Truffle Times Dove Chocolate newsletter

The Truffle Times…

Deliciously Sweet News

Melissa Sibert, Independent Chocolatier

Dove Chocolate Discoveries

New Catalog Products and Information:

We have some fantastic new products coming for Spring/Summer starting February 1^st. I am so excited about these new products. They are going to be so fabulous to show to your and your guests at an upcoming Chocolate Tasting party.

The new products are:

· Cocoa Tequila Lime Brittle (brittle with cocoa powder, crunchy tortilla chips, and toasted pumpkin seeds, flavored with a splash of tequila and lime for a tropical and fresh flavor. Yum!)

· Sweet and Tangy Chocolate Mole Sauce (Authentic Mexican flavors for your tacos, enchiladas, and Mexican dishes.)

· White Chocolate Raspberry Vinaigrette (I can’t wait for this one.)

· White Chocolate Mango Mojito mix (I can see this making some scrumptious cheesecake or whipped cream pies, salad dressing and popsicles.)

· Choco-Granola Fruit Crunch (crunchy cocoa and cinnamon dusted granola with dark chocolate covered blueberries and cranberries, almonds and pecans. Great for yogurt parfaits, late afternoon snacking, and ice cream!)

· And we have a new Entertaining Guide with fresh new recipes like a cool and creamy Key Lime pie/tart using our choco-toffee cookie mix and creamy white chocolate.

Here are some ideas for a themed chocolate tasting party of your own:

· Mexican Fiesta Party: Chicken mole pizza, Mango mojitos, cinnamon dusted almonds, lime tequila brittle, Mexican truffles (spiced with a little chipotle spice)

· Come for Breakfast/Brunch: We will try our Saigon cinnamon rolls, chocolate and fruit granola, spiced chai tea/dip, sweet and spicy bacon, and some yummy pancakes or muffins using some of our Instant gratification items and peanut butter baking bits.

· Happy Hour party: We can sample some of our favorite and best selling beverage mixes with or without alcohol, paired with some of our instant gratification items and chocolate fondue.

· Eating healthy with chocolate: We will sample some yummy salad with our Chocolate Fig and White chocolate Raspberry vinaigrette dressings, sweet and spicy grilled chicken with our Chocolate BBQ sauce or Chocolate Mole sauce, cinnamon dusted dark chocolate almonds, chocolate graham crackers, sugar free chocolates, chocolate granola yogurt parfaits, and some cool and creamy, lowfat, chai fruit dip.

· Cheesecake/mousse dessert mania: We will use a few of our smoothie and daiquiri mixes to make some easy, cool and creamy no bake desserts to chill out with when the warmer weather hits. Anyone up for peanut butter cheesecake trifles, java chip cream pie, mango mojito mousse pie, white chocolate key lime pie, or coconut pineapple cheesecake pie?

Healthy Eating with DCD Chocolate in 2012:

Did you know that Dove Chocolate Discoveries products can help you on your way to eating healthy, but still get to indulge in rich flavors and even a little chocolate? Try these healthy products and ideas on for size in February.

· Choco-Granola Fruit Crunch: Use this granola as a sweet topping for a creamy low-fat yogurt parfait for breakfast or snack. Simply take a 1/4 -1/3 cup of Greek style non-fat yogurt and layer in a glass or bowl with some blueberries, strawberries, bananas, or a combo of your favorite fruit, and sprinkle some of our Choco-Granola Fruit Crunch on top. Or simply grab a handful of our granola and eat as a snack for a little energy pick me up during the day.

· Chai Tea ($18) Our chai tea is great for making a low-fat dip using an 8oz. container of lite or fat free whipped topping and one packet of our chai tea mix. Simply stir together and eat with sliced apples, bananas, strawberries, rice cakes, or low-cal treat of your choice. Better yet, sprinkle some granola on top of dipped fruit.

· Sweet n’ spicy rub ($10) This little culinary gem is great for making lean meats taste a little zippy. Simply rub your lean cut of meat (chicken or pork) with some of our rub, which has just a bit of brown sugar in it and roast or grill it. Or add a little spice to those veggies you are trying to eat. This rub goes great with sweet potatoes, corn, and regular potatoes. Simply toss in a little olive oil and some rub. Roast, bake or grill to perfection.

