and assisting employees with maintaining a comfortable work life balance.

The 220 acre Somerdale site includes 600 residential units along with various confectionery production equipment. 

A petition was started to help protect this site from future development at http://www.saveoursomerdale.co.uk/

Finding Hotel Chocolat

I just landed in Boston a few hours ago and I’ve already had a little tour of the area. During this trip I am staying at the historical The Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers on Park Plaza. Usually, I stay at The Liberty but it was sold out for this trip. The minute I landed, I was off to the Flour Bakery on Washington Street. However, the weather was gloomy and it started to rain. Typically I would say, “Who cares”. But the construction on Arlington and the Gay Pride Parade block off some of the roads. I am pretty savvy at navigating areas, but I didn’t want to risk getting lost in potentially bad weather. So, I watched the parade attendees dance in the streets for a hot moment and decided to have an early dinner at McCormick and Schmidt’s until the weather improved.

Church of the Covenant on Newbury

After dinner, I went back to my room to grab a hat and attempt to find H&M. On my way up and down Newbury Street I stumbled upon the Hotel Chocolat at 141 Newbury Street. Many moons back I blogged about their cacao plantation and hotel experience. Although I was disappointed I couldn’t get to Flour Bakery, this is a superb find. Upon entering the brightly light modern location, I searched the shelves for their hot chocolate. Opps! Excuse me, Hotel Chocolat calls it Liquid Chocolat. Their Carmel Chocolate caught my eye first. It has these cute little cream colored hearts mixed in with light brown chocolate shavings. I knew my husband would love this, but call me greedy. It is all about the Classic/Dark Chocolate. Hotel Chocolat also had an Aztec Chili Liquid Chocolat and pure cocoa powder. After an employee offered me a tasty heart shaped chocolate containing hazelnuts, I selected a jar of their Classic Dark Drinking Chocolate. What I loved best was that the jar was plastic. This makes it so easy to travel to my second destination prior to arriving at home.

I still have another night to get to Flour Bakery. I haven’t given up yet.

Hot Chocolate from the Windy City

Consumer Reports Hot Cocoa Review

With a hint of French Vanilla

On a recent excursion to Hubble & Hudson, a local gourmet food retailer, cooking school and restaurant extraordinaire, I came across wonderful French simple syrup. For the past few months, I’ve been craving Vanilla Steamer beverages and my mission was to simplify the "make it from scratch" process.



I’ve been locally searching for vanilla bean simple syrup, so when I came across the Epicerie De Provence Vanille Sirop I was absolutely elated. Tonight, my husband and I enjoyed an aromatic cup of steamed milk enhanced with a vanilla bean infused vanilla simple syrup. Each drink was topped with whipped heavy cream with a dash of vanilla extract (This was left over from the blueberry crumbles I made last night.)


The recipe is quite simple:
1 cup of milk
1 tbls of Epicerie De Provence Vanille Sirop (or Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup)
Whipped Cream to garnish (optional)


Directions:
Pour milk in a microwave safe mug
Microwave milk for 45 seconds.  Remove from microwave
Add vanilla syrup and froth with a handheld frother
Return to microwave for another minute and frother one last time

With Whipped Cream

Upon frothing the heated beverage, you can see flecks of the vanilla bean. The best part of it all was no additional sweeter was required as the syrup was all encompassing. Although the price point of this delicacy can be a little steep at $12 to $16 per bottle, it is absolutely worth it!

Hidden Treasure

After returning from two weeks of business travel, I came home to a sparkling clean house compliments from my husband.  Inspired by his wonderful deed, I continued where he left off with dusting.  Upon dusting the tins in the kitchen, I came across a heavy tin.  Since these are traditionally decorative, I could not remember what would be in them.  Low and beyond, it was two types of  Moctuzuma Table Chocolates.  What a lovely find.
Made by Chocolatera Moctuzuma S.A. DE C.V., this company has been making tablet chocolates since 1940 in Uruapan, Michoacán.

