At the end of last summer, I shared a drawing of our Beverly Hills chocolate lab on the cusp of its birth. Happily, I am writing to report that the lab has been everything that I hoped it would be – innovation!!!

Something exciting and new has arisen from the creation of the lab. I have assembled a team of alchemists who work at the lab full time exploring new concepts. They are my eyes and ears at the lush, California markets (farmers and flea) and they play with my chocolate flavor ideas as well as presenting some of their own.

Weekly, I receive a box from the lab. What a treat to pull away the tape, push back the lid and begin to unwrap the treasures inside. Tightly bound in bubble wrap are jars of various shapes and sizes holding potions, paper bundles and take out boxes.

This past week’s surprises included cherry and walnut focaccia bread, Naga (curry, coconut and milk chocolate) granola, root beer caramel sauce, sea buckthorn oil from India with white chocolate, new oils found at the market, dehydrated fruit varietals, choux pastry filled with chocolate ganache and a mixture of cocoa nib tea. I smell, taste, nibble, lick, dream and take notes. My comments and instruction are sent back to the lab and the next round of adjustments and exploration begins.

Having a research and development team to begin flushing out my ideas is life changing. I am never at a loss for new ideas, it is the finite time in my schedule that forms the bottleneck to abundant creation.

Expect regular updates from my lab team as I invite you on my adventures and share my creative process. Keep an eye on this blog – I offer you a front row seat as they unfold!

When I was in Oaxaca, I bought this bottle of Los Amantes Joven mezcal. It is one of the best I’ve tasted and reminds me of my enchanted excursion in Mexico. It seemed fitting that it unite with my Oaxaca Exotic Candy Bar in a delicious and celebratory cocktail. Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner and instead of falling in line with the usual margarita, I’m inspired to create something less expected.

Oaxaca is a state in Mexico where the Aztecs were found sipping a bitter chocolate beverage hundreds of years ago. They frothed cacao with vanilla, chillies and corn to create a drink they called xocolatl. The beverage was not sweet and was thought to bring special powers and virility to those who consumed it.

The Oaxaca Exotic Chocolate Bar is the darkest in my collection with 75% cacao. Guajillo and pasilla chillies are combined creating a deep, dark, warm-the-back-of-your-throat bite. Reminiscent of the Aztec’s ancient potion, this bar is powerful.

Once melted and combined with simple syrup, the Oaxaca Bar creates a deep syrup that dresses up this cocktail. You’ll find it offers a depth of flavor and an earthy cacao aroma along with a warmth from the chillies that matches that of the strong spirits. The orange twist garnish is essential to the experience giving your nose a whiff of uplifting, fresh citrus before your palate and throat are dressed with the intensity of this drink.

With all its flavor and strength, this drink has quite a magnetic pull. Follow dessert or completely replace it with a round of The Oaxacan for all.

The Oaxacan
Makes 1 drink:

1 1/2 oz tequila
1/2 oz los amantes joven mezcal
1 teaspoon amber agave nectar
Dash of angostura bitters
1 1/2 Tablespoons Oaxaca bar syrup (see recipe below)
Blood Orange twist

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a twist.

Oaxaca Bar Syrup
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
3 ounces Oaxaca Chocolate Bar

Boil water and sugar. Set aside to cool.

Temper chocolate or gently melt and slowly pour syrup over chocolate constantly whisking so you create a nice emulsion and all is well combined and smooth.

Another sneak peek at the early stages of creation~ My chemistry background and love is tickled by the sight of vials, beakers and flasks. My mind begins to scheme the formulas that will infuse the palate. The collection I am currently working on is especially for the fellas just in time for the day of fathers. Can you guess what is in each of these amber-colored vials?

Did you say Scotch? Then, you are correct. I am working on a scotch, bourbon, American whiskey, stout and caramel collection that will debut this summer. My inspiration is primarily charged by memories of my grandfather, Kiril, or as I called him – Dedo. He was a colorful character, full of life. He always had a joke or a tall tale to tell.

Dedo could be found donning hats and colorful plaid sports jackets. On the golf course with his buddies, he was always razzing the guys and in the saloon he owned, he revved up the crowd. My grandfather was particularly known for his music. His famed trumpet-playing was a huge inspiration for me and a big part of the story behind the caramels I am currently creating. Stay tuned…

Be Present
My dear friend, David Romanelli, advises how to be present and capture a beautiful, funny, delicious moment each day.

