The World Of Fantasy Chocolate Boxes

You simply can not go wrong if you give someone you love or care about one of the wonderful fantasy chocolate boxes. Each of these beautifully designed box contains some of the most popular chocolate treats. Beautiful box and delicious chocolates make a winning combination, whatever the occasion. Christmas or a Valentine day, a perfect gift such as this one will always be appreciated.

If you have a sophisticated taste, you will certainly enjoy in some of their luxurious, hand made candies. Some contain unusual ingredients, for example, real truffles, spices or olive oil, and they are designed for very special people, with very special taste. Sweet, light and delicate flavors are for people who prefer lighter and more delicate aromas. Champagne and cognac are always welcome ingredients most people will appreciate.

There are so many attractive combinations of flavors. Some are quite common and widely popular, for example, strawberry, nougat, mint or hazelnut. Some are more refined, and include real truffles, olive oil or even eatable golden leaves. Combinations that include candied fruits are always welcome, especially if they contain tasty liqueurs as well. Enjoying similar bites with a glass of good wine makes every dinner a special occasion.

Some people prefer dark chocolates with very high percentage of cocoa. They contain very small amounts of sugar, and some of them are designed for refined palates only. Their intense aroma and flavor can be combined with lighter, delicate flavors, fruits, champagne or cream. They rise your endorphin level and affect your mood in a best possible way, and you will be a much happier person after eating these adorable treats.

It is hard to decide which candies to buy, they all look so appealing. Some boxes contain different combinations of assorted candies, and it will make your choice easier. For example, if you are buying this box for your boss, maybe you should consider buying him a choice of cognac filled truffles. For your girl, white chocolate and champagne truffles might be a better choice.

Some boxes contain a wide variety of different candies. There you will find a dark chocolates flavored with brandy, one enriched with orange zest, but also some light desserts topped with white chocolate and filled with premium champagne. There’s something for every taste, and it’s a great choice for any occasion and every person.

The best pastry chefs designed these lovely treats, and every one of them is a real work of art. Although some don’t look so appealing, for example, the hand made truffles, they suppose to look like this, and it has nothing to do with their taste. They are simply irresistible, so full of amazing aromas you just can’t stop eating them. Your palate deserves to be treated this way, at least in some special occasions.

Valentine’s Day is approaching, and it’s time to think about the perfect gift for your beloved foodie. Fantasy chocolate boxes are always a good choice, especially if your loved one enjoys the sweet snacks. Sophisticated combinations of flavors and top quality ingredients are the best guarantee of your choice. Beautifully packaged treats, the superbly designed boxes and your genuine smiles are definitely a winning combination.

The Health Benefits Of Consuming Chocolate Truffles

Leave a reply

Discover The Health Benefits Of Consuming Chocolate Truffles

It is good to merry and be happy in this life. The difference is that the things that make others happy do not bring joy to everyone. Nevertheless, it is known that eating some precious substances such as the chocolate truffles NYC bring happiness to members of the family. These substances have a wide range of health benefits that everyone should embrace and work hard to obtain.

The roles that the products play are unique. The chocolates and their products are good for your health and fitness. The concentration of antioxidants in these products is high. You need to have these products to eliminate most of the free radicals that are found in your body. Due to the biological reactions that take place in your body, free radicals are mostly present in your cells and you need to eliminate them.

Chocolates and their products promote cardiovascular health in a number of ways. Research shows that consuming this product twice or thrice a week would highly reduce the risks of developing heart problems. Moreover, the product would make your heart veins and arteries more flexible. It would also prevent clotting and promote healthy blood circulation due to its blood thinning properties.

When the insulin of your body begins to be resistant to blood sugar, you risk developing blood sugar disorders. The insulin in your body is critical in maintain normal levels of insulin in the blood systems. The products from chocolates are good in enhancing efficiency of insulin in the body. When blood sugar level goes up beyond the normal level, you become prone to various complications.

There is another theory that explains how the product could lead to the birth of smiley babies. Mothers who consume these products during their pregnancies would give birth to happy children. In fact, the theory explains that these babies smile all the day and little do they have moody moments. Nobody would hate to give birth to happy children since it makes them happy as well.