Unfortunately, the other tin wasn't so pleasant.  It contained various types of gourmet marshmallows that looked exceptionally scary.  These were the goodies I was trying to hide from my husband last year and save for myself.  But I forgot my hiding place.  I guess this is what I get for not sharing :)  'Tis the season!

It's not always about the hot chocolate

  

Just wanted to share the 1-year adoption anniversary of our puppy Wally.  Although he is no longer a puppy since he is 2+ years old, he is our baby nonetheless. 

We celebrated with doggie cupcakes and treats! 

Treats from Barker Street Bakery in The Woodlands, Texas



Chip, our 92 lb 8-month old German Shepherd, participated in the festivities as well!



Chip and Wally playing outside



Wally tired out from the festivities



Milk Frothing Made Easy

Just added the Breville Electric Milk Frother to my birthday and holiday wish list.  This little stainless steel beauty stirs and froths milk while using induction heating. Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean, the Breville Frother eliminates the need to use a double-boiler or microwave to heat milk for hot chocolate creations or Vanilla Steamers.  Exclusive to Williams-Sonoma.com, the frother retails for $160.00.

Tribeca Treats: Hot Cocoa Recipe

Easy instructions from Tribeca Treats for hot cocoa on dailycandy.com

Farewell Original Hershey Chocolate Factory

The home of the Hershey's Kiss is closing it's doors after breaking ground in 1903.  Although chocolate production will continue at a newly built modern facility nearby, Milton Hershey's dreams came to life at this iconic location.

Toot, Toot! All a board a Vanilla Steamer!

With all the travel I've been doing lately, it's sad when airport security recognizes me in line.  Every airport has 50 billion Starbucks and I've become one of those sleepy eyed travelers waiting in line for a pick up me up.  However, it is the Vanilla Steamers with whip (whipped cream) I crave, not coffee.  It is eaiser to have these cravings when someone else is footing the bill.  So, when I am no longer traveling, the budget gourmet in me kicks in.

Here is my own spin on Vanilla Steamers:

1 cup Milk
1 tbls Honey
1/2 tbls Vanilla

I've made this two different ways:

Option 1 -

1.  Blend ingredients in a double boiler over low/medium heat until heated through

2.  Pour into a mug 

3.  Use a handeld frother to add volume

Option 2 -

1.  Blend ingredients in a mug

2.  Microwave for 45 seconds and remove from microwave

3.  Use a handheld frother to mix and add volume

4.  Microwave again for 1 minute

5.  Remove from microwave and froth one last time with frother

It's all about the cupcake

Alright chefs-in-the-making.  Scharffen Berger's Chocolate Adventure Contest is back!  This year's theme is chocolate and cupcakes.  An award winning recipe will get you $20,000 prizes.  The contest entry period ends January 2, 2011. 

Instant Crumble Desserts

Everyone knows I love Crumble desserts.  Apple Crumbles, Blueberry Crumbles, Raspberry Crumbles and so on.  All are amazingly delicious and relatively easy to make.  Originally, I was using a pre-made mix with cinnamon, sugar and oatmeal to make my crumbles. 

Howevever, I realized that using a flavored Oatmeals such as Quaker Instant Oatmeal adds a lot of flavor to a Crumble.  So,  I  decided to use one package of an Instant Oatmeal, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tbls of butter chopped into pieces and blended with a fruit of choice.  For this recipe, I used the French Vanilla Instant Oatmeal and one Granny Smith Apple per bag of oatmeal. Fresh whipping cream sweetened with honey was made to enhance to experience.

One Granny Smith Apple per packet of oatmeal.

Peel and cut the apple into small pieces.

Blend, oatmeal, butter pieces and cinnamon together.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Whipped up heavy cream with honey.

The final product.

Absolutely yummy!

Sweet scientific discovery in the world of chocolate

DNA sequencing for healthier chocolate on CNN.com

Low calorie hot chocolate recipes

Everyone should be able to drink hot chocolate!

