We are gearing up for the Autumn Holidays and our first big test was First Saturday. First Saturday is designed to get college kids downtown to see what's available. We saw a lot of kids through the door and a couple hundred tried to guess our Mystery Flavor. We gave them a couple hints and 65 guessed correctly. I made about 480 samples to last 5 hours but they were pretty much gone by 4:00. The Mystery Flavor turned out to be Sour Apple and it was actually very good. So good in fact, we may end up adding it to our case in the near future!
We've added another new flavor of fudge: Maple Walnut. Ellen is making this one and it uses local maple syrup. I'm not a big maple fan but this fudge really tastes like maple syrup right out of the bottle and that's the only stuff I like.
Our Cornwall Turtles have made a reappearance to the case as well. They are bigger than before and will not fit in our trays so they will be sold by the weight. As with our nut clusters and toffee, we are trying to sell those awkward things that don't fit in our trays by weight. It's really better for the customer since they are paying for exactly what they get. Otherwise, we'd have to pick out the smallest cluster in order to fit in a tray. I've found that most people don't mix the clusters with the creams, or they just forget about them because they are in a different case. But when people get clusters, that's all they get so I think this switch to selling by weight only is a good one for all.
Our Flavor of the Month is Tom! Named for Tom, our Saturday help, and Ellen's hubby, he finally got his own flavor to snack on. The Tom chocolate is a white chocolate shell with peanut butter filling. Hope he likes it! LOL.
We've also begun making Chocolate Spoons. These will be a Winter seasonal item to start but if people get hooked, we may make them all year. The Chocolate Spoon is a solid chocolate on a handle that allows you to swirl it into a hot beverage like coffee or hot cocoa. We add a touch of flavor to some of them. We have Irish Cream, Hazelnut, and Amaretto. I dunked a plain Dark chocolate one into my cheap packet of cocoa the other day and it was transformed into a chocolaty delight. I was surprised by how much of a difference it made. So when I can't get the gourmet cocoa that I make, I can have a chocolate spoon on hand to make up for it! These spoons just dissolve in the hot liquid in a minute.
I would even think that you can make hot chocolate from them by swirling them into hot milk. For my tastes, I might need a couple spoons, however, as I like a rich Chocolate flavor in my hot cocoa. If it tastes like sweet milk, then it's not for me! That's why if anyone has tried our St. Lawrence Hot Chocolate knows that it's only for those who like to drink their chocolate! I go for rich chocolaty flavor NOT sweet, NOT milky. This is closer to how the ancient Aztecs consumed their chocolate. It was a bitter drink. It was not made with milk; it was made with water. So I can't wait to make up a batch of our Northern Nights Cocoa and try a chocolate spoon in that! AWESOME!
We are heading for Atlantic City this weekend to attend the Philadephia Candy Show. Ellen goes every year to see what's new with chocolate. So no doubt we'll come home with some brand new ideas to try out in the kitchen and add to our stock!
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Newest Addition
We have finally relented... we now have fudge. We call it Tooley Two-Tone Fudge. It is not a traditional fudge... but is a very dense and creamy fudge. We have been making this for years, and I believe the recipe originated from one of our Aunts... Addie or Anne I believe. I will post a photo as soon as I can. We were going to call it Thanksgiving Fudge, because that seemed to be about the only time we really made it. And of course it is still a Holiday favorite.
The FOTM (Flavor of the Month) is white chocolate with a root beer flavored center. We call them Beverlys, after our mom. One of her favorite summer treats is a root beer float. She is quite a connoisseur. I remember one summer in Connecticut, visiting Aunt Addie we had root beer floats, and mom declared it had to be the best one she ever had. Not sure if any others have even come close to that one. Anyway the Beverly at St. Lawrence Chocolate is a small white chocolate morsel with a gold cocoa butter stripe, and of course with a root beer flavored center. They are only here for the month of August... but already we have had at least two requests to keep them on as a regular flavor.
With in the next couple of weeks we will also be trying our a Maple Fudge recipe. The first one crystalized too much and crumbled. Maple syrup is a tricky incredient. And we will also be creating chocolate coffee spons in Hazelnut, Ameretto, Irish Cream and plain chocolate.
The FOTM (Flavor of the Month) is white chocolate with a root beer flavored center. We call them Beverlys, after our mom. One of her favorite summer treats is a root beer float. She is quite a connoisseur. I remember one summer in Connecticut, visiting Aunt Addie we had root beer floats, and mom declared it had to be the best one she ever had. Not sure if any others have even come close to that one. Anyway the Beverly at St. Lawrence Chocolate is a small white chocolate morsel with a gold cocoa butter stripe, and of course with a root beer flavored center. They are only here for the month of August... but already we have had at least two requests to keep them on as a regular flavor.
With in the next couple of weeks we will also be trying our a Maple Fudge recipe. The first one crystalized too much and crumbled. Maple syrup is a tricky incredient. And we will also be creating chocolate coffee spons in Hazelnut, Ameretto, Irish Cream and plain chocolate.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
SummerFest 2009
Potsdam SummerFest 2009 was a great time for the most part. Only the driving rain late Saturday morning put a bit of damper on the craft show in the park. Business was lively Thursday and beautiful weather on Friday made it a great day to be out and about in the North Country. The clouds parted enough by the afternoon on Saturday, that the Willy Wonka Boat Float didn't sink, and was a fun experience for all of us. The float included Wilamena Wonka, Violet after she turned into a blueberry, four oompa loompas and one chocolate lab.... the same dog for which we named Red Gunner Bites (milk chocolate clusters with bits of pretzels.)