There is something about a stick. Eating things on sticks is just quite fun. Perhaps it is nostalgia of childhood sweets that makes it so. Or, maybe it is alluring to lick or bite food balancing on a stilt without first using utensils to make bite-sized portions. Holding your food perched atop a thin pedestal and admiring it before lifting it to your mouth most assuredly has a magical appeal.

This spring, we launched a line of dandy lollipops named Alice’s Wondrous Rabbit Lollipops. The outside features a bright, psychedelic wrap juxtaposed to the bunny inside who has regal appointments in dress. I’ve always felt that appropriate opposites attract and belong together. Since Easter is such a children’s holiday, my flavors were inspired by the preferences of younger palates: peanut butter, banana toffee and darkest crunch.

The darkest crunch lollipop is 62% dark chocolate with caramelized millet folded in. The ancient grain (actually, it’s a seed) provides a welcome, light crunch while adding additional benefits. Millet is packed with vitamins and minerals and health benefits include heart disease prevention, cancer prevention, digestive health and detoxification. Since little hands are often the ones clutching lollies, why not sneak in something a little healthy?!

During a recent photo shoot, we were reminded just how enchanting lollipops are when a little hand continued to interrupt our set. From a practical standpoint, chocolate on a stick does allow those who indulge to keep their little hands clean while getting their faces nice and messy.

Chocolate is incorporated into nearly every aspect of my life. So, it may not surprise you that I always like to use chocolate as part of my table decor when entertaining. Rather than saving it for dessert, I surprise guests with chocolate at unexpected times – as part of the salad, in savory dishes or as a first course. Always, there is chocolate around the house and often as part of each table setting or centerpiece.

At Easter, using chocolate on the table is easy and perhaps expected. My little flop-eared friends are perfect and willing agents. They guard serving dishes on a buffet, surprise keen eyes in unexpected places and are particularly good at holding up signage. I like to keep their bow ties on after removing them from their boxes.

This year, our Goose’s Golden Eggs was given a slight makeover. We have wrapped one in gold foil and all the eggs in each box are nestled in gold-laced straw. Reuse the green moss in your plants from our Bird Cage or make a nest out of the straw and place an egg in the center of each plate. It will bring good fortune and luck to each guest!

In Process: Bombay Sapphire Gin Truffles

Last year, I traveled to London for the filming of The Culture of Quality: The Artisans Journey. Included in the episode was an in depth look at how Bombay Sapphire creates their famously fragrant gin. It is always a treat and an inspiration to witness the craft of other artisans. There are similarities between Vosges Haut-Chocolat truffles and Bombay Sapphire gin starting with the selection and infusion of delicate and robust, worldly botanicals. Also, in producing each indulgence,  there is a precise process that requires adherence to stringent specifications so that subtle nuances of flavor are achieved. It was natural that we work together, finding a place where our products and processes to overlap.

Bombay Sapphire is unique thanks to their complex, vapor distillation process. They infuse the spirit with ten botanicals gathered from all over the world. The names and images of these special flavor-boosters are found on the sides of their signature blue bottles.

Their botanicals are placed  in a perforated, metal donut-shaped basket. When distilling the gin, it is heated to a vapor and floats up through the botanical basket, creating what they call vapor distillation. The gin then condenses once it passes through the basket back into liquid form. There is a small door that opens into a chamber where freshly vapor distilled liquid flows in a thin stream. Highly trained and experienced distillers smell the gin and if the aroma is on target, they keep the spirit flowing. If not, they adjust the botanical blend in the basket to perfection.

One of Bombay’s botanicals is a unique ingredient that I used regularly while in culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris – angelica root. The green, candied angelica root was my favorite sweet to snack on! We chopped it and garnished cakes or added texture to fillings. The root looks a bit like celery, though it tastes of amaretto or cherry. Most unique is the texture, a bit gummy and slightly crunchy.

In my quest to create truffles highlighting Bombay Sapphire gin, I am reinforcing the botanical flavors with added ingredients. Good candied angelica root is proving hard to find stateside. My first batch did not carry the flavor I fondly remembered. I am working on sourcing a better specimen from England or France.

I am also experimenting with almond paste, lemon and grains of paradise. This is still the early stages of my creative process. Tasting, tweaking, tasting, tweaking until the flavors marry just so. Gin and chocolate is a sure bet, I think I even prefer it over Q tonic.

Invite your beer loving friends over for a casual meal and surprise them with a Guinness centric feast. Of course, you must keep the pints of Guinness flowing throughout!

