The Heat is On - Sweets of Summer Part 2

It looks like this week is shaping up to be the hottest week this year in Melbourne, with weather reports predicting temperatures of 40, 40, and 40 degrees Celcius for the next three days, so I thought it was an appropriate time to showcase Part 2 of the Sweets of Summer, which is a list of some of The Chocolate Box's more hardy confectionery products.

	VIENNA ALMONDS The subtle delicate flavours of traditional Vienna almonds are roasted and caramelised for that exquisite crunchy taste and texture. Click here to order Vienna Almonds
	PEPPERMINT HUMBUGS Sweet, longlasting, hard-boiled delights. Peppermint humbugs are refreshing and sweet. Available in bags or jars. Click here for Hard Boiled Sweets
	CHOCOLATE ROCKS These Chocolate Rocks come with their own weather protection in the form of their deliciously crisp candy shells. Weather warning: we wouldn't send this product out in extremes of heat without weather protection, but the chocolate should be hardy enough to keep in the fridge if you'd like to try them cool. Click here to order Chocolate Rocks
	CINNAMON ALMONDS These delicately roasted almonds are baked in a crunchy cinnamon flavoured shell. Click here to order Cinnamon Almonds

Sweets of Summer (Part 1)

Welcome to the Sweets of Summer Part 1, a list of some of The Chocolate Box’s most delicious, and most weather-defying, products for those hot Summer days.

	FUDGES Fabulous fudge comes in four (count ‘em four!) varieties including Caramel, Chocolate, Irish Cream, & Russian Toffee. Click here to order fudges
	JELLIES & GUMMI BEARS There is nothing that says summer like fruity jellies -- and our classic fruity gummi bears are delicious too! Click here for Jellies Click here for gummies
	NOUGAT Whether crunchy or soft, fruitful or fruitless, with almonds or more almonds, we have a nougat for you! Click here to order
	CHOCOLATE SAUCES Quality chocolate sauces in three delightful varieties, Fudge Cointreau, or Irish Cream. Drizzle them over your ice-cream for a Summer delight! Click here to order

A Fruity, Nutty, Rummy Free Gift with Purchase

A fruity, nutty hello to all our followers. As a special gift for this month, we are offering a free sample bag of 2 Fruity Nutty Rum Bombs for all orders made on our website between January 1st to 31st, 2009. What do you need to do to get it? There are no codes to fill in, just order, and it will automatically be included with your purchase. Our Fruity Nutty Rum Bombs contain a delicious chocolatey centre mixed with fruit, nuts and rum, and are enrobed in fine dark chocolate.

Happy New Year

It's been a busy holiday season: that pre-Christmas bustle, followed by too much overeating and a round of New Years' socialising that's left you breathless? Maybe now is the time to just chill out, unwind and get your Zen on, and we have just the thing: the Happy Heart bag. It contains a selection of dark chocolate (contains antioxidants), green tea, dark chocolate ginger, dark chocolate almonds and red wine (more antioxidants!) to put that spring back into your step.
Click here to order.

Take a peek at our CBW store!

Just for fun, I have put together a few pictures of our brand new store. It is located in the heart of Melbourne city, tucked away on a lane called Goldsborough Lane, on the Corner of Bourke and William Streets... and here is a map, too!

Pies R Us

We have a brand new Christmas special, combining three of our most favourite Christmas desserts: pies, puddings and fruit cake. The fruit mince pies have a lovely buttery crust, and are filled with fruity mince. The pudding is lovely steamed in it's own pouch, or microwaved, and served in thin slices with white chocolate sauce or by itself. The fruity cake, our pièce de resistance, is a lovely 800g moist fruit filled cake decorated with complete pieces of pecan, almond, and green and red glacé cherries. Separately their combined retail price is $44.35, but follow this link to our website and they can be purchased together in a pack for $39.95.

Click here to order

RECIPE BLOG! Christmas Stars with Raspberry Framboise Sauce

Here's a festive recipe using The Chocolate Box's own Raspberry Framboise Sauce. It's pretty easy. Like I usually say "If I can make them, anyone can! TM".