Blueberry creams are the flavor of the month and have been quite popular in both milk and dark. Next month will be a one called a Beverly, after our mother...it will be a root beer float flavor, one of her favorite treats.
Just a couple more photos of the day...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Approach of Summer Fest
This will be the shop's third Potsdam Summer Festival. We are pretty excited about participating in the local parade this year. We are creating the Willy Wonka Boat Float! We will have a Violet after she turned into a blueberry, Wilamena Wanka (Willie's long lost sister, who finally got into the family biz), and three oompa loompas. We will be handing out Willy Wonka jaw breakers and Laffy Taffy. So if you are in the Potsdam, NY area on July 10, be sure to stick around for the late afternoon parade and say to the gals.
We are also very stoked about our newest flavor, inspired by request from our lactose intolerant customers. We have created dark soy truffles... and they are very tasty, if we do say so ourselves. We started with the dark/dark version, and have also created a dark with dark raspberry. So spread the word... who said you can't enjoy truffles!
Another new addition is the Dark Almond Toffee. The butter crunch toffee has dark chocolate on each side, with almonds sprinkled on top. It as a delightful crispness to it, and that stick to your teeth effect.
And for that Flavor of the Month for June is Pitcairn Apricot (Apricot Jell in Dark Chocolate.) The apricot is very suttle in this one. July's flavor of the month will be Blake Blueberry. When we were kids and visiting relatives at the Blake-McNeil Campsite in South Colton, the blueberries grew wild around the campsites. It was a nice fresh taste on cereal. Then Dad started growing some tame ones at home... you had to get them quickly however, or else the birds beat us to them.
Our goal is to continue to add more flavors unti we have completely filled our two cooler cases. We have severl slots we can fill... so keep checking back for our newest flavors over the next few months.
We are also very stoked about our newest flavor, inspired by request from our lactose intolerant customers. We have created dark soy truffles... and they are very tasty, if we do say so ourselves. We started with the dark/dark version, and have also created a dark with dark raspberry. So spread the word... who said you can't enjoy truffles!
Another new addition is the Dark Almond Toffee. The butter crunch toffee has dark chocolate on each side, with almonds sprinkled on top. It as a delightful crispness to it, and that stick to your teeth effect.
And for that Flavor of the Month for June is Pitcairn Apricot (Apricot Jell in Dark Chocolate.) The apricot is very suttle in this one. July's flavor of the month will be Blake Blueberry. When we were kids and visiting relatives at the Blake-McNeil Campsite in South Colton, the blueberries grew wild around the campsites. It was a nice fresh taste on cereal. Then Dad started growing some tame ones at home... you had to get them quickly however, or else the birds beat us to them.
Our goal is to continue to add more flavors unti we have completely filled our two cooler cases. We have severl slots we can fill... so keep checking back for our newest flavors over the next few months.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Flavors and Requests: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
People always ask us where we come up with new flavors. Mostly we read what other chocolatiers are doing and try to figure out how they did that! But sometimes we just say, "that sounds really good" and give it a try. Customers also come in the shop and request certain things. We take these under consideration as there are some things people request that we have already decided we will not ever make.
Flavors. The Good:
Our Flavor of the Month for June is the Pitcairn Apricot. It's an apricot jelly in dark chocolate. We spray a bit of cocoa butter on the outside of the chocolate to distinguish it from our Saint. We used the name from our dunked apricots that we used to do. It just took too much time to dunk every single apricot! We were thinking of another jell since our Saint is so popular and decided to try this one. Not a big hit so far but the month ain't over yet!
The Bad:
A flavor that hasn't worked out is the Raspberry Fluff. In fact, we'll sell through what we have and then not make it again. I was experimenting with another white chocolate piece and decided to use a jar of Raspberry Marshmallow Fluff for a filling, similar to our Dekalb Delights. But the raspberry flavor of the fluff seems too "artificial" and it doesn't seem to be popular. White chocolate is hard to pair with a filling as it already so sweet. Back to the drawing board.
The Ugly:
While I hesitate to call our new Toffee ugly, it is a bulk item and therefore does not fit into our standard box with tray. For a "bark" type item, it looks pretty classy. We've had a few people ask if we have toffee and Ellen began looking up a few recipes. She finally got around to making one and it turned out quite well. Toffee is a hard confection but not as hard as a brittle. It has a taste range from caramel to brown sugar. Our toffee is also coated in our 64% dark chocolate on both sides then sprinkled with crushed almonds. We just added it to the case this week and it is only sold by weight. But it really is something you have to try.
Customer Requests:
The Good:
We had a request for a dairy-free truffle. Our traditional truffle ganache is made with cream and so is not dairy free. Our dark chocolate, however, is dairy-free and so is the "creme" filling we make. One of our customers suggested using Soy Milk rather than cream in the ganache and that would make the dark truffles dairy-free. Ellen gave it a shot and the filling firmed up to our standard and the truffles came out nicely. So we now have Soy Dark Truffles added to our case. While some people cringe when we tell them that they are soy, the truffle tastes very good. It's a great option for those who can't have dairy or are Vegan.