Nosh
Cheese Board with Triple Cream Cheese (try Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery) paired with Toucan Guinness Truffles and charcoal crackers.

Salad
Fingerling potato, roasted beet, dandelion green salad tossed with Guinness Mustard Vinaigrette and topped with a poached egg and dressed with Guinness foam. (see recipe below)

Main
Beer Braised Short Ribs
Sauteed Swiss Chard

Dessert
Mini Stout and Root Beer Floats
alongside Guinness Truffle Beignets

For the salad
Toss bitter greens, such as dandelion greens with Mustard & Guinness Vinaigrette. Arrange chilled, boiled fingerling potatoes and roasted beets on top. Place a poached egg on the plate and garnish with a sprinkling of maldon salt and a swoosh of Guinness foam just before serving.

Mustard & Guinness Vinaigrette

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Guinness
1 1/4 cup olive oil
3 tsp mustard grain mustard
Salt and pepper

Place 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, Guinness, mustard and healthy pinch of salt in the blender or bowl.

Slowly turn on the whisk of the blender or using your hand drizzle the oil in very, very slowly so that you form a strong emulsion. Grind some white pepper and salt to taste.

For the Swiss Chard
Saute roughly chopped swiss chard in olive oil. At the last minute, add crushed garlic, some red pepper flakes and a dash of soy sauce.

When I was living in Paris, studying at Le Cordon Bleu, I enjoyed a chocolate experience that changed my life. In the Place des Vosges, I was served warm, truffle beignets. Resembling little doughnuts, the fried rondures encased a molten explosion of liquid chocolate truffle. When I bit into the crunchy exterior, a flood of the most exquisite chocolate burst into my mouth.

They say that in pivotal moments or experiences of great intensity time seems to slow down. Ones senses become heightened and especially alert allowing them to “record” more carefully what is happening around you. If I close my eyes, I can still feel that first truffle beignet burst. Before that moment, I was not particularly fond of chocolate. The truffle beignet at famed restaurant, L’Ambroise in the Place des Vosges was the fulcrum that tipped my life’s plan and as time progressed, chocolate became my medium for experiential communication.

When I developed my first collection of truffles, the Exotic Truffle Collection, along with the concept of Travel the World through Chocolate, I had to finalize a name for my company. Vosges Haut-Chocolat was chosen in honor of that first, life changing, chocolate experience in the Place des Vosges.

Through the years, I have created a myriad of seasonal, truffle collections. One of the early offerings was the Luck of the Irish collection, which featured some of Ireland’s favorites in the form of beer and spirits. The Toucan truffle was the most popular, and my favorite obsession, combining Guinness beer and dark chocolate. I haven’t made this truffle for seven years and this year, I decided to bring it out of the Vosges Haut-Chocolat vault just in time for St. Patrick’s Day and lunch with Honorable Mayor Daley.

I always think about appropriate pairings for my chocolates; whether other sweets, savory foods or drinks, it is necessary to consider aromas that will further enhance their intrinsic beauty. For the Toucan Guinness truffle, I immediately felt the idea of a soft, unctous  triple cream cheese would be great a match for the mineral complexity of the dark beer. I love Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam. Served on a cheese board with the truffles, charcoal crackers and a tall, freshly poured pint of Guinness with plenty of foam.

Upon further pondering, the idea of Toucan Guinness truffle beignets came to mind. I love to bring things full circle and the idea of this returning truffle tucked in a beignet made perfect sense.

Try these truffle beignets and may you enjoy even a fraction of the bliss that I did upon the first bite!

Toucan Guinness Truffle Beignets
1 pkg dry active yeast
1/2 cup whole milk, heated to 95F
9 oz. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 oz. butter, unsalted and melted
6 oz. beer, lukewarm Guinness
3 egg whites, whipped to stiff peaks
canola oil

12 Toucan Guinness truffles, or truffle of your choice

For the beignets, in a medium bowl combine the yeast and the milk, set aside for 5 minutes. Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter and whisk until well combined. Add the beer and whisk to combine. Drizzle the oil over the top of the batter, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for one hour. Gently fold in the egg whites making sure to fully incorporate between each addition. Set aside.

Preheat the fryer to 350F. Dip each frozen truffle in the batter and fry until golden brown about one minute. Place on towel when fried to absorb any excess oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve a la minute.

Watch our video and learn about my inspiration for the Toucan Guinness® Truffle Collection and how it got its name.

Toucan Guinness® Truffles include Guinness Beer + 62% cacao dark chocolate

Find the Truffle Collection online here.