· White Chocolate Raspberry or Chocolate Fig Balsamic Dressings ($12 each) If we are going to eat salad, why not put a little chocolate and fruit spin on it. Grab you a plate and load it with healthy spinach and mixed baby lettuces, some feta crumbles or a slice of goat cheese, some dried cranberries, mandarin orange slices, some diced or thin sliced turkey meat, some strawberries, whatever you like on your salad, and then drizzle to perfection with our sumptuous and decadent salad dressings that have real white chocolate in them. You know that only a tsp. or two will pack a lot of flavor and make it a little easier for all those veggies to go down. J

· Sweet and Tangy Chocolate Mole or BBQ sauce ($12 each). These saucy gems are the key to a quick and easy healthy meal. Simply grill or roast some chicken or pork tenderloin. Toss the meat in some of these sauces and warm it up. Now you can use this flavorful meat to top any of the following: baked potatoes, salad topped with some black bean, corn and mango salsa, or salad mixed with a little coleslaw mix and some fresh/frozen corn and red onion, or on a pizza crust with some cheese to make a Mexican or BBQ pizza.

· Cinnamon Dusted Dark Chocolate Almonds or our Dark chocolate Almond and Milk Chocolate Cashew Blend ($20) If we want a little indulgence, why not reach for a sweet snack that packs some healthy benefits. Almonds are universally touted as a very healthy nut. Cinnamon is a spice with added benefits of aiding in digestion and circulation. Dark chocolate also has antioxidants and other healthy properties. You get all three in our Cinnamon dusted Dark almonds. So grab a small handful and enjoy without the guilt.

· Dark Chocolate Dried Fruit collection ($20) Add some of these little gems to your favorite granola (store bought or homemade) and give your snack a little something extra. Our fruit collection contains super healthy fruits like dried blueberries, cranberries and cherries. So go ahead and indulge just a little. Total deprivation on a diet is not always a good thing. ;)

Now for an added benefit and our little secret. All our products are a natural product. DCD does not use a lot of artificial ingredients, fillers, or preservatives in any of their products. From our chocolates and baking mixes to our savory sauces and rubs, when you read our labels you won’t find any surprises or yucky stuff you wouldn’t want to feed your body. You will find regular natural ingredients you would cook or mix together to make your own mix. Only you don’t have to spend all that time cooking and gathering those ingredients together. That isn’t something you can say for any equivalent product you might find on the grocery store shelf. So really you get what you pay for. You want a simple, gourmet, premium product, then look no further. Dove Chocolate Discoveries has that and the added benefit of your own personal Independent Chocolatier to give you recipes, tips and tricks for using them to their full advantage. Now that is what I call a healthy value!!!

Lite and Easy Lemon Blueberry Trifle

1 box of DCD White Chocolate Meyer Lemon baking mix prepared as a cake or cupcakes: reserve the frosting mix for another use later.

1 8 oz. container of lite or fat free whipped topping

1 packet of DCD white chocolate smoothie mix

1 tsp. lemon zest (finely grated)

1-2 cups of frozen thawed or fresh blueberries

Bake cake as directed on package and let cool. Cut into cubes or cut up cupcakes into pieces.

Gently stir together the smoothie mix, whipped topping, and lemon zest.

Layer cake, blueberries and whipped topping in small dessert glasses or in a trifle bowl. Make about 2 layers ending with whipped topping. Garnish with a fresh blueberry and a small shaving of lemon zest for color. Enjoy!!

Want more info. or want to book a chocolate party contact me.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Here is a cake I made for my mom for her birthday. It is her favorite cake that I have ever made. I got the recipe from an old issue of Chocolatier magazine. I don't make this cake often, but it is so good. The only problem I have ever had with this cake is the walnut genoise. The recipe seems like it is right, but every time I bake it, the cake sinks in the middle even while it is in the oven. About 2/3 rds of the way done, it sinks. The cake layer is supposed to be split into two layers for the cake, but since it sinks, you loose about 1/2 of the cake itself, and, therefore, you only get one layer. So frustrating. That means I have to make the cake recipe twice, which seems like a waste. I have researched all my other pastry cookbooks for alternate recipes, tips, tricks or other advice on genoise and nut genoise and have found nothing to explain or fix this. I make the recipe following all the directions, but alas, it always does this.