The Bad:
Okay, here's our dirty little secret, but you didn't hear it from me. We don't make Sponge Candy and we never will. This is an absolute. Don't bother asking, don't try begging, don't tell us how easy it is to make, how you loved it so much as a child and it brings back such fond memories every time you have a piece...Don't bother. We do not make it.
We have debated about carrying it. We can get Sponge Candy from Asher's which is the company that makes our Sugar Free line and our Coconut Clusters (which is one of our more popular sellers). It seems to be a regional taste...most people who ask about it are from Western NY or were from there originally. It also is popular in the Midwest US, I'm told. Ellen and I had never heard of it until we opened this shop and then did some research.
Sponge candy is not soft, like a sponge. It is named sponge candy for the porous appearance it has; lot's of little holes. But it's hard and crunchy. It has a strong Molasses flavor. This candy can then be dunked into chocolate. We don't make it. We won't make it.
Here's the reasoning. We don't like it. While we make things that we don't like (I don't like the Sugar Shack but it's one of our most popular flavors), everyone in our family doesn't like this candy. It's also time consuming to dunk each individual piece into the chocolate. We hand-dip everything and dunking little pieces is not just labor-intensive but it can really mess up the tempered batch of chocolate leading to a lot of waste. The sponge candy is also tough to cut through once it's set. You need a saw to get through it. While you could just break it up like we do our bark, the more uniform the pieces the better they fit in a box. When you're buying a box of chocolates as a gift, you like the lid to close and the chocolates to fit into their slots.
Oh sure, we could sell it bulk like we do the toffee and the bark, but you've missed the point. We don't like it.
Our apologies to those that love sponge candy and have requested it of us. We will not make it. It's just one of those things.
The Ugly:
Another request that simply can't be fulfilled is the ever-popular chocolate covered strawberry. I know they look so good in magazines and in those recipe books with the fondue pots. They are so romantic and sensuous. They aren't really that hard to make. The hardest part is finding the proper size berries and having them ripe.
So why don't we make them? Why don't we have them?
Strawberries are perishable. It's like any fruit that you buy at the grocery store. If you don't consume it in a few days, it's garbage bound. We have discovered with strawberries that after dunking they last 24 hours before the juices start to run out of them and the tops begin to shrivel. And let's face it, nobody is gonna buy something that looks like it's rotting!
As a small shop with only a small number of people through the doors on a daily basis, it isn't feasible to make these delights. It's also not something that you can save for later. If you don't consume the strawberry when you buy it, you might not want to eat it at all because it's gone bad. Strawberries are a real mess when the begin to rot. They exude a puddle of reddish goo as they shrivel up into just a dry husk. Have I talked you out of this yet?
We don't have any magic fairy dust that allows us to preserve strawberries any longer than you do with your refrigerator. We don't have any method that keeps these things fresh. We have to dunk and eat the SAME DAY or they go to waste. Not to mention that when you buy a quart of strawberries not all of them are fit for dunking.
That's why we only do strawberries when Ellen feels like it. I don't think too many people want to pay the true expense and cost of a chocolate covered strawberry. They just become ugly.
We always love to hear people's requests and try our best to accommodate. We can't make everything, we know, and some things just aren't feasible for us, but we love still to hear the requests. It lets us know what people are craving and how we can serve our customers better in the future. We're still working on some requests, like candied/chocolate covered ginger, our Wine Truffles, and maple sugar candy. So stop by the shop and tell us what you're craving. What's the worst I can say?
Flavors. The Good:
Our Flavor of the Month for June is the Pitcairn Apricot. It's an apricot jelly in dark chocolate. We spray a bit of cocoa butter on the outside of the chocolate to distinguish it from our Saint. We used the name from our dunked apricots that we used to do. It just took too much time to dunk every single apricot! We were thinking of another jell since our Saint is so popular and decided to try this one. Not a big hit so far but the month ain't over yet!
The Bad:
A flavor that hasn't worked out is the Raspberry Fluff. In fact, we'll sell through what we have and then not make it again. I was experimenting with another white chocolate piece and decided to use a jar of Raspberry Marshmallow Fluff for a filling, similar to our Dekalb Delights. But the raspberry flavor of the fluff seems too "artificial" and it doesn't seem to be popular. White chocolate is hard to pair with a filling as it already so sweet. Back to the drawing board.
The Ugly:
While I hesitate to call our new Toffee ugly, it is a bulk item and therefore does not fit into our standard box with tray. For a "bark" type item, it looks pretty classy. We've had a few people ask if we have toffee and Ellen began looking up a few recipes. She finally got around to making one and it turned out quite well. Toffee is a hard confection but not as hard as a brittle. It has a taste range from caramel to brown sugar. Our toffee is also coated in our 64% dark chocolate on both sides then sprinkled with crushed almonds. We just added it to the case this week and it is only sold by weight. But it really is something you have to try.