Taking these products also ensures that your skin is free from sunburns. Many people especially women are sensitive to the appearance of their skins. They would be keen not to walk out when it is sunny unless they are driving or in sheltered place. However, chocolates have their unique ways of protecting your skin from the harmful rays of the sun. You should become a regular consumer and see good results.

Some scientists have come up with yet another benefit in terms of diarrhea prevention among children. With the rising incidences of diarrhea among newborns and young children, you cannot dispute the importance of giving your children these products. The products contain substances that bind the proteins that regulate intestinal fluid secretion. This eventually reliefs diarrhea and keeps your children safe.

You would to cease to smile again once your teeth begin to decay. For this reason, it is good to have good preventive measures. Chocolates have substances such as theobromine, which aid to kill bacteria that inhabit your teeth and cause decomposition. You can buy chocolate truffles from shops or online to realize these benefits.

How To Choose Champagne Truffles

Leave a reply

How To Choose Champagne Truffles

There are certain sweet treats that are considered luxurious. One of the most tempting is champagne truffles. There are a wide array of companies that produce them so it helps to know how to find the best ones that will make the perfect gift or something delicious to finish off a dinner.

The first thing to consider is your budget. This will determine where you go to buy the truffles. You can get a number of factory produced items from supermarkets that will look good but may not have the same depth of flavour from someone who is a specialist chocolatier.

Arguably dark chocolate truffles are more appropriate for after dinner or as something to serve with coffee. Equally some people prefer the richness without the addition of milk or sugar. Furthermore it is a good present if someone is lactose intolerant but still enjoys chocolate.

This will then help to narrow down these options. It may be possible to get samples in a store or via a company website. If this is not possible then it may be worth getting a small sample for yourself in order to gauge the quality. Remember if you are getting it for other people you have to consider whether it tastes sufficiently of champagne. Some people only want a mild flavour while other people want to taste more of the alcohol when they bite in. This is especially difficult if you have a number of guests so it is often a case of balancing out flavours to suit a range of tastes.

You can find a number of reviews and taste tests online. This is best suited to you if you are on a budget and are looking at supermarkets or big name chocolate brands. It is often possible to get some high quality products for not that much money if you know where to look.

There is also the consideration of the alcohol content. A larger amount of alcohol will be better to suited to dinner parties or being served in the evening. Alternatively you may want a truffle with the flavour without necessarily having the alcohol content. What you choose depends on what you feel is appropriate as some people will prefer the stronger taste of plenty of real alcohol while other people will just want a small amount to get the flavour but without it being overpowering.

For example a lot of independent chocolate shops will be happy to put their chocolates in a presentation box. This can often make a massive difference turning a nice gift into something particularly special looking. A gold box may seem like a small touch but this can make the gift look that little bit more enticing! Adding ribbons in a colour that they like or photos also make the gift a little bit more personal.

In short when looking for champagne truffles it helps to do a bit of research. This includes reading reviews and taste tests as well as your own. Look online to see what is available near you and to find the ideal product to suit your personal requirements. With the right approach you can make you, your guests or another lucky person very happy!

Amazing Pecan Pie

Leave a reply

By now, some of you are sick of pecan pie, but I didn’t think to post this recipe until this morning, when I pulled it out of a well-worn journal of mostly sweet recipes I collected while traveling and began making the Thanksgiving desserts (the others were Sichuan peppercorn ice cream and Dorie Greenspan‘s sour cream pumpkin tart from Baking: From My Home To Yours). I’m pretty sure there are a lot of you out there who, like me, can and do eat pecan pie all year long – this is for you!

This is a variation on the classic you’re used to that I first had at a friend’s house in Paris a few years back and instantly fell in love with. It is richly flavored with honey – make it your own with a specialty honey you really love that will transform the entire pie. The crust is quite nontraditional in its execution as well. Typically, crusts do best with a minimal hands-on approach, but this one calls for a lot of hand mixing and even a touch of kneading. I thought for sure I’d be left with a tough crust the first time I made it, but the folding and rolling technique deployed at the end ensures that flaky, buttery layers will be infused into the crust.

