As Jane Austen said (albeit in a somewhat different context), "it is a truth universally acknowledged" that the world loves Nutella!  Nutella, however, is a very guilty indulgence, with palm oil and sugar as the two biggest ingredients, and hazelnuts only making up 13% of the total.  A long-term dream of mine has been to come up with a less guilty pleasure and just a few real ingredients, no junk and additives.  I was lucky to learn the basics when I studied with Ramon Morato in May, but in spite of his version's yummy taste, I felt there were not...

Summer is for discovery!  Freed up from the demands of chocolate production, I finally have time to plan.  I work on two fronts: first, figuring out new formats that will augment current offerings and dovetail with the various chocolate holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, all of December to the New Year).  And second, updating our seasonal line up to incorporate new flavors. My total focus right now is on bars.  There will be two, see above: a Baby Bar (20 grams) and a Big Bar (30 grams).  The Baby Bars will be sold four in our small boxes, the Big Bars will...

- - - Our class, with a part of our production - - - As soon as the last big chocolate holiday, Mother's Day, was over, I was on my way to Montreal to study with Ramon Morato, one of the greatest chocolatiers of modern times.  The two days in a Ganache Master Class proved invaluable and I am now full of ideas and eager to test new methods of production.  My colleagues were either French expats working in Montreal or Quebecois, with the exception of a fabulous California chocolatier who had spent 8 years in France.  Chef Morato's French...

Mother's Day is the last of the chocolate holidays, and I think of it as the perfect occasion to close out our season before the heat of summer.  Salted caramel butterflies dominate in the boxes: I make them in both dark and milk chocolate due to popular request.  It makes the boxes oh so pretty and very feminine, a nice break from the smooth perfection of our domes. We will be at the South End Open Market tomorrow May 1 and also on May 8, Mother's Day.  So stop by and get a box for Mom, she will love you...

The @South End Open Market is moving to Ink Block this season, and my business is moving with them! I'll be there for my first market on May 1st, so come visit us! We will have special goodies just in time for Mother's Day, and delicious samples for everyone.

Yesterday's batch was Pistachio Raspberry.  Today's was a big batch of Salted Caramel in milk chocolate.  Thursday will be dedicated to Dark Almond.  You get the drift:  we ran out of our Domes, all our Critters and all the French Bunnies.  The latter won't come back till Easter 2017, but everything else is almost all back in stock.  The image above shows today's butterflies in salted caramel.  Can you tell I had fun painting their little wings and bodies?