This past weekend, Dan, Eric, Angie and I trekked (in the car, that is) two and a half hours to the Berkshires of Massachusetts to make a day out of two stops (three if you count McDonalds on the way - which is a road trip staple, in my opinion): The first was the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. The second was Chocolate Springs in Lenox.

Chocolate Springs is an artisan chocolatier that I discovered a few years ago (in Boston you can get their chocolates at Formaggio Kitchen). This past Saturday was the first time I visited their chocolate cafe. The beautiful cafe (which is also where they make their chocolate confections) offers countless varieties of handmade truffles that range from classic to quite curious, pure chocolate bars and chocolate dipped goodies , lovely cakes and confections, truffle and nougat bars, mini chocolate sculptures, the ideal hot chocolate, and other chocolate treats too numerous to name. And it's a cafe, so that means that there are tables where you can sit with your friends. And we did, for around 2 hours.


Chocolate tasting with good people is, without a doubt, the very delicious reason that I got so into chocolate in the first place. Here's a great idea for a fun afternoon for four friends:

• Go to the nearest chocolate boutique that offers table seating
  
• Select 10 chocolates (to start) and grab a bottle of water for each of you
  
• Cut each truffle or chocolate into 4 pieces
  
• Taste each chocolate as a group and have a fabulous, magical afternoon
  
• And then get a light dinner somewhere after (Optional, but highly recommended)
  

Creme Brulee: A white chocolate ganache sprinkled with flakes of burnt sugar and dipped in dark chocolate. Wonderful texture, at once smooth and creamy and a tiny bit crunchy sweet.

Rose Tea: A black tea truffle. The tannins from the tea leaves come through in a very interesting way in this tea truffle (as well as other tea truffles that we tried), leaving that sensation on your palette that you have when you've just had a cup of tea.

Venus: This milk chocolate ganache with a touch of rum was an all around favorite. On a side note, we all noticed that this truffle looks somewhat... female. And then Joshua told me that truffle is, indeed, a nipple-inspired design, hence the name Venus (originally "Venus' Nipple").

Mint: Oh fresh mint leaves. Why are you not utilized in more desserts? (Garnish doesn't count.) This truffle was so fresh and delicious. Another instant favorite.

Jas-tea-sia: This was the one that blew us all away. They didn't have any Jas-tea-sia truffles left, so we would not have had the chance to experience this chocolate miracle if Joshua had not popped by our table offering a tiny vessel of freshly made Jasmine tea ganache and 4 spoons. Utterly fascinating. The tannins came through alongside all of the subtleties of gentle, complex Jasmine green tea.

A few more pics from our daytrip on are on flickr.

ChocoLee opened last Friday in Boston's South End
Ok, I haven't been to this new chocoboutique yet, but I'm dying to go. Why? Because the "Lee" of ChocoLee is the very same Lee Napoli of the South End Buttery who created those delicious Earl Grey Green tea truffles that I blogged about a couple month ago. Interestingly, the ChocoLee boutique is at 83 Pembroke Street, which is the very same location as Choco Choco House, maker of the lovely and fashionably signature chocolate purses. What's going on? Where is Choco Choco? And then I visited the Choco Choco House site only to find that it is under construction! To be continued...

Chocotaste Testing at Boston Magazine
Boston Magazine had the lofty task of taste-testing 6 New England area chocolatiers, including 3 of my faves: Chocolate Springs, La Tene, and Knipschildt.

Chocolate Awards for 2008 were announced today
And Amedei won again (it's 3 years now). The Italian Amedei's Toscano 63% received the 'Golden Bean' award for best bean to chocolate bar. French Valrhona's 70% Guanaja and 64% Manjara took gold. The awards were given out by the UK's Academy of Chocolate.

NYTasting
The New York Times ran a great article today about the emergence of ultra high quality 'dark' milk chocolates to contend with the common foodie opinion that dark chocolate is where it's at and milk chocolate, well, isn't. They also did a tasting of no less that 30 (!) milk chocolates and posted a short article about their favorites here.

Chocolate Biodiesel?
My dear friend Jeff emailed me this link to an article about a chocolate-fueled biotruck that made it from the UK to Timbuktu.

Deluxe Washington Hot Chocolate
And to retouch upon my recent hot chocolate kick, the Washington Post posted this recipe for deluxe hot chocolate that requires no less than 11 ingredients.

And finally, in honor of Valentine's Day, my new Valentine's-Day-heart-red couch is arriving tomorrow (which is Valentine's Day). Happy Valentine's Day! (See pic above).

