Category Archives: Chocolate

Home-Grown, Home-Made Chocolates

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Deep-Dark Chocolate

Audrey Vaggione hand-forms almost every single chocolate she sells. What’s more, most of the fresh fruit, herbs, and flowers used to flavor the ganache for her bonbons was grown by her just a stone’s throw away in a community garden across the street from her Saratoga shop.

Dolce Bella Chocolates shop opened in July 2008. But Vaggione, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, has been making cakes and confections since she was a kid.

Her chocolates are $1.50 a piece or $17 for a 12-piece assortment. They’re available at her store or online. She also sells at the Sunday Saratoga Farmers’ Market (Fruitvale and Allendale Avenue), and at the Sunday Mountain View Farmers’ Market (600 West Evelyn St.)

Dolce Bella Chocolates

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Nutty

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Can't eat just one.

That’s what I am.

It’s because I can’t stop eating these new Emerald Cocoa Almonds that landed in my mailbox recently as a sample. You know it’s a good day when the mailman brings you goodies like this.

The cocoa is baked into the almonds so there’s no messing up your fingers. That’s a good thing since I’ve been eating them by the handful. The wonderful roasty flavor of the nuts is married with a whisper of chocolate.  It’s not so much chocolate that it tastes like candy, but just enough to give it a haunting je ne sais quoi.

I’m already wondering what these might be like baked in chocolate cookies.

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Cupcakes Redux

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OK, admit it: You’ve been going through withdrawal, haven’t you?

After all, it’s been two whole months — yes, more than 60 days! — since I last wrote about cupcakes, and last hit you smack dab with frosting photos.

Consider this my after-Christmas gift to you. Heck, I know I can sure use some cupcakes right about now.

I’m not the only one. I recently dragged — though, believe me, it didn’t take much effort — 5 Second Rule with me to Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos. She’d eaten the cakes before, but had never been to the bakery. Me? I’d been to the bakery, but not for almost a year.

It’s a full-service bakery with a wide array of treats, including about a dozen different kinds of cupcakes offered each day, ranging in price from $2.75 to $3.75.

5 Second Rule, who has a household of four, bought two cupcakes. Me? Despite having a household of only two, I toted home five — yes, count ’em, five — cupcakes. What can I say except that it’s in the name of research, of course!

(Clockwise, from back): Peanut butter, caramel, and gingerbread cupcakes.

All of the cupcakes were moist. Always a good start. And all were pretty darn sweet. Not always the ideal thing to be.

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Truffle Fudge Bites

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How glam are these? (Photo courtesy of Joe Notaro).

You better have a big sweet tooth — and arms of steel — when you pick up John Kelly Chocolates.

The Hollywood, Calif. chocolatier makes divine gourmet truffle fudge bars that are so dense and heavy that you need to work out before eating them just to be able to lift them. For those with a more dainty appetite and wimpier biceps, John Kelly has just introduced Truffle Fudge Bites.

Yes, these are a mere 2-ounces, compared to the standard 8-ounce bars. They are designed to serve one. But seriously, they can easily serve two. Trust me on this.

Four come in a box for $14. And two varieties are available. Find them at Neiman Marcus, Bristol Farms markets, and online.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Sweet Breams Are Made of This…

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Something fishy is going on...

Who am I to disagree

Travel the world and seven seas

Everybody’s looking for something…

as cute and precious as these.

With apologies to the Eurythmics, I just couldn’t get that song out of my head when I visited this unusual Japanese bakery in San Mateo, Sweet Breams. It specializes in taiyaki — tiny, filled waffles shaped like fish that are made to order.

When I taught a class recently at nearby Draeger’s, Cooking School Editor Cynthia Liu told me I had to stop by Sweet Breams. Good thing I listened.

Owner Tara Wong, who lived in Tokyo for a spell, got hooked on these adorable snacks as a child when she’d visit May’s Coffee Shop in San Francisco’s Japantown, where they also are made.

Traditional taiyaki are about 5-inches long. Wong thought there would be an even greater appetite for smaller ones. Hers are about 2 inches long, and made with waffle irons imported from Japan. There are four waffle irons. Each is named after one of the Beatles. And yes, she laughs, “Paul” is the most consistent one.

Azuki- and Nutella-filled fish.

She opened her shop about six months ago, and word is already spreading about it. Folks have come from as far as Sacramento to get their fix of the dainty, crispy, warm treats made from a smooth batter of both all-purpose and cake flours.

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