Anyone who might come across this, if you know how to fix this or have a walnut genoise recipe that never sinks on you, then please leave a comment. I would love to know what to do here.

Anyway, the recipe is for a Mocha Orange Walnut Torte. You have two layers of walnut orange genoise, which get brushed with a Grand Marnier sugar syrup. They are layered with a wonderfully smooth and creamy white chocolate mocha orange ganache/mousse. I make this by boiling heavy cream with whole coffee beans and orange zest. Once it comes to a boil, you take it off heat, cover the cream and let it steep for 10 min. Then you bring it back up to a boil and pour it over your chopped white chocolate. You chill this mixture for 6 hours or overnight then whip it to soft peaks. When you chill it, you leave some of the coffee beans and zest in it to concentrate their flavor. What you get is this lovely mocha and orange flavor to the white chocolate ganache. It is heavenly. So you layer that in between and on top of the walnut genoise. You chill that, then the cake gets a coating of chopped toasted walnuts around the sides. You pipe some rosettes of ganache on the top, and I usually put a piece of orange and a chocolate covered coffee bean on those to make it pretty.

I wish I was a good photographer so I could take food pictures to really do the cakes justice. My black countertops don't make for a good backdrop. But alas, here is the cake. Yumm!!

A Cheesecake Factory Redux...

I hope this finds everyone doing well for the Christmas season. I just finished putting together my individual White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecakes, my twist on the Cheesecake Factory's seasonal treat. I must say I have not had this cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory. I only saw their photo and description on their website. I took that as my inspiration, and I went with it.

Here is what I did. I made a cheesecake recipe and I added some Dove Chocolate Discoveries Frosty White Chocolate Smoothie mix into it for a bit of a white chocolate taste. I added Andes peppermint crunch and some mini chocolate chips to the batter. I then baked that in my mini cheesecake pan with removeable bottoms (key to making this mini size and assembly). I then made a batch of super fabulous cocoa brownies. I love this recipe because it is super rich, fudgey and moist. When they are cold they do not get hard, just more fudgey and decadent. Love them. So I cut out circles of the brownies for my cheesecake base. I adhered the cheesecake to the brownie with a little of my peppermint ganache. Then I poured a 1/2 tablespoon scoop of ganache on the top of the cheesecakes. Next, I cleaned the edges and drips with an offset spatula. I will be making a white chocolate whipped cream with the remainder of my packet of Frosty White Chocolate Smoothie mix to pipe high on top. I will finish them with a sprinkle of more peppermint crunch. As you can see this is a totally over the top, crazy dessert. I love it.

PLEASE NOTE: I don't have the whipped cream on these cakes yet. I will be doing that tonight when I bring them to the party. I will try to remember to take a picture, but this will have to do for now. Just imagine a pretty piped 1-2 inch high swirl of whipped cream with bits of peppermint crunch sprinkled on it. Now you know what it looks like finished. :)

Okay, so what would I do differently? I think that next time for the sake of the texture of the cheesecake, I will not do mini cheesecakes. Some of the cheesecakes turned out more creamy than others. Maybe I should have rotated the pan through cooking. Or maybe I need to put a water bath in the oven with them to provide a bit of moisture. This was the first time I used this pan and this recipe in that pan. I have used this recipe in mini muffin tins and it is great. I usually cook my standard size cheesecake in a waterbath. The texture it brings to the cheesecake is out of this world creamy. It isn't cakey like you get at most places. It is like custard almost. Just thick enough to slice, but smooth and creamy in the mouth and off the fork. This recipe I used is not that recipe though, but one I have for mini cheesecakes. It is similar in simplicity, and totally doable in a large cake. ( I won't give out my prized cheesecake recipe. I didn't make it up, but I am not going to tell you where to get it. A working pastry chef has to keep some recipe secrets.)