So I realize that I'm falling a little behind on my posts for Hot Chocolate Fortnight at The Tasty Show. That said, I've decided to extend my deadline. This 'fortnight' will now last through the end of the month and is thus renamed Hot Chocolate Month at The Tasty Show.

Hot Cocoa at Athan's
Moving right along, my friend Jon and I went to Athan's European Bakery in Brookline to check out their hot chocolate. First let me say that Athan's is hands down one of my favorite pastry shops in the city. Their goods are European-style and the owners are Greek, so we've got fruit tarts, classic orange pound cakes, French-style mousse tortes, individual tiramisus, napoleons, and panna cottas alongside a wide array of baklavas, shortbread biscuits, and chocolates.

That said, I had high expectations for the hot chocolate. Probably too high. Athan's offers a hot cocoa (rather than hot chocolate) that is quite sweet, with more of an overall sugary sensation that real cocoa flavor. Jon said that it reminded him of Swiss Miss, and I have to agree that it was kind of instant-y. The hot cocoa at Athan's is made of dutch processed cocoa, dried skim milk, cornstarch, confectioners sugar, and Callebaut milk chocolate. I'm surprised by the use of milk chocolate - I wonder if it would be more up my alley if it was dark? Either way, I'm probably going to stick with the solid sweets at Athans, rather than the liquid ones.

We did, however, ask a lovely Athan's barista for suggestions on what treats to enjoy alongside our cuppa cocoa. She directed us to a bunch of little cubbies that held all different kinds of shortbread-type cookies, which she called biscuits. We tried all sorts of delicious ones and they do, indeed, pair extremely well. Similarly to the brioche that we had with the hot chocolate at Flour, these biscuits were simple and not extremely sweet. And they are dry and crumbly and a little crunchy in a really awesome, satisfying way, particularly when enjoyed with hot chocolate. We tried an almond flavor, a coconut cherry pistachio, and a mustokouloura, which is made with grape molasses and sesame.

Conclusion [regarding hot chocolate + dessert pairing]
Shortbread! Rich, buttery, but not overly sweet shortbread. Delicious with hot chocolate! Not everyone can pop over and pick up some of Athan's delicious shortbread-like biscuits, but shortbread is available everywhere in one form or another and pairs beautifully.

In honor of the cold, wet, snowy, nasty weather, I am designating this week and next as Hot Chocolate Fortnight At The Tasty Show, which is 'officially' running from February 1 - February 14. So that means that I will be 'officially' trying out various hot chocolates with various pals for another 7 days or so. For each hot chocolate, I'll post details about the hot chocolate itself + a hot chocolate-related conclusion.

This week I tried two very different hot chocolates. Here are the two that I tried + two conclusions that we made:

Hot Chocolate at Flour Bakery
I had an entire page of notes that I wrote about the hot chocolate I had with Dan at Flour, but unfortunately I lost them. What I do remember is that it is rich but not overly sweet. And it's a little fluffy, which I liked. It is made with steamed whole milk and dark chocolate ganache. As you can see, I am smiling. We enjoyed our hot cuppa chocolate with a sugar-brushed brioche roll. They went incredibly well together! And it does help that Flour Bakery offers some of the best baked goods in Boston. I tried to take a pic on Dan's phonecam but I'm not sure it really does Flour's array of oven treats much justice (see pic above).

Conclusion [regarding hot chocolate + dessert pairing]
Hot chocolate is a dessert in itself, and should only be paired with something light and gentle. Rich, gently sweet, luxurious brioche does the trick.

Mexican Hot Chocolate at Tu Y Yo
The "Chocolate Caliente de Oaxaca" at Tu Y Yo was made with water rather than milk, & a pinch of cinnamon (but just a pinch) spiced up the deal. It comes in a little earthenware jug (which is great, because I've always liked mini versions of big things).The first and foremost thing we noticed about the Mexichocolate drink is that it was super light and a little watery. It wasn't rich at all. If you're looking for your hot chocolate to transport you to the land of sensual luxurious chocolate decadence with each sip, this hot drink would disappoint you. But if you've just enjoyed a rich, potentially exhausting meal (as we had) and you want to keep it light, then it is perfect. My friend Eric noted that it was much more like a chocolate tea than the thick (sometimes exhausting) hot chocolates we've had elsewhere.

Conclusion [regarding using water as a hot chocolate base]
Try making hot chocolate with water instead of milk for a refreshing hot drink that won't overload you. For a homegrown Mexican hot chocolate, check out Taza Chocolate's Mexicano. If you want to try a made-in-Mexico hot chocolate at home, try Ibarra.