Customer Requests:
The Good:
We had a request for a dairy-free truffle. Our traditional truffle ganache is made with cream and so is not dairy free. Our dark chocolate, however, is dairy-free and so is the "creme" filling we make. One of our customers suggested using Soy Milk rather than cream in the ganache and that would make the dark truffles dairy-free. Ellen gave it a shot and the filling firmed up to our standard and the truffles came out nicely. So we now have Soy Dark Truffles added to our case. While some people cringe when we tell them that they are soy, the truffle tastes very good. It's a great option for those who can't have dairy or are Vegan.
The Bad:
Okay, here's our dirty little secret, but you didn't hear it from me. We don't make Sponge Candy and we never will. This is an absolute. Don't bother asking, don't try begging, don't tell us how easy it is to make, how you loved it so much as a child and it brings back such fond memories every time you have a piece...Don't bother. We do not make it.
We have debated about carrying it. We can get Sponge Candy from Asher's which is the company that makes our Sugar Free line and our Coconut Clusters (which is one of our more popular sellers). It seems to be a regional taste...most people who ask about it are from Western NY or were from there originally. It also is popular in the Midwest US, I'm told. Ellen and I had never heard of it until we opened this shop and then did some research.
Sponge candy is not soft, like a sponge. It is named sponge candy for the porous appearance it has; lot's of little holes. But it's hard and crunchy. It has a strong Molasses flavor. This candy can then be dunked into chocolate. We don't make it. We won't make it.
Here's the reasoning. We don't like it. While we make things that we don't like (I don't like the Sugar Shack but it's one of our most popular flavors), everyone in our family doesn't like this candy. It's also time consuming to dunk each individual piece into the chocolate. We hand-dip everything and dunking little pieces is not just labor-intensive but it can really mess up the tempered batch of chocolate leading to a lot of waste. The sponge candy is also tough to cut through once it's set. You need a saw to get through it. While you could just break it up like we do our bark, the more uniform the pieces the better they fit in a box. When you're buying a box of chocolates as a gift, you like the lid to close and the chocolates to fit into their slots.
Oh sure, we could sell it bulk like we do the toffee and the bark, but you've missed the point. We don't like it.
Our apologies to those that love sponge candy and have requested it of us. We will not make it. It's just one of those things.
The Ugly:
Another request that simply can't be fulfilled is the ever-popular chocolate covered strawberry. I know they look so good in magazines and in those recipe books with the fondue pots. They are so romantic and sensuous. They aren't really that hard to make. The hardest part is finding the proper size berries and having them ripe.
So why don't we make them? Why don't we have them?
Strawberries are perishable. It's like any fruit that you buy at the grocery store. If you don't consume it in a few days, it's garbage bound. We have discovered with strawberries that after dunking they last 24 hours before the juices start to run out of them and the tops begin to shrivel. And let's face it, nobody is gonna buy something that looks like it's rotting!
As a small shop with only a small number of people through the doors on a daily basis, it isn't feasible to make these delights. It's also not something that you can save for later. If you don't consume the strawberry when you buy it, you might not want to eat it at all because it's gone bad. Strawberries are a real mess when the begin to rot. They exude a puddle of reddish goo as they shrivel up into just a dry husk. Have I talked you out of this yet?
We don't have any magic fairy dust that allows us to preserve strawberries any longer than you do with your refrigerator. We don't have any method that keeps these things fresh. We have to dunk and eat the SAME DAY or they go to waste. Not to mention that when you buy a quart of strawberries not all of them are fit for dunking.
That's why we only do strawberries when Ellen feels like it. I don't think too many people want to pay the true expense and cost of a chocolate covered strawberry. They just become ugly.
We always love to hear people's requests and try our best to accommodate. We can't make everything, we know, and some things just aren't feasible for us, but we love still to hear the requests. It lets us know what people are craving and how we can serve our customers better in the future. We're still working on some requests, like candied/chocolate covered ginger, our Wine Truffles, and maple sugar candy. So stop by the shop and tell us what you're craving. What's the worst I can say?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The REALLY Big Show
On May 29 and 30, the St. Lawrence County Chamber is hosting The Really BIG Show: Home, Garden and Business Show 2009 at the Cheel Arena at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. While St. Lawrence Chocolates doesn't have their own individual booth, there will be a special "Silver Ticket" at the County Chamber booth for anyone who might be in the area and stop by. Admission to the show is only a $1. The coupon will be good for 1 week from the date of the show.
Similar to the Wonka Golden Ticket, we will have plenty for everyone... so don't feel like there are only 5 out there!
Speaking of Wonka, we are working on a special float for the Potsdam Summer Festival parade to be held July 11 and I'm sure Wilamena Wonka will show up again somewhere this year.
We hope everyone is planning a sweet summer.
Similar to the Wonka Golden Ticket, we will have plenty for everyone... so don't feel like there are only 5 out there!
Speaking of Wonka, we are working on a special float for the Potsdam Summer Festival parade to be held July 11 and I'm sure Wilamena Wonka will show up again somewhere this year.
We hope everyone is planning a sweet summer.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
New
I had to count today to see how many flavors we are currently carrying. All I knew was that it was over 12. We have 20 flavors in the case! That doesn't include our Truffles and our clusters just our cream/filled chocolates. Wow! Who knew we could even make that many!
Recently, we have added some new flavors and whether or not they will become permanent additions is still to be tested. The real test comes at the holidays when we can hardly keep up with the Standard Twelve flavors we started with back in 2006. Here's what you call the Rookie List.