Dagoba Saves the Day

Due to spending the last 2-1/2 months non-stop in airports, I've developed a craving for Starbuck's Vanilla Steamers.  Do not fret.  I am still obsessed with Hot Chocolate.  However, I've come to appreciate Starbuck's Vanilla Steamers.  After running my errands, I decided to lazily drive through the drive thru of my local Starbuck's location.  I ordered my favorite combo:  A tall Vanilla Steamer and a blueberry scone.  In my excitement, I decided to order a Grande Steamer versus the Tall.  Yahoo!  This was going to be a wonderful day.

Unfortunately, the scones were already gone.  However, the associate helping me found a blueberry muffin.  SCORE!  After paying for my order,  I hastily took off without sipping my drink.  I just assumed the beverage was correct since the cup was labeled Vanilla Creme.  Oh my joy was stolen when I arrived at the house to heat up my muffin and enjoy my Steamer.  Yuck!  It was a Vanilla Mocha. 

I tried and tried to indulge in this beverage, but anything with coffee traditionally is just horrible for me.  So, it was off to the pantry to select a Hot Chocolate to quench my thirst for something delicious. 

The chosen hot chocolate of the day is Dagoba's Authentic Hot Chocolate.  As an aficionado of their Xocolatl spicy hot chocolate, I knew this selection would be just as fabulous.

The Authentic Hot Chocolate has a subtle blend of flavors leaving a wonderful essence in your mouth. 

It blended together fine, but required a few extra turns of the spoon in both a clockwise and counterclockwise direction to ensure the cocoa powder and milk was mixed together.

In the end, Dagoba saved the day.

Hot Chocolate: Ainsley's Gourmet Express

Watch the BBC's Ainsley Harriott make hot chocolate with cinnamon, cardamon, milk and a bar of chocolate.

Bellissimo Houston

Minuti Coffee landed in downtown Houston.  Located on 909 Texas, Minuti Coffee serves up Italian coffee, espresso along with an array of other speciality drinks, baked goods, sandwiches and paninis.  The speciality drink that caught my attention is the Cioco Delice.  Made with Molinari chocolate steamed with milk to create a thick drinking beverage the Cioco Delice is, most likely, what many refer to as a European Drinking Chocolate.  Served with a dollop of whipped cream, the Cioco Delice can be enhanced with a dash of Mayan, Hazelnut and Chocolate Truffle flavors.

It appears a trip downtown is in order to investigate this Italian hot chocolate experience.

Our Independence Brunch!

Wow!  Time flys when you travel like a mad woman!  Many fun adventures occurred since my last post so I have a lot to share.  First and foremost, Happy Independence Day!  For this year's celebration, I am sharing our splendid crepe brunch:

My crepe recipe consists of:

3 Eggs

1 cup Horchata Milk (yes, I am still on that kick)

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

3/4 Flour

Steps:

1.  Beat eggs until frothy

2.  Add remaining ingredients and blend well

3.  Let batter rest for 30 minutes

4.  Heat 10" nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat

5.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan and swirl to coat bottom

6.  Cook until golden around edges. Flip over and cook briefly. Plate

My crepe filling:

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Strawberries, sliced

Steps:

1.  Add  butter to another skillet over medium-high heat.

2.  Add sugar and cook until bubbly (about 1 minute)

3.  Add Strawberries and stir

4.  Cook through for another 2 to 4 minutes

5.  Remove from heat

6.  Add mixture to crepes.  Fold in half

Topping:

1 cup Strawberries, sliced

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (our favorite is Leonardo e Roberto's Traditional Balsamic Vinegar)

1 tbsp Confectioners' Sugar

Steps:

1.  Toss strawberries and vinegar together

2.  Coat mixture with sugar

3.  Chill for 1 hr in refrigerator.  Toss again

4.  Garnish crepes with mixture and powdered sugar

Along with the crepes, I served an pre-made eggs, potatoes, sausage and cheese skillet along with our favorite yogurt (Le Creme Vanilla Yougurt) coated with the balsamic marinated strawberries.

Indulge and Enjoy everyone!