What ... A challenge...

Hello, all... Let's talk about tools... er, tuiles... THe Daring Baker's January challenge was just that... a challenge...

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I must say that I was a bit disappointed with our performance this month... I first had Steven try his hand at making these and, taking his inspiration from the butterflies suggested by the recipe itself, attempted to make angels, but the recipe wasn't conducive for the detail he was looking for beacuse the batter spreads so much during baking... But the cookie itself tasted really good... Unfortunately, no pictures of it...

Time passes, and we get busy with orders, but the challenge must be met again... This time I try my hand at it... I decided to go the simple route and just pipe circles... A couple of frustrations I had were 1) I didn't know how big the circles should be and 2) the greasing of the parchment paper (I couldn't get the batter to spread out with my offset since the batter just moved around the paper) and 3) I didn't know what the final outcome was supposed to be like... They always ended up more cake-y than crispy...

So, I flavored my batter with orange oil and was going to pair it with our famous homemade chocolate pudding, and just went ahead with the recipe... Since I didn't know how much batter to use for each cookie, I ended up with 4 larger circles, but they crisped up so much that they didn't bend so well and ended up close to flat...

My second attempt, I made the circles much smaller, and STILL could't get them to do anything more than look like a Pringle... I paired it up with the chocolate pudding anyway, and with the faint hint of orange, they tasted fantastic... But overall, I was disappointed with all three attempts...

And the final outcome... ta-da!!!!

Gotta Lotta Lovin to do....

...and that's precisely what we've been up to. Lovin each and every morsel and ingredient that goes into our sweet treats. Treating them with tenderness and care, keeping them fresh and colorful, and incorporating as much love as possible, so that you'll taste it in each and every bite. We've added yet another wonderful goodie for you to share with someone special this year, and its a Double Chocolate Brownie with Raspberry chips and chocolate ganache topping. Large enough to share with your sweetie, (and rich enough that you just might have to - so get out there and get yourself someone to "spoon" with!) - these brownies have both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate in the mix, along with raspberry-shot chocolate chips, and are covered with a velvety thick layer of semisweet chocolate cream ganache, and, finally, drizzled with red chocolate. Delicioso! See our menu page for information on ordering some for the holiday (or just to snack on when you're in very chocolate mood!

More yummy stuff to come...

'Da boys

Love is in the air

....and so is the aroma of fresh baked goodies to tempt each and every one of your senses! This Valentine's Day, we're serving up some delicious, love-filled treats to share with that someone special in your life. The first offering we've come up with is our rich and decadent White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl cheesecake in chocolate biscotti crust, with some lovely heart-shaped designs that will say "I love you" in a very special way. We will be making our usual 9" size for those of you with a lot of love to spread around, and for the week of Valentine's Day, you can also order them in the more intimate 5 1/2" size, pictured here. You'll get 6 sweet little wedges out of the smaller size - enough for dessert for lunch AND dinner that day!

Be sure and tell all your married, courting or just plain amorous friends to get in touch with us soon, so as to order on time and not miss out on a single, creamy fork-full!

More love to come...

'Da boys