Dekalb Delight: This is a marshmallow creme filling done in a shell of milk or dark. Ellen and I agree the dark is better but we like dark chocolate. I consider it still in the testing phase as I'm not making them as often as other flavors so I don't know if they are really popular yet. They came about when a customer (from Dekalb Junction) asked if we had a marshmallow chocolate. When I said no, she thought we ought to make one and she'd buy a bunch! She suggested we name it after Dekalb. Well, Ellen and I discussed it and we settled on using the Marshmallow Fluff that you can find in the stores and is popular to make Whoopie Pie filling. We think it tastes great but our customer never returned so far as I know. But at least we have a great chocolate!
Waddington Wintergreen: This dark chocolate is sure to please if you like mints! The filling is our standard cream filling flavored with wintergreen oil. We use a transfer sheet to decorate the top of the candy with little white snowflakes. We had this one last Christmas but thought that the flavor would stand the test of time. I'm not sure if our customers buy this chocolate because it tastes so good or because it just looks so pretty! I had not intended to make this flavor through the summer but I think too many people would miss it. It's still in a holding pattern for now.
The Nobles: This is our newest creation. I was making Massena Mints (dark chocolate flavored with creme de menthe) and had left over chocolate. I was wondering what else to make with it when I spied some peppermint cream filling left. There wasn't enough to do a whole mold of chocolates, just half so I decided to do a Double Mint chocolate. Ellen tasted it and thought they simply had to be added to the case. We had to come up with a name and Ellen came up with the Nobles. EJ Noble was the inventor of the LifeSaver from Governeur for which our Governeur Pep-O-Mints are named. So this seemed like a natural.
Carmel Peanut Clusters: I haven't had much time to dilly dally with our cluster line. We stick mostly to nut clusters and I wanted to try something a bit different. I have had a few customers ask if we have any caramel with nuts. Since nuts and chunky things are so hard to mold, I always have to say no. But when a customer asked if any of the clusters had caramel in them, my brain started spinning. Why not put caramel chunks in the clusters? Or make it a bark? Ellen confirmed my belief that the caramel would not melt in the chocolate but remain a chunk. She also suggested that we use a mold to make a "cluster cup" so that it would fit into a tray. So I have made these as clusters and used the mold to make cluster cups! I have made them in milk chocolate and just today did some in white chocolate for those customers always looking for more white chocolate choices. We'll have to see how they work out. I did not use the caramel that we make as we didn't have any made but future batches will probably be made with our own butter caramel.
Flavor of the Month:
We have introduced our Flavor of the Month program and started it back in February with our White Raspberry Hearts. This month's flavor is Kokomo Corners, a pina colada cream in milk chocolate. We use our Pinapple mold and it looks really cool. But that's only around for a month, then it goes away for a whole year.
So now you're all caught up with what's new at St. Lawrence Chocolates. Stop in a see us soon!
Recently, we have added some new flavors and whether or not they will become permanent additions is still to be tested. The real test comes at the holidays when we can hardly keep up with the Standard Twelve flavors we started with back in 2006. Here's what you call the Rookie List.
Dekalb Delight: This is a marshmallow creme filling done in a shell of milk or dark. Ellen and I agree the dark is better but we like dark chocolate. I consider it still in the testing phase as I'm not making them as often as other flavors so I don't know if they are really popular yet. They came about when a customer (from Dekalb Junction) asked if we had a marshmallow chocolate. When I said no, she thought we ought to make one and she'd buy a bunch! She suggested we name it after Dekalb. Well, Ellen and I discussed it and we settled on using the Marshmallow Fluff that you can find in the stores and is popular to make Whoopie Pie filling. We think it tastes great but our customer never returned so far as I know. But at least we have a great chocolate!
Waddington Wintergreen: This dark chocolate is sure to please if you like mints! The filling is our standard cream filling flavored with wintergreen oil. We use a transfer sheet to decorate the top of the candy with little white snowflakes. We had this one last Christmas but thought that the flavor would stand the test of time. I'm not sure if our customers buy this chocolate because it tastes so good or because it just looks so pretty! I had not intended to make this flavor through the summer but I think too many people would miss it. It's still in a holding pattern for now.
The Nobles: This is our newest creation. I was making Massena Mints (dark chocolate flavored with creme de menthe) and had left over chocolate. I was wondering what else to make with it when I spied some peppermint cream filling left. There wasn't enough to do a whole mold of chocolates, just half so I decided to do a Double Mint chocolate. Ellen tasted it and thought they simply had to be added to the case. We had to come up with a name and Ellen came up with the Nobles. EJ Noble was the inventor of the LifeSaver from Governeur for which our Governeur Pep-O-Mints are named. So this seemed like a natural.
Carmel Peanut Clusters: I haven't had much time to dilly dally with our cluster line. We stick mostly to nut clusters and I wanted to try something a bit different. I have had a few customers ask if we have any caramel with nuts. Since nuts and chunky things are so hard to mold, I always have to say no. But when a customer asked if any of the clusters had caramel in them, my brain started spinning. Why not put caramel chunks in the clusters? Or make it a bark? Ellen confirmed my belief that the caramel would not melt in the chocolate but remain a chunk. She also suggested that we use a mold to make a "cluster cup" so that it would fit into a tray. So I have made these as clusters and used the mold to make cluster cups! I have made them in milk chocolate and just today did some in white chocolate for those customers always looking for more white chocolate choices. We'll have to see how they work out. I did not use the caramel that we make as we didn't have any made but future batches will probably be made with our own butter caramel.