INGREDIENTS
A tablespoon or two of The Chocolate Box's Raspberry Framboise Sauce
2 sheets of puff pastry (each sheet makes 16 stars)
1 Freerange Egg
1 Tablespoon Water
White icing for decoration

IMPLEMENTS Greaseproof baking paper Basting brush Baking tray Bowl Spoon, fork, knife INSTRUCTIONS 1. Take out and defrost one sheet of puff pastry. Cut into about 16 squares. Preheat oven to about 200•C. 2. Create cuts in all four corners of each sheet, as shown. If you want to make them a bit thinner than mine, you could try rolling out the dough to be a bit finer. 3. Spoon on a little bit of Raspberry Framboise Sauce into the centre of the stars. I find that you actually don't need very much. 4. Fold over one startip from each corner into the centre, until you make a pinwheel shape. See diagram at right. Make sure that you press the dough together at the centre of each star, otherwise the stars might not keep their shape. 5. Place stars carefully on greaseproof baking paper on an oven tray. 6. Whisk one egg and a tablespoon of water in a bowl, and with a brush, brush them over the pastries. This is what gives the pastries their golden brown colour. 7. Cook for about 15-20 minutes at about 150-180•C. Remove when lightly browned. 8. To finish, sift a little bit of white icing powder over the top for decoration.

As an interesting variation, you can try adding dessicated coconut to the raspberry framboise sauce before using in the recipe.

NEW! Our Favourite Christmas Things

"When I'm ti-red,
Of Christmas shopp-ing,
When I'm feeling fagged,
I simply remember my favorite things can be ordered online,
And then I don't feel so bad..."


Here are some of the recent Christmas additions to our website. Order by December 15th to ensure your order arrives before Christmas. We deliver Australia wide (only).
More products are available on our website www.chocolatebox.com.au

The Ultimate Christmas Hamper A fine selection of Christmas goodies including: A Bottle of wine, Entertainer Fruit & Nut Cake, Shortbread Biscuit Tin, Luxury Cream Truffles Box, Christmas Star Assortment Box, and a lovely Christmas Pudding $99.95 Click Here
Christmas Plum Pudding A delicious traditional Christmas Plum Pudding in calico. To cook: Remove pudding from cloth, place pouch in microwave (1000 watts) and heat on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and rest for 2 minutes (this ensures an even reheating) - then microwave for a further 2 minutes. 400g. $12.95 Click Here
Entertainer Fruit and Nut Cake Packed with fruit and nuts this deluxe Christmas cake is a real delight. Just slice and display on your Christmas table. 800g cake. $23.95 Click Here
Fruity Nut Rum Bombs An explosion of Fruit, Nut and Rum Liqueur in delectable Dark Chocolate. 250g box (approx. 20 pieces). $12.95 Click Here

Please view our website for more products.

RECIPE BLOG! Chocolate Spiders

Now that you know how to temper chocolate, (see December 1st blog), here is a very simple recipe for making chocolate spiders. Maybe they're a little bit too big and scary looking (see picture), but the good news is that if I can make them, anyone can!

INGREDIENTS
200g The Chocolate Box chocolate pastilles
100g packet of Pre-cooked Fried (non-flavoured) noodles
2 tablespoons of Peanut Butter (crunchy or smooth)

IMPLEMENTS
Double saucepans or a bain-marie
A tablespoon
A dessert spoon
Small pattypans (if you can find them) or waxproof paper

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Break chocolate pastilles into smaller pieces for quicker melting.
2. Melt chocolate in an empty smaller saucepan sitting on a larger saucepan partially filled with simmering water. Do not boil water, keep stove at low temperature. Do not allow any water to get into the small saucepan. See post "How to cook couverture chocolate" below.
3. When chocolate is smooth and melted, stir in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, until mixture is thoroughly mixed.
4. Stir in noodles, until they are completely covered in chocolate.
5. Scoop out mixture using spoons and place into pattypans, or in blobs on greaseproof or baking paper.
6. Allow to cool. When chocolate solidifies the spiders are ready!

How to cook couverture chocolate

The instructions for cooking couverture chocolate may sound a bit complicated, but its really just about getting the chocolate warmed into a sauce-like consistency so it is easy for you to stir into your mixtures or pour into moulds.

We recommend the use of a bain marie, or double saucepans. Heat hot water in the larger saucepan at a low temperature setting, and use the smaller saucepan to hold the melted chocolate as you dip it into the hot water.

For dipping fruit and desserts into a warm chocolate sauce, you can use a fondue set (we sell some of these at our stores). It is easy to use for small amounts of chocolate, and it simply consists of a ceramic dish with pieces of chocolate melted above a small candle. (Don't try to reproduce this over an open flame with a saucepan).