Next, I think that I would just do an Oreo crust. That would save a big step in not having to bake the brownies. The Cheesecake Factory version has an Oreo crust. Or maybe if you cooked the cheesecake in a regular 8 inch springform pan, you could bake a simple chocolate cake recipe in the same size pan and cut a thin layer to put the cheesecake on. You play with how difficult you want it to be.

I think I will make the ganache thinner so it is more like a glaze. That means using more cream or less chocolate than my recipe. Lastly, you could also just melt some white chocolate and put it in the cheesecake batter, or just leave out that flavor entirely. The peppermint kind of hides the subtle white chocolate flavor anyway. I was experimenting with my Dove Chocolate Discoveries products for selling ideas and tips.

Okay, so what do you think? Here are my cheesecake and ganache recipes. You decide on your cheesecake base: Oreo crust or cake crust. Or go naked, and eat your cheesecake without a bottom base on it. The ganache and whipped cream really are enough. Yes, you just read naked in my description. It refers to the cheesecake not you. Ha! Ha!

White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake:

2 8oz. packages of cream cheese (do not use reduced fat or fat free. Yuck!)

1/3 c. + 2 TBSP. sugar

1/3 c. Dove Chocolate Discoveries Frosty White Chocolate Smoothie mix

2 eggs

4 TBSP. sour cream

1/2 c. Andes peppermint crunch pieces

1/4 c. mini semi sweet chocolate chips or any chocolate cut into very small pieces.

Cream the cheese, sugar and smoothie mix together. Add eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Stir in sour cream. Lightly stir in peppermint crunch and chocolate chips. Pour into a buttered and parchment lined 8 inch spring form or cake pan. The butter needs to be on the sides of the pan, parchment on the bottom. This will allow you to unmold the cheesecake to put on your cake base. If you plan to use an Oreo crust, you will need to line your pan with that first.

Level off the batter, then bake at 350F for about 45 min. This is a guess on my part because I did not make a full size cake. You want the cheesecake to be set on the edges and slightly firm in the middle. It shouldn't jiggle when you shake it, but you should not see a lot of color on top either. Maybe just a little tan color on the very edges. Don't worry about cracks. The cheesecake will puff up and then sink as it cools. More room for a puddle of peppermint ganache I say. Check it along the way for the right doneness. It could take as long as 55 min. Again, just watch it. When it is done, simply take it out and let it cool on a cooling rack. Then chill it after about 30 min. You need it to chill for at least 4 hours, but I usually do it overnight.

Peppermint Ganache ( I have edited this to make it more glaze like.)

4 oz. semi sweet or dark chocolate. I used chocolate chips.

6 TBSP. heavy cream

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract.

Put chocolate and cream in a glass bowl, microwave for about a minute. Stir together till smooth. Add peppermint extract.

White Chocolate Whipped cream:

1 c. whipped cream

rest of Frosty White Smoothie packet

whip till stiff and pipeable.

Assembly:

If you make a cake layer for your cheesecake base, you need to cut the whole cake layer in half horizontally, as you really only want a thin layer of cake for your base. The main star should be the cheesecake itself. Anchor the cheesecake to the cake with a thin layer of ganache. I would just drizzle some ganache on the cake layer then put the cheesecake on top. No one will see it. It is just acting as glue. When you unmold your cheesecake, this is best done with a cake cardboard to unmold your cheesecake onto, peel off parchment, then place the cake layer on top. Place serving dish on top of this, and then turn over. Voila, you didn't crack or break your cake, it is layered, and the top side is now up.

Note: If that is confusing, you use your common sense to put your cheesecake together. Wish I could do a movie, but trust me I wouldn't do a good job on film. I am camera shy.

Next pour your ganache on top of the cheesecake and smooth out. You may not need all the ganache, just pour some on and smooth it out. You don't want a thick layer, just enough to cover the top. Now you can refrigerate this until serving time. At serving time, pipe on swirls of white chocolate whipped cream and sprinkle each swirl with more peppermint crunch.

Leave a message if you need help. Enjoy.

I hope to put together a copy cat version of The Cheesecake Factory's Reese's Peanut butter Cup cheesecake. It is even more over the top than this post. Wow!!