Flavor of the Month:
We have introduced our Flavor of the Month program and started it back in February with our White Raspberry Hearts. This month's flavor is Kokomo Corners, a pina colada cream in milk chocolate. We use our Pinapple mold and it looks really cool. But that's only around for a month, then it goes away for a whole year.
So now you're all caught up with what's new at St. Lawrence Chocolates. Stop in a see us soon!
Friday, March 27, 2009
I Only Make them Hollow
I wish chocolate Easter Bunnies multiplied the way real bunnies seem to. Alas, I have to make every single one!
We have chocolate Easter bunnies in two sizes and all are hollow. I know that a lot of people like solid chocolate bunnies but there are a couple reasons why we are not making them this year. The first and most important is that we don't have the proper mold equipment to make them solid. We did not purchase bases for the molds we have and therefore cannot make them solid chocolate as there is nothing to hold the chocolate in the mold. For those who are thinking, "it can't be too hard to rig something up", think again. Once these molds are filled with chocolate, even the small one is very heavy and there is no flat surface to the mold. It just doesn't sit well anywhere, even upside down! We've tried them all. So maybe next year, we'll invest in a few bases to see if we can make some solid bunnies.
But another problem with these bunnies is that when they are solid, they are A LOT of chocolate. The smaller of the two weighs in at just over 14 ounces, only a few ounces shy of a pound. The larger would probably be almost twice that! So the retail price of a solid bunny would be rather high. I think we could sell them but I hope people understand that these aren't the chocolate bunnies you can get at any major retail store. So they are worth the money!
So besides not having the proper equipment and the cost of making these solid bunnies, there is the logistics of having them come out looking GOOD. Chocolate can be temperamental when you try to combine them at different temperatures. By the time you get the mold coated without air bubbles, it's just too cold to combine with the chocolate you add to the middle. This causes streaking and bloom. It whacks the chocolate out of it's proper temper and makes it stick to the mold rather than releasing cleanly. Then, I've got bupkus for all the time I put into this thing.
One of my main reasons for not "liking" solid bunnies is that they are so HARD! Good chocolate is hard, crisp, and shiny. Solid pieces of chocolate that are thick can be hard on your teeth! That's mostly why chocolate should be allowed to melt slightly on your tongue rather than be chewed. A chocolate bunny is hard to cut through and ends up more like grated chocolate than anything. But that is more of a personal preference of mine and I'm sure that there are plenty of people who don't mind cutting up that bunny however they must.
I'm not saying I'll never make solid chocolate bunnies! In time and with practice, I'm sure I will get the hang of making them come out properly. With the investment into the proper molds, we can try them out for next year. I suppose I can overcome my fear of the super hard chocolate! But for this year and for now, I'm making HOLLOW Easter Bunnies. They come in milk, dark, and white in two sizes. The smaller of the two is $5.25 and the larger is $8.25. The smaller stands 6.5 inches and the larger is 8.5 inches tall. They vary slightly in weight.
We have other wonderful offerings for Easter as well. Solid Easter Crosses in all the chocolates. I'm trying to paint the flowers on some of them but it all depends on what I have available for time. I have the ever-popular "buck" bunnies, as I call them. They are small and flat with a colored bow tie. Called "buck" because they are priced at 1.00. We have two different chocolate pops with bunny heads and our spring flower pops are starting to blossom. (You can't say "bloom" to a chocolatier!) While I can't speak for Ellen (owner and chocolatier), she has been saying she's going to make some Easter marshmallows. If you haven't tried our homemade marshmallows, you don't know what you're missing. (I'm hoping that we can soon substitute them in our Warmers' Smore Pops! Yummy!)
Our decadent Truffle Eggs are also back. We try to do these 1/2 pound eggs to order but we try to keep some in the shop during the week of Easter. Truffle filling is perishable and best when fresh so we don't like to make them too far in advance. I'll be kicking production up around the first days of April. We make several flavors and the Coconut one seems to be most popular followed by our Peanut Butter. I'm partial to the Milk truffle egg and our white chocolate fans swear by our White Raspberry Egg. I also make a Dark Truffle egg for our dark chocolate lovers.
So stop by the shop or give us a call, if you need anything for Easter. We can ship via Priority Mail but we don't deliver. Hop on in for a bit of chocolate!
We have chocolate Easter bunnies in two sizes and all are hollow. I know that a lot of people like solid chocolate bunnies but there are a couple reasons why we are not making them this year. The first and most important is that we don't have the proper mold equipment to make them solid. We did not purchase bases for the molds we have and therefore cannot make them solid chocolate as there is nothing to hold the chocolate in the mold. For those who are thinking, "it can't be too hard to rig something up", think again. Once these molds are filled with chocolate, even the small one is very heavy and there is no flat surface to the mold. It just doesn't sit well anywhere, even upside down! We've tried them all. So maybe next year, we'll invest in a few bases to see if we can make some solid bunnies.