For easiest use, The Chocolate Box pastilles come in flat circular pieces which you can break down into smaller pieces for easy melting, or if you like, you can use our single origin callets.
These are the instructions for our couverture chocolate pastilles.

HOW TO COOK CHOCOLATE

1. Using a double-boiler, or two saucepans of varying size, place the chocolate pieces in the smaller saucepan. Fill the second saucepan with water and heat to a low temperature of approx. 45˚C. (Put your stove on low heat setting)

2. Place the saucepan containing the chocolate over the second saucepan and allow the chocolate to melt slowly. Heat very gently, stirring regularly to avoid burning the chocolate. DO NOT allow the cooking temperature to exceed 50˚C, and never heat your chocolate over a naked flame.

3. Cool chocolate by leaving on a marble or cold table, or by submerging your saucepan partly into cold water, to a temperature of approx. 27˚C for Milk Chocolate, or 27˚C to 28˚C for dark chocolate. Stir continually, constantly scraping the chocolate from the sides of the bowl. Take care that no water is allowed into the chocolate as the mixture will become
thick and unuseable.

4. Return the saucepan of chocolate to the pot of warm water and, stirring constantly, raise the temperature of the chocolate to 30˚C - 32˚C for dark chocolate or 29˚C - 31˚C for Milk Chocolate. The chocolate is now ready for moulding or dipping. Centres for dipping should be at 20˚C - 25˚C.

5. Cool finished products at 14˚C - 18˚C in a dry place. DO NOT refrigerate, or risk condensation.

6. Unused chocolate can be removed and re-used in the above manner.


WHAT IS COUVERTURE CHOCOLATE?
Coverture chocolate is a higher quality chocolate, that uses more cocoa solids in its manufacture. Compound chocolate is a cheaper grade of chocolate which is often found in commercial chocolate bars in the supermarket. Compound chocolate is a bit more robust and you may find it easier to use in cooking.

Chocolate Look Alikes

Back in the days of King Henry VIII's court, medieval chefs used to create 'sotelties' - highly elaborate meals and desserts that were made to resemble something else (like cakes that look like castles). In that spirit, I present you with some of The Chocolate Box's best look-alikes - pictured next to a photo of the real thing. Can you tell the difference?

For the answer, click the chocolate look-alike and it will take you to the product on The Chocolate Box's website!


Top: Chocolate Olives: Exquisite Dry Roasted Almonds, enrobed in milk and white chocolate.
Bottom: Chocolate Rocks: Delicious milk chocolate rocks, they look like rocks, but they're safe to eat - sweet milk chocolate in a thin candy shell.

The Dark List

The Dark List was something I created a few months ago for dark chocolate afficianados. It is, of course, a list of quality dark chocolate products, with their corresponding cocoa percentages.

But first, a little bit about dark chocolate:
If you have a quality dark or bittersweet chocolate, you can sometimes rate it for it's chocolatey-ness on a scale of percentage of cocoa solids. So 80% is extra dark, 70% is dark!, 50% is dark but bittersweet (also sweet), but much lower than this and you're in milk chocolate territory.

Some of the products on the list have additional ingredients to dark chocolate, and some of these may include dairy or nuts, etc, so you should look at the ingredient listing of any product if you are in doubt about what it may contain.

Now on to ...
THE DARK LIST

Dark Chocolate Happy Heart Hamper Box

Belgian Bar - Noir Bittersweet** - 70%

Dark Wraparounds* ** - 63%
*(Smaller quantities without custom wrappers can be purchased from our stores)

Single Origin Grenade 135g Box (jar not available) - 60%

Dark Block, 100g** - 55%
Dark Bar 50g** - 55%
Dark Chocolate Novelty Frogs** - 55%
Dark Chocolate Novelty Hearts** - 55%

Dark Chocolate Almonds - 55%
Dark Chocolate Hazelnuts - 55%
Dark Chocolate Orange Straws - 55%
Dark Chocolate Coffee Beans - 55%
Dark Chocolate Ginger - 55%
Dark Chocolate Marzipan Bar - 55%
Dark Chocolate Licorice - 55%
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Jellies - 55%

Dark Chocolate Triple Almond Block - 54%
Dark Chocolate Triple Honeycomb Block - 54%

Dark Organic Block, 100g - 52%

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffle

Dark Sugarfree Block 100g - 46%

We also have a pure dark chocolate assortment: Dark Chocolate Classic Assortment and Dark Chocolate Rocky Road.

** Solid chocolate