Fresh Mint Chocolate Chews 8.30.12

I made Fresh Mint chocolate chews and Peppermint chocolate chews (made with peppermint extract).  The peppermint extract I have made the chocolates taste quite medicinal.  I had originally bought the extract to make ice cream, which turned out delicious if I remember correctly.  However, this was not a successful candy.  Here are the recipes.


Fresh Mint
4 oz semisweet chocolate
2.25 oz light corn syrup (and reduced to 2 oz after infusing the mint)
3 stalks of mint leaves
1/4 t warm water


Peppermint
4 oz semisweet chocolate
2 oz light corn syrup
1/8 t peppermint extract
1/4 t warm water

Both candies came out very soft, so I think I should aim for 1 7/8 oz corn syrup next time (or even 1 3/4 oz) instead of 2 full ounces.  I also should weight in grams for more precision with this small of a batch.

The good news is that the fresh mint candies are delicious.  :)

The next thing to try would be using dried mint, which I have.  I can tell by the aroma, that my dried mint is a different kind than the frest mint I've been using, but it smelled much more appetizing than the extract.

I also have tried some gift packaging for the candies.  The round cups were too big (and too tall) for the candies.  I think a square paper cup might be better next time.  The boxes were also too big, in general.

This was my favorite box, although a bit large.  I liked the window, the height, and that the box closes over the outside of the box.

 This box fits 8 candies, although it's a a little large.  With the appropriate size paper cup, I can see this fitting up to 15 candies.  The box doesn't have a window and it is very tall (might even fit a second layer of candies with the right size insert).  The top lip fits inside the front of the box and it is hard to not damage these paper inserts when closing the box.

Finally, some hand wrapped chocolates! I think these look beautiful and so homemade!  Wax paper was cut 5" x 3" and candy is a 2" x 1/2" x 1/2" rectangle, rolled in the paper.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 8.27.12

Here, using the Baking Illustrated recipe.   These cookies look great (although a little underbaked) and have great texture. However, the flavor is very sweet.  As I'm more sensitive to the sweet stuff, I'm going to have to work on tweaking this recipe a bit.

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chews 8.21.12

I made these with fresh mint that was donated from a friend's herb garden.  I forgot to take a picture of the mint, but the leaves looked like spearmint.  I made some chocolate chews.

Fresh Mint
4 oz semisweet chocolate
2.5 oz light corn syrup (which reduces to 2 oz after infusing the mint)
3 stalks of mint leaves
1/4 t warm water

I used Ghiradelli semisweet chocolate and piped the chocolate into a heart mold.

JP Licks 8.20.12

JP Licks, 1312 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA

Happy Anniversary Cow Card!  I love these little rewards from the neighborhood creamery.  Today I cashed in my free small sundae at JP Licks in Harvard Square.  I got Fresh Mint (a new flavor) with Oreo pieces and whipped cream.

It's kinda hard to tell from the picture, but the ice cream had a wonderful fresh mint color to it.  Kinda like a dull green.  You could also see pieces of mint leaves in the ice cream.  Yes, they are mint leaves, not Oreo pieces. But the leaves didn't affect the texture or offset the taste, so I was okay with them still being in there.

Chocolate Bread 8.11.12

My wonderful friend Liz let me try some of the chocolate bread she made.  It was delicious.  Chocolate bread is a really good name for it, as it is less sweet and lighter than cake.  It is a quick bread, but slightly sweet due to the chocolate (actually, cocoa powder).  It also contains zucchini.

Here is a slice topped with cookies n cream.

Christo's Greek Deli 7.31.12

Christo's Fruit Market, 200 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA

I purchased a Greek delight from Christo's Greek Deli.  I don't know what it's called, but it's spinach and lemon (and some other tangy flavors) wrapped in bread.  The bread is wrapped into a triangle like a closed hamantaschen and has the texture of a hot dog bun.  It was pretty yummy.