But another problem with these bunnies is that when they are solid, they are A LOT of chocolate. The smaller of the two weighs in at just over 14 ounces, only a few ounces shy of a pound. The larger would probably be almost twice that! So the retail price of a solid bunny would be rather high. I think we could sell them but I hope people understand that these aren't the chocolate bunnies you can get at any major retail store. So they are worth the money!
So besides not having the proper equipment and the cost of making these solid bunnies, there is the logistics of having them come out looking GOOD. Chocolate can be temperamental when you try to combine them at different temperatures. By the time you get the mold coated without air bubbles, it's just too cold to combine with the chocolate you add to the middle. This causes streaking and bloom. It whacks the chocolate out of it's proper temper and makes it stick to the mold rather than releasing cleanly. Then, I've got bupkus for all the time I put into this thing.
One of my main reasons for not "liking" solid bunnies is that they are so HARD! Good chocolate is hard, crisp, and shiny. Solid pieces of chocolate that are thick can be hard on your teeth! That's mostly why chocolate should be allowed to melt slightly on your tongue rather than be chewed. A chocolate bunny is hard to cut through and ends up more like grated chocolate than anything. But that is more of a personal preference of mine and I'm sure that there are plenty of people who don't mind cutting up that bunny however they must.
I'm not saying I'll never make solid chocolate bunnies! In time and with practice, I'm sure I will get the hang of making them come out properly. With the investment into the proper molds, we can try them out for next year. I suppose I can overcome my fear of the super hard chocolate! But for this year and for now, I'm making HOLLOW Easter Bunnies. They come in milk, dark, and white in two sizes. The smaller of the two is $5.25 and the larger is $8.25. The smaller stands 6.5 inches and the larger is 8.5 inches tall. They vary slightly in weight.
We have other wonderful offerings for Easter as well. Solid Easter Crosses in all the chocolates. I'm trying to paint the flowers on some of them but it all depends on what I have available for time. I have the ever-popular "buck" bunnies, as I call them. They are small and flat with a colored bow tie. Called "buck" because they are priced at 1.00. We have two different chocolate pops with bunny heads and our spring flower pops are starting to blossom. (You can't say "bloom" to a chocolatier!) While I can't speak for Ellen (owner and chocolatier), she has been saying she's going to make some Easter marshmallows. If you haven't tried our homemade marshmallows, you don't know what you're missing. (I'm hoping that we can soon substitute them in our Warmers' Smore Pops! Yummy!)
Our decadent Truffle Eggs are also back. We try to do these 1/2 pound eggs to order but we try to keep some in the shop during the week of Easter. Truffle filling is perishable and best when fresh so we don't like to make them too far in advance. I'll be kicking production up around the first days of April. We make several flavors and the Coconut one seems to be most popular followed by our Peanut Butter. I'm partial to the Milk truffle egg and our white chocolate fans swear by our White Raspberry Egg. I also make a Dark Truffle egg for our dark chocolate lovers.
So stop by the shop or give us a call, if you need anything for Easter. We can ship via Priority Mail but we don't deliver. Hop on in for a bit of chocolate!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
We put the "sweet" in Sweetheart
Valentine's Day is fast approaching and at the Shop, we are decked out with hearts from the ceiling! Of course, we also are getting out and ordering more heart shaped boxes for our fabulous chocolates. What's Valentine's Day without a box of chocolates?
So what's new? Take a gander.
We still have some square boxes that have a Heart shaped window that hold either 16 or 32 pieces of chocolate. We've always had these boxes but we're phasing them out this year to go with only heart-shaped boxes next year. So these will be limited in supply. They are the same size as our Christmas boxes but have a different cover. For a mix of creams and clusters, a 16 pc box will sell for 8.75 and a 32 pc box will sell for 17.25.
Our large Heart shaped boxes hold 29 pieces with a tray. The tray has varying size slots so it's gonna be tough to custom make these out of the case. We are hoping to use these as our pre-packaged boxes so you get a good assortment of our flavors. These will run for 20.00 unless the box gets filled with truffles. A truffle heart will run for 34.00 and these can be picked from the case because the truffles don't fit in the tray anyway!
We have a small heart box that we ordered by mistake that will hold 6 truffles for our usual price of 6.00. Our Standard 12 and 24 pc boxes will have a special Valentine's cover and they can be packed with our Standard Assortment or custom made from the display case. Our usual prices will apply to these.
Ellen came up with an idea to do a Snack Box...sort of a His and Hers kind of thing for those who would rather have snack type sweets than a box of chocolates. It will contain a 4 pc Ori-Oh, a 2 pack pretzel, a bag of Cashews or Almonds, a Heart shaped Chocolate pop, and possibly some homemade Carmel Corn. Ellen has been experimenting with a recipe for Carmel-covered popcorn but I'm not sure we've perfected it. It tastes really good but it stays sticky rather than hardening like Cracker Jack. So after we package it, it just turns into a big mass of sticky popcorn. Ellen is going to keep experimenting and see if she can tweak the recipe so that it will harden better and have a better shelf life. So for right now, I can only take orders for the Snack Boxes. If we can't get the popcorn to work, we may substitute Jelly Bellys in the box. At the current time, we are selling them for 12.00.
So what's so special?