Honey Pecan Pie

Makes one 8 or 9-inch pie.

For the crust (for one 8 or 9-inch shell):

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
3 ounces chilled butter (3/4 stick), cut into pieces
1 tablespoon corn oil
3/4 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, sugar and salt together and cut in the butter with your hands in quick, smooshing motions until mixture contains coarse crumbs of varying sizes. Add oil and water and continue mixing with your hands until a soft dough forms.

2. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead into a ball. Chill covered at least two hours or overnight.

3. Roll the dough out on a flour surface and then turn 1/4 clockwise, fold over in thirds and roll out again. Repeat 1/4 turn, folding and rolling out three more times. Place in a pie pan and press gently into place, trimming edges where necessary. Chill pie shell for 30-minutes.

4. Line inside of pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (or rice / beans) and bake at 350F until edges are slightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove weights and parchment and continue baking until crust is light brown, about another 8 – 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the filling:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup honey
2 eggs, beaten
2 sticks of unsalted butter (8 ounces), melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
1-1/2 cup chopped pecan meat and extra whole pecans for the top

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, sugar and honey. Add butter, salt, bourbon and chopped pecans. Mix well and pour into prepared crust. Arrange whole pecans on top in desired pattern.

2. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350F and bake another 35 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack to room temperature before serving.

Sichuan Spice Cookies

Leave a reply

Happy Chinese New Year – the Year of the Rabbit has arrived! I always look forward to joining in on the festivities in NYC’s Chinatown at least a few times over the 15-day celebration by shooting off confetti bombs, catching lucky parachutes and hunting down colorful dancing dragons. And also by eating, of course, at the myriad of restaurants I adore in Chinatown. The night before, I ring in the New Year by baking these flavor-packed Sichuan Spice Cookies, as I did last night after a meal of Grand Sichuan take-out. Really, though, they’re good anytime and not just at New Year’s.

Now, I’m going to warn you: These cookies aren’t for sissies – they’re spicy, to be sure, with an after-kick that’ll peck at the back of your throat for a bit before wrestling with the tip of your tongue, leaving your whole mouth feeling tingly and maybe even a bit numb if I’ve done my job properly putting this recipe together. If you like Sichuan or spicy fare in general, you’ll probably love these. They’re a perfect way to finish a big meal of double-cooked pork, dan dan noodles, mapo tofu and Chong Qing chicken. They’re also great on their own with a big glass of milk.

Sichuan Spice Cookies
Yield: about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons Sichuan powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons boiling water
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup robust unsulfured molasses
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons peeled and finely grated (use a microplane) fresh ginger
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cayenne, Sichuan powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa powder and set aside. In a small glass, combine the baking soda and boiling water and set that aside as well.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until combined and light in color, about 3 – 4 minutes. Add the baking soda mixture, molasses and freshly grated ginger, beating until combined, another minute or so.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and turn the mixer on low speed until they are just incorporated with the wet ingredients, about 1 minute. Use a spatula to work the remaining bits of dry ingredients into the cookie dough by hand, being careful not to overwork the dough. Scoop the dough out onto plastic wrap and pat down into a 1-inch disk. Wrap it well and put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or cover with silicon baking mats and preheat oven to 325°F. Remove the dough from the freezer and portion out into 1-inch balls that you roll between your hands. If you have a kitchen scale, the balls should weigh about 15 grams each. The dough is wet and sticky regardless of how cold you manage to get it in your freezer – if you find yourself in a sticky situation with cookie dough all over your hands, rinse your hands in water and keep on rolling balls of dough until you’re done. At this point, it doesn’t matter about cookie spacing, so you can set them on one baking sheet that fits in your freezer. Put the balls of dough back into the freezer until firm, another 30 minutes or so. You can actually freeze the balls at this point and keep them in freezer bags for up to a month, baking as needed. Remove the chilled dough and roll in granulated sugar. Set the sugared balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Keep the remaining balls in the freezer until you’re ready to bake more. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The cookies will look a bit puffy when you remove them, but will flatten out and have a nice crackly texture after resting. Let them sit on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack until they are at room temperature. These cookies are best the same day they’re baked, but you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.