In February, we are hoping to start our Flavor of the Month. The Feature Flavor will change from month to month and only be available for that month. We will pre-package some boxes with only the Feature Flavor and offer a bit of a discount on the price. The Flavor will also be available in our case for the month. I hope to keep the Feature Flavor in good stock but that's just well wishes if it's a popular flavor.
February's Flavor is our Raspberry cream in white chocolate. It will be molded in our Heart shaped mold. This flavor was very popular last year and adds an extra white chocolate piece to our case. The Heart will have a splash of cocoa butter color on it as well. A very romantic piece of chocolate for your Sweetheart!
We also have our Heart shaped chocolate pops; some colored with a edible lustre spray and some foil wrapped in pink and red. I have pulled out the Rose mold as well and have those pops available in milk and dark. Our Heart shaped mold that will be used with our Flavor of the Month is currently being used to produce solid milk and dark morsels for those who don't like anything in their chocolate. These are foil wrapped and look wonderful in a candy dish or clear vase.
I'm also making a special bark for Valentine's Day called Sweetheart Bark. It's white chocolate with macadamia nuts and chunks of our 64% dark chocolate. Last year I colored it pink but this year, I've decided to drop the coloring and just leave it white.
Lastly, I've thrown together a Valentine's mix of Jelly Bellys. We've bagged them in clear bags with a red bow and they make a nice addition to any box of chocolates or gift basket. They contain Very Cherry, Bubble Gum, and Toasted Marshmallow flavors.
We're trying our best to keep in stock right up to Valentine's Day but the best selection will be early. So tell your Sweetheart not to procrastinate this year! Our chocolates are good for 3 months and our truffles are good for 3 weeks. Solid chocolate lasts for a year! The hardest part about buying early is trying to keep from eating it!
So what's new? Take a gander.
We still have some square boxes that have a Heart shaped window that hold either 16 or 32 pieces of chocolate. We've always had these boxes but we're phasing them out this year to go with only heart-shaped boxes next year. So these will be limited in supply. They are the same size as our Christmas boxes but have a different cover. For a mix of creams and clusters, a 16 pc box will sell for 8.75 and a 32 pc box will sell for 17.25.
Our large Heart shaped boxes hold 29 pieces with a tray. The tray has varying size slots so it's gonna be tough to custom make these out of the case. We are hoping to use these as our pre-packaged boxes so you get a good assortment of our flavors. These will run for 20.00 unless the box gets filled with truffles. A truffle heart will run for 34.00 and these can be picked from the case because the truffles don't fit in the tray anyway!
We have a small heart box that we ordered by mistake that will hold 6 truffles for our usual price of 6.00. Our Standard 12 and 24 pc boxes will have a special Valentine's cover and they can be packed with our Standard Assortment or custom made from the display case. Our usual prices will apply to these.
Ellen came up with an idea to do a Snack Box...sort of a His and Hers kind of thing for those who would rather have snack type sweets than a box of chocolates. It will contain a 4 pc Ori-Oh, a 2 pack pretzel, a bag of Cashews or Almonds, a Heart shaped Chocolate pop, and possibly some homemade Carmel Corn. Ellen has been experimenting with a recipe for Carmel-covered popcorn but I'm not sure we've perfected it. It tastes really good but it stays sticky rather than hardening like Cracker Jack. So after we package it, it just turns into a big mass of sticky popcorn. Ellen is going to keep experimenting and see if she can tweak the recipe so that it will harden better and have a better shelf life. So for right now, I can only take orders for the Snack Boxes. If we can't get the popcorn to work, we may substitute Jelly Bellys in the box. At the current time, we are selling them for 12.00.
So what's so special?
In February, we are hoping to start our Flavor of the Month. The Feature Flavor will change from month to month and only be available for that month. We will pre-package some boxes with only the Feature Flavor and offer a bit of a discount on the price. The Flavor will also be available in our case for the month. I hope to keep the Feature Flavor in good stock but that's just well wishes if it's a popular flavor.
February's Flavor is our Raspberry cream in white chocolate. It will be molded in our Heart shaped mold. This flavor was very popular last year and adds an extra white chocolate piece to our case. The Heart will have a splash of cocoa butter color on it as well. A very romantic piece of chocolate for your Sweetheart!
We also have our Heart shaped chocolate pops; some colored with a edible lustre spray and some foil wrapped in pink and red. I have pulled out the Rose mold as well and have those pops available in milk and dark. Our Heart shaped mold that will be used with our Flavor of the Month is currently being used to produce solid milk and dark morsels for those who don't like anything in their chocolate. These are foil wrapped and look wonderful in a candy dish or clear vase.
I'm also making a special bark for Valentine's Day called Sweetheart Bark. It's white chocolate with macadamia nuts and chunks of our 64% dark chocolate. Last year I colored it pink but this year, I've decided to drop the coloring and just leave it white.
Lastly, I've thrown together a Valentine's mix of Jelly Bellys. We've bagged them in clear bags with a red bow and they make a nice addition to any box of chocolates or gift basket. They contain Very Cherry, Bubble Gum, and Toasted Marshmallow flavors.
We're trying our best to keep in stock right up to Valentine's Day but the best selection will be early. So tell your Sweetheart not to procrastinate this year! Our chocolates are good for 3 months and our truffles are good for 3 weeks. Solid chocolate lasts for a year! The hardest part about buying early is trying to keep from eating it!
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